If you ever needed a reminder of how to get little junior or the tiny princess to do something you want them to do (especially something that’s good for them) without any prodding or cajoling – just take a look at this:
It’s also refreshing to see adults break their daily patterns and routine behaviors to try something different and fun.
Keep an eye out for the elderly man (at around 1:23) who can barely walk – yet chooses the stairs – why? – cuz it looks like fun!
You know you’re watching something special when mom, dad, an eight year old boy and a three year old girl are all equally immersed and captivated by a 34 minute French movie with English subtitles that’s over a half a century old. Granted there’s only about five lines of dialogue in the movie (and amazingly still won the 1957 Academy Award for Best Screenplay – which really does prove that “less is more” once and for all) so there’s very little reading that is required. The Red Balloon, an almost wordless motion picture, is a fantasy piece by director Albert Lamorisse – who cast his son in the starring role as the little Parisian boy who finds a red balloon on his way to school and begins a magical, intimate and ultimately trusting friendship with the bright red shiny orb.
The movie has almost a living story book feel, with amazingly composed shots of the Ménilmontant neighborhood of Paris which apparently was razed in the late 1960’s. So the movie actually also serves as a recorded preserve of the Belleville area of the city which was a unique neighborhood of steep staircases, narrow passageways and cobblestone streets.
Typically “Friday Night Movie Night” is a boy’s event since little sister is usually in bed by 8pm but tonight was our first family movie night, and thanks to grandma Mama Mela – who spent weeks hunting down the movie – which was only recently released on DVD, we all got to experience a wonderful, touching, beautiful movie.
And the real magic IMO….is that there wasn’t one single computer graphic, blue screen shot, motion capture, 3D animation or technical special effect used. Nor was there a celebrity voice-over, merchandising tie-in or super cool soundtrack with hit singles from Black Eyed Peas or Hannah Montana – just a sweeping string-based score, a great, simple, compelling story, a balloon, a very very thin piece of thread and the opportunity for any and all of us to be connected by pure imagination.
While driving home the other day, I listened to the classic Harry Chapin song “Cat’s in the Cradle” on the radio.
Cat’s in the Cradle
If you’re not familiar with the song it’s about a father who never finds the time to spend with his son and misses the boy’s entire childhood. For example, when the boy is 10 he asks his father “…can you teach me to throw?” The father sings “… not today, I got a lot to do – he (the son) says that’s okay and walks away but his smile never dimmed said I’m gonna be like him…”
When the boy is older and home from college, the tables turn and it’s the father that is left longing to spend time with his boy. The last stanza – which is a killer – has the old man retired and lonely and wanting to see his son, who is now an adult but too busy with his own children and work and unable and unwilling to make the time to see his father – “my boy was just like me…when are you coming home son – I don’t know when but we’ll get together then dad…”
I must have heard this song a million times before, but now, being a father, it’s a sock to the jaw. Although I think (and my wife attests) that I’m a pretty active and present father, the song left me almost heart-broken with the idea of missing opportunities to share great moments with my children… while they are still children.
So – similar to the “bucket list”, which is a list of stuff you really want to do before you die (i.e. “kick the bucket”), I figured, given how quickly our children grow and time passes, that making a “Cradle to College” list would help in ensuring that my children’s childhood doesn’t evaporate before my eyes and I’m left, sitting during their graduation, realizing my opportunity to share special big once in a lifetime moments with my kids has gone FOREVER.
I submit the following items as the beginning of my “Cradle to College” list (as of October 9, 2009):
Build a real tree house.
Climb a mountain – a 10,000 footer, and sit on the peak with my kids (and my wife).
Get them certified for scuba diving.
Take my kids to where I was born and where my mother is from – Lima, Peru and have them meet my extended family there.
Professionally record some songs with my children – in a studio, playing instruments and/or singing (it doesn’t matter whether they can sing or play).
Take my son and daughter to a political rally and have them understand why people are there.
Rent an RV motor home and go on an unplanned road trip.
See at least 50 of AFI’s Top 100 greatest movies of all time (before they graduate high school).
Develop in my children an understanding and appreciation for classical music and take them to at least one full season of the SF symphony and/or opera.
Have a several day stint in Manhattan, taking them to the museums, theater, restaurants and giving them a real taste of the magic of NYC.
Work side-by-side with them helping those less fortunate than ourselves – such as working the kitchen at Glide Memorial on a Sunday morning.
Go on several 2-3 day back country camping trips in the Sierra’s – sleep under the stars, catch & cook fish, teach them how to sling a bear bag, etc.
Make sure they’ve seen and know the Marx Brothers, Abbott & Costello, Laurel & Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Sid Caesar and make sure they can enjoy a movie made in black and white as much as one made with CGI in 3D.
Ensure they have a strong and well articulated opinion on who is a better drummer, Neil Pert, Keith Moon, John Bonham or Bill Bruford.
This list will shrink and then grow as we check off and add items over time. And with a little luck and some effort and commitment – I, and hopefully you, will look back on the time we’ve had with our children and know that unlike the protagonist in the song, we didn’t miss the magic of our children’s lives.
Send your special C2C items and I’ll post ’em up for others to see – info@poppapa.com or below in the reply/comment field.
