Eloise has spent a few days exhaling, Readers.
I've checked a couple of biggies off of The List.
For starters, the school year has ended.
Here is Sam reminding you of that.
He's extra happy.
That's Sam's version of a cross between a booty dance and an old fashioned mooning.
The kids last day was June 4th. You've never lived life fully unless you've been in a school at dismissal time on the last day before the summer break. At Clark, my kids' school, we give them quite a send off.
The principal sends inspirational messages to them via the bullhorn.
And my colleagues and I give them applause out the door as they walk through a crowd of motivational posters.
Some encourage physical fitness.
Others academics.
And some are flat out good teacher advice.
I sure hope mine paid them some mind as they exited the building.
A mother knows her brood. Exiting school posters are not enough for my offspring. Eloise has to lay down the law at the Lamp Post. Each year we post the Summer Rules. They are necessary for family survival with all five of us home.
Last year my rules were very popular. They circulated Pinterest for a few months.
I fined my children for their infractions, and they earned quarters for hard work and good deeds.
One of them had a rough time with this approach.
Without mentioning names, I bought a new pair of shoes, thanks to HIM.
Eloise likes to change things up, so I am trying a different approach this year.
Allow me to introduce the Lamp Post Summer Behavior Modification Plan,
version 2013 point 0 (it's bound to need some revamps throughout the season).
This year we are going to focus on winning and losing. It's important to know the rules of both. How should we best practice this? Why not with the age old game of school yard marbles!
We're playing for keeps at the Lamp Post this summer.
There are hundreds of games to play with marbles. Go to the library and check out a book. You'll find many fun ones. Get yourself a bag full of marbles at the dollar store and add them to a jar for community play. Have your children choose some favorites to keep separate from the rest. They become your personal marbles and play at least one round each marble session FOR KEEPS. This means that you may lose your marbles (Eloise is sure to lose hers by mid July, pun intended).
It's much more fun if you name them. These are my picks.
My students will recognize them for sure.
Crackle is my newest one. Two of my students, Brynn and Chelsea, made that one for me. You can bake cats eye marbles in a 500 degree oven for 20 minutes, then submerge in cold water. The glass on the inside shatters, leaving the marble with a crackle effect. How cool!
I can tell you right now Sam is not going to take the inevitable first marble loss well at all. He has a tough time with winning or losing. Here he is early in the baseball season with his first "forced out" at third base.
You thought the world had ended.
Fortunately he has a very patient coach,
who explained the rule and reinforced that Sam was not
"robbed"
"jipped"
or "ripped off."
Coach Jason seized the teachable moment and Sam learned. Sam is much better now.....well until he had to learn the pop fly rule......
The only way to improve at anything is to keep at it. Marble games are going to be a fun way to practice those important skills of being a good loser and a gracious winner. I'll let you know how things are going as the summer goes along.
Another little ditty I picked up from Doc and my Team Adrenaline teammates is the importance of public accountability. The team has a page on facebook. Often along side the workout pictures and Challenge Erie updates, you'll find posts of people, publicly announcing their goals. Here's a big one:
Steven Krauza
May 31--I will be riding for 24 hours straight on July 19th/20th to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Ride with me for a donation to the CFF. —
I liked that idea, so I applied it to a little Summer Behavior Modification here at the Lamp Post. I am posting these pictures to remind my children our agreed upon rules.
From Ellen, our resident artist.
From Natalie:
From Sam:
A reminder for all three of them:
I am hoping the threat of the infractions appearing in blog world will be enough to curb less than desirable behaviors.
Another huge challenge I checked off my list was the 116 Royal Burpee Challenge, posted by Team Adrenaline Motivator, Sean.
This is Sean.
He can be a little crazy.
Still, I trusted that this would be a good thing. After all, he and Julie Robinson partner up at Run Erie to help people improve their running form. He certainly wouldn't lead me astray.
Here was the temptation:
BURPEE UP!!! Trying to spread the word on this excellent challenge. Jump in because whether you hate or love them(nobody loves them), burpees do a body good!
I jumped in.
I wanted to improve my arm strength (that's the story I floated).
What I really was after was this t-shirt.
On February 9th, I began with just one repetition of this exercise:
I'd get a facebook reminder every day.
No problem. On February 9th, I completed 1 burpee. Not so bad.
The next day I had to do 2,
then 3,
then 4,
then 5,
6,
7,
you get the idea.
It started to get hard around #33.
I was worried I wouldn't be able to finish something I publicly said I would do.
I was worried I wouldn't be able to finish something I publicly said I would do.
I found this Keep Calm poster and kept going,
... but I had to divide them into sets, interspersed throughout my workouts.
That adaptation worked for me.
I kept at it all spring.
about this many.
Still, Eloise kept going.
I finished my last three at Tuesday's Team Adrenaline workout.
For once I asked for applause and let them take my picture.
I did this many burpees!!!
Here, let me write it out for you. It looks much more impressive in word form:
six thousand seven hundred eighty six
!!!!!!!!
I thought my arms would be more sore from all of those push ups, but honestly, they never did hurt. My abs felt it the most. What got the biggest workout was my discipline. This was really an exercise in dedication more than anything else.
I love how they saved the bloody facebook reminder for the last day.
I'll be giving this book a mention over the next couple of weeks.
It's a really interesting non fiction book by New York Times writer, Charles Duhigg. It's a small investment with big payoffs. Definitely worth the read and if you makes sense of the neuroscience behind habit formation, it may just change your life.
If you aren't a fan of non fiction, you may want to pick up a copy of my dystopian favorite, Divergent by Veronica Roth. I'll be touching on some points from that novel in the weeks leading up the Tough Mudder event I
Enjoy the video set to The Band Perry's, Done! Remember, if the video gives you trouble, or you can't find the one you are seeking (my account posts the most recent video), click on the YouTube words on the lower right of the box. This will take you directly to my account, and you can view videos from there.
Have a great weekend! I'm glad you've made reading Lessons From the Lamp Post your habit!
Eloise
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