At the moment I'm reading (amongst other things as I can never stick to one book) 'The Idle Parent', I have read this book before and I have read 'How to be Idle' many times, I love Tom Hodgkinson and all that he stands for. This isn't quite as terrible as it sounds, he points out that we don't need to sell our precious time to others quite so often if we don't join in with the consumer culture, a belief that I completely agree with. We certainly have less money than we might have had but our time is so much more valuable than a giant TV or trips to theme parks. This week I have been reminded that children really don't need much to be happy. A whole afternoon was taken up by an old kite in a field, A was ecstatic and I couldn't have imagined that she would want to spend so much time flying.
Then yesterday we got to the woods only to discover that A had her party shoes on, fortunately when she looked in the boot of the car she found her wellies. For two hours she trudged through mud and then streams, avoiding all the paths and when I pointed out that she hadn't needed to use the paths at all she said 'Oh I love wellies'
Wellies and a kite, much cheaper than an xbox or a dolls house and she's occupied for hours, and, as Tom Hodgkinson points out, occupied children leave their parents free to idle.
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