I find that playing music sung in languages other than English helps my kids understand that there are places other than the United States and bands other than Black Eyed Peas that can crank it out. So, let’s pick a country… say Hungary and let’s pick a time – say 40 years ago – with that let me introduce you to Sarolta Zalatnay. Discovered amid the staff picks at Green Apple Bookstore in San Francisco (arguably one of the best – if not the best, book store in the city) – it’s a fav on our play list rotation.
So, if you like killer hip-hop back beat, fuzzed-out wah wah guitar, lots of big crunchy power chords and a major dose of Janis Joplin with a pinch of Geddy Lee via Budapest circa 1969 then you’re gonna love her. Check out the grooves in Itt a Nyár and Hadd Mondjam El or the haunting Adj Egy Percet). I’ve tossed a few of her songs into some iPod play lists where several fellow musically discerning friends were clearly intrigued… and stumped. They would first look vacantly towards the sky as if they were trying to place the sound, then look quizzically at me – with expressions of delight yet wonder – their well honed databases of all things musical clearly unable to call up the artist. Click hear to get the album: Zalatnay
Egyser Itt a Nyar Adj Egy Percet Hadd Mondjam El
I have to admit that, even at my advance age of forty-something, discovering a random golden nugget like Sarolta still makes my day.
Came across this truly amazing video of Italian street artist Blu and NY based artist David Ellis mashing-up their two distinct styles into a graffiti-based motion painting collaborative called COMBO for this year’s Fame Festival in Grottaglie Italy. It’s a four minute piece (it loops twice) that took them one entire week to create. In it you’ll see Blu’s familiar characters and designs crawling and interacting with the building itself. Makes you breathe a sigh of relief that creativity and originality still exist out there in the world.
If you liked COMBO – then check out Blu’s piece MUTO from last year. Click here.
If you believe that one of the biggest contributors to the well being of children is the strength and dynamic of the relationship between the father and mother – meaning that the health and stability of the primary relationship contributes greatly to the ability to be better parents, then today’s Forum subject warrants your focused attention.
This morning’s show focuses on the findings that women (and more so – mothers) have been becoming unhappier while men’s happiness has increased – which is the conclusion drawn from 37 years of data from the General Social Survey which has tracked Americans’ moods since 1972. Click here to listen to the discussion between Betsey Stevenson professor of at the Wharton School of Business, Christine Carter, executive director of the Greater Good Science Center and author of “Raising Happiness” and Ruth Rosen, professor of history at UC Berkeley and former columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle and The Los Angeles Times. The discussion explores several potential causes such as the tendency for perfectionism among women, unrealistic expectations and media influences.
I was lucky and got to catch the whole broadcast on the drive down to Palo Alto this morning for a meeting. Let’s all give hugs, kisses and gratitude to our old ladies today.
I’m a big fan of The Polyphonic Spree – the choral symphonic rock group from Dallas Texas, which is headed by Tim DeLaughter. So when I came across a company, Wee See, that produces visual stimulation DVDs for infants with music scored, composed and performed by Tim, I had to check it out. For a quick taste of the experience, click here:
Fans of The Polyphonic Spree will recognize the bright and shiny melodies in the DVDs which are slow methodically dynamic high contrast black and white animations that are soothing and actually pretty fun to watch. I can imagine a concert or party (for grown-ups) with these as visualizations in the background. Here’s a sample of one of the DVDs:
An almost painful but hilarious experiment of kids managing their impulses. I’d be interested to see how adults fare. I wouldn’t be surprised if grown-ups acted more impulsively then the kids. It’s a fun watch. I came across this at a great kid-related, design-based blog called Wee Saw.
A favorite in our house, Dandelion Gum is BMSR’s third album and is laden with trippy, psychedelic and highly melodic songs that sound like they were written and played by a group of martian kids on too much cough syrup. It’s electronic/rock that’s played and recorded live – no sequencers were used, which explains the warm, child-like feel to the songs. Check out “Drippy Eye” and “When the Sun Grows On Your Tongue”. Weird, fun, kid friendly… and its got a great beat! Check it out.
Po Bronson – NYT best selling author, collaborates on a new book on how to raise children… NurtureShock: New Thinking About Children…that is based on research by psychologists, neuro-imaging scientists, demographers, sociologists, and others that all independently come to the same conclusions. It definitely turns a lot of conventional wisdom upside down and “pops” many beliefs on what works and what doesn’t when it concerns raising children.
is 10 he asks his father “…can you teach me to throw?” The father sings “… not today, I got a lot to do – he (the son) says that’s okay and walks away but his smile never dimmed said I’m gonna be like him…”
is BMSR’s third album and is laden with trippy, psychedelic and highly melodic songs that sound like they were written and played by a group of martian kids on too much cough syrup. It’s electronic/rock that’s played and recorded live – no sequencers were used, which explains the warm, child-like feel to the songs. Check out “Drippy Eye” and “When the Sun Grows On Your Tongue”. Weird, fun, kid friendly… and its got a great beat! Check it out.
…that is based on research by psychologists, neuro-imaging scientists, demographers, sociologists, and others that all independently come to the same conclusions. It definitely turns a lot of conventional wisdom upside down and “pops” many beliefs on what works and what doesn’t when it concerns raising children.
Pop Papa 