Why is it that as I get older my body rejects more and more food and drink. More foods and drinks that it struggles with. AND why is it always the stuff I love. It’s never broccoli or cauliflower or beetroot.

When I mentioned that to Hawklad he simply sighed, shrugged his shoulders and reflected on life.

“It’s because you love the really unhealthy things…..”

There is that…..

Water is good but add shed loads of full on coffee and it’s not so good anymore. Ice is good but add bucket loads of Cream and …….

I guess it’s just like education. Learning is good but add too much British Schooling and sadly ……

Am I being unfair, probably so but it’s sometimes hard not to be. Up to 12 months ago Hawklad loved HISTORY. REALLY LOVED IT. He loved learning about History. He loved learning about details, facts, dates, people. He couldn’t get enough of it. But then the school HISTORY syllabus hit. He has zero interest in Victorian Crime and Serial Killers. He didn’t want to learn about the details of infamous crimes and punishments (month after month). Today I found him staring into space. School history lessons finally moved on from Jack the Ripper. Now he is having to learn about the development of the American Cattle Ranching Industry after the Civil War. Unfortunately that is just not Hawklad. He is rapidly falling out of love with History. He is falling out of love with learning.

That can’t be healthy or right. Is it so hard to tailor learning to the individual. Clearly so as this afternoon hours were spent trying to parrot learn Ionic Chemical Equations. Guess what

More hours of Hawklad staring vaguely into space.

Should it really have to be like this.

63 thoughts on “Waters”

  1. Lame!! Sucky sucky sauce!! There’s so much more to history, than violence and the macabre. Here’s a cool story you could share with him, if you like:
    “Dr. Frank Mayfield was touring Tewksbury Institute when, on his way out, he accidentally collided with an elderly floor maid. To cover the awkward moment Dr. May field started asking questions.
    “How long have you worked here?”
    “I’ve worked here almost since the place opened,” the maid replied.
    “What can you tell me about the history of this place?” he asked.
    “I don’t think I can tell you anything, but I could show you something.”
    With that, she took his hand and led him down to the basement under the oldest section of the building. She pointed to one of what looked like small prison cells, their iron bars rusted with age, and said, “That’s the cage where they used to keep Annie Sullivan.”
    “Who’s Annie?” the doctor asked.
    Annie was a young girl who was brought in here because she was incorrigible—nobody could do anything with her. She’d bite and scream and throw her food at people. The doctors and nurses couldn’t even examine her or anything. I’d see them trying with her spitting and scratching at them.
    “I was only a few years younger than her myself and I used to think, ‘I sure would hate to be locked up in a cage like that.’ I wanted to help her, but I didn’t have any idea what I could do. I mean, if the doctors and nurses couldn’t help her, what could someone like me do?
    “I didn’t know what else to do, so I just baked her some brownies one night after work. The next day I brought them in. I walked carefully to her cage and said, ‘Annie, I baked these brownies just for you. I’ll put them right here on the floor and you can come and get them if you want.’
    “Then I got out of there just as fast as I could because I was afraid she might throw them at me. But she didn’t. She actually took the brownies and ate them. After that, she was just a little bit nicer to me when I was around. And sometimes I’d talk to her. Once, I even got her laughing.
    One of the nurses noticed this and she told the doctor. They asked me if I’d help them with Annie. I said I would if I could. So that’s how it came about that. Every time they wanted to see Annie or examine her, I went into the cage first and explained and calmed her down and held her hand.
    This is how they discovered that Annie was almost blind.”
    After they’d been working with her for about a year—and it was tough sledding with Annie—the Perkins institute for the Blind opened its doors. They were able to help her and she went on to study and she became a teacher herself.
    Annie came back to the Tewksbury Institute to visit, and to see what she could do to help out. At first, the Director didn’t say anything and then he thought about a letter he’d just received. A man had written to him about his daughter. She was absolutely unruly—almost like an animal. She was blind and deaf as well as ‘deranged.’
    He was at his wit’s end, but he didn’t want to put her in an asylum. So he wrote the Institute to ask if they knew of anyone who would come to his house and work with his daughter.
    And that is how Annie Sullivan became the lifelong companion of Helen Keller.
    When Helen Keller received the Nobel Prize, she was asked who had the greatest impact on her life and she said, “Annie Sullivan.”
    But Annie said, “No Helen. The woman who had the greatest influence on both our lives was a floor maid at the Tewksbury Institute.”

