Yesterday Addie was sitting across from me learning to make a chain. That’s the picture I showed in yesterday’s post. Then she started getting grumpy and saying it was too hard and that’s when I told her maybe she just wasn’t ready yet. She said she was going to go watch more youtubes.
I went and took a nap. When I got up, she came in and she had made a chain that was probably about 8′ long and it looked good! She was so proud of herself. I was proud of her!
I told her . . now you’re ready to make a single crochet. Google “How to do single crochet stitches.” She came back and told me she found some videos, watched them but they’re too hard. I said “Fine! Many 6 year olds can do all the crochet stitches so don’t say it’s too hard! Say it looks like something that takes more effort than I’m willing to do right now and by saying that, you’re committing to yourself that you will not have a frog hat for you or for your friend.” Ughhh . . she huffed off and watched more videos. I’ll work with her on the single crochet stitch today.
She ended up getting out her jewelry making box and was making bracelets the rest of the evening. That’s fine . . that’s creative too and doesn’t involve her being glued to the phone or tablet.
vivoaks says
Tough love, Grandma!! 🙂 At least she’s learning. Maybe not as quickly as she’d like, but learning, nonetheless. By the time she figures it out enough to make the hats, she’ll have moved on and decided she wants something entirely different anyway! LOL 🙂
Deb says
I love the way you respond to the “its too hard” that often comes from young people. It’s different trying to teach young (and old) people how to do something new. Since so many people are glued to their phones they sometimes have a shorter attention span (and patience), so teaching someone who technology centered is different. By referring Addie to Google what she wants to learn she’s using skills she already has to learn it….and it in a way she’s already comfortable with. That’s one of the good things about all this technology. I teach senior citizens (mainly upper 70’s to mid 90’s) how to sew & quilt. They suggest and vote on what they want to make and I show them how to do it (simplifying as much as possible, as several of them spend a lot of time on phones, too). It’s turned out quite well! It’s very casual – sometimes they stop in the middle of a project, but not often. My toughest student was the one who says “its too hard” often. She’d never used a sewing machine & was afraid of it. She is now using my Featherweight to sew an 8 foot long table scrappy runner for her dining room table, and its gorgeous. Talk about jumping into the deep end! It’s a quilt as you go, and her choices of fabrics were outstanding. I get so much satisfaction in teaching them – it’s just a matter of teaching in different ways so it makes sense (and is interesting) to the ‘student’! A real big plus is I often learn something from them, too!
Susan says
Being a grandparent isn’t any easier than parenting, sometimes!
judy.blog@gmail.com says
No, and sometimes I think it’s harder. I hear stories. I don’t know if I should mention them to Nicole. I don’t want to interfere. I don’t want to give unsolicited advice. 🙁