Stories from the Stringam Family Ranches of Southern Alberta

From the 50s and 60s to today . . .



Monday, August 23, 2021

Nearly Parenting


Mark, right and Erik, with Grampa Tolley in the background
To complete his master's degree, my husband moved our (then) little family to Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Also know as Winter-peg or Windy-peg - either one is apt.
And I found myself, for the first time, living in a large city.
There was the usual adjustment period.
Okay, I'm lying, there was no adjustment 'period'.
I never did adjust.
For eight months, my (then) two sons and I hardly left the apartment, unless accompanied by my husband.
Funny how grocery shopping can start looking like a 'date'.
I was homesick for my prairies and open spaces.
I did get a lot of reading and sewing and cleaning done. And my boys discovered the wonder of 'cable TV'.    I soon learned just how much they watched . . .
Grant had taken us for a drive. He had an errand to run and his family was suffering from 'cabin-fever', a common enough ailment in Canada in the winter.
No, really. You can look it up . . .
Grant was making a quick dash into the mall.
Now those of you who know my husband know that a quick dash anywhere, isn't.
Quick, I mean.
The boys and I were sitting in the fire lane in front of the Zellers store long enough to celebrate birthdays.
Yes, I'm exaggerating, but you get the picture. It was quite a while.
Erik was buckled into his car seat directly behind me, happily blowing bubbles and Mark, his older brother by eighteen months was opposite him, with the clearest view of the storefront.
I was reading.
Again.
Mark was chanting something, just loud enough to be heard.
It took a couple of repetitions before I noticed.
I put down my book.
"Mark, what are you saying?"
He repeated it.
"What?" Sometimes, deciphering almost-three-year-old speech takes a Master's degree. And where was the one person in our family with such a degree???!
"Say it once more."
"Zed-E-Eleven-E-R-S."
What on earth was he talking about?
I looked where he was looking.
The front of the Zellers store.
Suddenly, it hit me.
He was reading the letters over the front doors.
Zed. E. Eleven. E. R. S.
Well, almost.
It made perfect sense! If you were two.
What a clever boy!
Genius.
And I had raised him.
Okay, for a very few seconds, I did a bit of back patting.
Very few.
Then reality set in.
The only reason he knew all of those letters was because of his copious amounts of time spent watching Sesame Street. On a good day, he could catch the program twice!
Funny that my son's showing me how advanced he was, showed me, at the same time, what a neglectful parent I had been.
I'd like to say that things changed.
And they did.
Afterwards, when Sesame Street came on, I was watching with him.
Before long, we were nearly on the same reading level.
A few more months in Winnipeg and I might have caught up to him!

10 comments:

  1. This brings back memories from when my kids were small and I hadto tell them to eat their breakfast, not read it!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And yes he was a smart one for sure. I hope he stayed that way.

      Delete
  2. Hooray for reading.
    And Sesame Street - which didn't exist when I learned to read.

    ReplyDelete
  3. At least it was an educational show, for my kids it was Barney, the big purple dinosaur. Although I do have to give my older son credit, he loved Peter Jennings, who anchored the national news each night (long story).

    ReplyDelete
  4. Loved Sesame Street when my kids were little. I can't imagine how much it taught them.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Those darn muppets. They are so smart.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love that twist at the end. And, it makes me feel old, now remembering how long ago Sesame Street has been on the air! (I also had to remind myself that what we Americans call Zee you call Zed - I'm laughing!)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Heeheehee! My kids did catch Sesame Street some, but it was Between the Lions that taught Bigger Girl to read. We'd been working on it for a month of Sundays and in spite of her dyslexia and other learning problems, one week with that show and she was reading.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Very cute post. What did parents do before TV? The best babysitter/entertainment ever!

    ReplyDelete

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