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  4. Scare the kids with stories of horrible crimes and perverse punishments. Then try to impress them with the glories of Capitalism. Brainwashing at its best, and worst. Luckiiy, Hawklad is too smart to be brainwashed. But what about the rest of the kids in England. What will they be like when they grow up?

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  5. I had the same problems with food when I hit middle age. It’s because our digestive system doesn’t work as well as we get older, and produces less acids to break down foodstuffs. It sucks big time, but I’ve felt better since I gave up chocolate for sure.

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  7. I understand about the food. I’m upset with you my friend about the loss in love of history. Here in my little part of the world I’m reading my little book about our great state to schools in my area (8 classes total yesterday). I’m seeing kids get excited about history and out great outdoors. Serial killers and our cow industry? Really?!?! I don’t understand this! My heart goes out to you and Hawklad. ❤️🙏🏻

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  10. My body is starting to reject salty, greasy fast food☹ No fries 🍟 from the Golden Arches, no KFC chicken sammich, no Junior Bacon Cheeseburger from Wendy’s crying 😭 I can’t even eat a Double Double, Animal style from the SoCal original In-N-Out 😫

    As for school…🤐🤐🤐🤐 No Comment!

    💌💌💌💌

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  12. Sorry, Dad, but Hawklad’s right when he said that “you love the really unhealthy things.” But, then again, you’re not the only one 🙂
    Victorian Crime and Serial Killers??? I wish we had learned that kinda stuff in history class in my day instead of boring wars during the Tudor Period. With a standardized education system, it’s not feasible to cater for the individual interests of each student. It’s up to the teacher to engage each student in the material being taught. Unfortunately, distant online school makes such individual connection very difficult. Now, it’s up to you, Dad.

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  13. Can you not homeschool him Gary and forget the structure. History is purely a discipline not specifically a favoured subject. You either love history or you don’t. I loved history both Modern and Classical, but l was only amongst perhaps 20% of my class that did.

    But if you feel this way, why don’t you simply break away from the syllabus, it would be easier. The amount of parents l know who have children with autism that felt the way you did and simply opted to homeschool themselves and be done with the treaditional system.

    As to the food it is what it is.

    My diet has gotten so bad l can hardly digest vegetables anymore and if the rumours about the egg shortages prove true l am a bit screwed. I get through 40 eggs a week. They are my number one protein and staple, l would be cruched if they disappeared and have to confure my diet again which is already poor.

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      1. I think with the way things are Gary perhaps the easier option is to say enough is enough, because we are not in a world like you and l were growing up where we could get away with less skills. Today’s world is very demanding especially if an income and a career is to be established.

        It’s a nasty catch 22. But staring into space isn’t helping him with his academics nor you with your stress.

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      1. Well l know about those two ingredients also. I haven’t had mushrooms since 2017 and onions which l was a huge fan of had to go in 2019 and spring onions disappeared in 2020.

        Stomach can no longer digest them.

        I can take soup but l get bored making it, but l should make more. I can’t even do vegetable smoothies .

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  15. Sadness seems to be the order of the day, but that smiles are always just a thought away or a bit of sleep or a nice cuppa… If you find things to make you and Hawklad smile, then hold on tight to that, note it down and bring it out when needed. I have made these cards the size of credit cards. Each one (made over time) has something on to smile about or encourage or turn the sad off with… Currently they’re all higgledy piggledy on the bedside table, not seem to have added to them of late, but dipped into them to keep going with.

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  18. The education system is too broken everywhere. I just thought this was the case in my country. It’s the same syllabus every year with minor modifications that don’t help us in the practical life at all! We had some really cool history lessons in school but I could never appreciate them until now because back then there was nothing interesting about the stories about how our civilisation came into place. It was just a bunch of kids trying to compete and just be no. 1 rather than honestly learn something. Maybe try showing your kid some documentaries on the lessons from school. He may enjoy them but a kid enjoying history at such a young age just means that you were doing something right till the school system destroyed things along the way. Wish your kid happy learning on my behalf! ✌🏼

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