Last week, we went on an adventure. Sophie, Gemma-Rose, Andy and I travelled to a small country town in the north of our state to visit our son Callum. We spent a few days bumping along dirt roads in Callum’s truck seeing all the local sights.
We saw herds of cows, grubby sheep, an unusually huge black wallaby as well as kangaroos, wedge-tailed eagles, a couple of open cut coal mines, extraordinarily long coal trains which looked like brown snakes slithering over the countryside, recently harvested cotton fields, an enormous dripping rock which had stopped dripping, and lots of red soil and almost empty dams.
Sadly, like most of our state, the area where Callum lives is severely affected by the drought. Towns are running out of water. One town has no water at all. It’s hard when people don’t even have the basics to survive. There’s a water bottle refill station in Callum’s town. Callum told me that some people are driving into town with containers and filling them with water from this station to use for their basic needs.
We know a bit about surviving on little water. Years ago, we lived in a cottage on a property not connected to the town water. We relied on tank water which would have been okay except it hardly ever rained. Even though we were very, very careful with our water, at regular intervals, we’d hear an ominous gurgling noise in our pipes. We knew what that sound meant: we were just about out of water. It was time to ring the carrier and have some trucked in. It always felt like Christmas when we had a full tank of water. We could wash a few loads of clothes. Perhaps we could have a bath. But it wasn’t long before we had to conserve water again. How long could we make our tank of water last?
Fortunately, Callum’s house is connected to the town water supply. And although the local dams have almost dried up, water is being pumped to the town from somewhere else.
Whenever we visit Callum or he comes to see us, I always have morning coffee with my son. We enjoy some one-on-one time together. We catch up with each other’s news and share our latest thoughts and ideas. I love spending time with my favourite second son. (He tells me that I’m his favourite mother!) Callum and I share a very close relationship.
How did we build up that strong relationship? Maybe valuing Callum’s passions helped. I always take an interest in the things that are important to him. I listen to his ideas and thoughts and offer encouragement. And we have fun together. Callum and I have been on lots of crazy adventures.
In my latest podcast, Building Strong Relationships With Our Kids, I share some stories about Callum:
- How I Removed an Engine from a Car
- Engines, Muscles and Spending Time with Dad
- My Fridge Adventure
(The first two stories are in my book Curious Unschoolers.)
In episode 156, I talk about building strong relationships with our kids by:
- Taking an interest in their passions.
- Spending time with them.
- Being daring and adventurous parents who like to have fun.
As well, I talk about:
- Self-directed learning.
- Being honest.
I also share a couple of reviews for my books Curious Unschoolers and Radical Unschool Love.
(I was excited to receive my first review for Radical Unschool Love!)
Show Notes
My Unschooling Books
Curious Unschoolers: Kindle
Curious Unschoolers: paperback
Radical Unschool Love: Kindle
Radical Unschool Love: paperback
Youtube
Grinning at My Perfectionism
If you listen to my podcast, you might notice something: I used the word ‘grinned’ a lot. Yes, Callum grinned multiple times in my stories! How did I manage to use the same word over and over again without realising? I don’t know. The perfectionist in me isn’t very happy. But most of me is saying, “It doesn’t matter. Grinned is a fabulous word!”
Photos
While we were on our adventure, Callum said, “I could take you up the mountain. There’s a great view from the top. You’d get some good photos. But I have to warn you, it’s a very steep drive.”
I thought about crawling up a narrow dirt road to the top of the mountain in Callum’s truck. I thought about coming back down again. Then I said, “Okay, that sounds good!” because I’m a daring and adventurous mother. (You might know that if you’ve read Radical Unschool Love!) I’m brave enough to follow my son anywhere!
We set off for the mountain. But when we came to the steep road, there was a sign: Road Closed. So I didn’t get to the top of the mountain. I didn’t have to be brave and adventurous.
“I’ll take you to the lookout instead,” said Callum. “You’ll be able to see the whole town from there.” And that’s where I took these photos.
Sophie isn’t in the photos because she doesn’t like heights. Gemma-Rose doesn’t mind being high up. She was brave enough to sit on the fence. The ground sloped gently for a few metres before falling steeply away so I wasn’t scared that I’d lose my daughter over the lookout. Andy was hiding inside his hoodie. He was cold. Callum was grinning!
Thank you for listening to this episode
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Please feel welcome to leave a comment
You could tell me how many times I said the word ‘grin’ in this episode!
Maybe you have a water story to share.
Do you have a story about being daring and adventurous?
Or perhaps you have some other tips for building strong relationships with our kids.
I hope one day I
Will be able to say the same things, that my sons and I are close. It is hard to be interested in what interests them – I find my mind wanders, ha. I lived in a house one where the well dried up a lot. The most inconvenient time was when my husband was showering and had soaped head to toe when it ran out. Thankfully the well water wasn’t potable so we also had bottled water for drinking. So I boiled up some water from our drinking water and cooled it off so he could rinse the soap off :P.
Jaime,
Even if we aren’t interested in the same things as our kids, maybe we can enjoy their joy. I love listening to my son talking about his passions because his face lights up and he gets excited. His joy overflows to me!
That’s a wonderful water story. What an inconvenient time for the water to run out! Thank you for stopping by!
I really enjoyed this podcast Sue. So many thoughts. But first, a question! What was the refrigerator repairman wearing on his head? A cobra?! I’m sure that’s not right but that’s the only picture that comes to mind. Anyway, I loved your stories especially the one about the fridge and the trailer. My kids push me in a lot of ways and invite me into their activities. It would be terrible to miss out so I always try to participate when they invite me. Recently, only my 16 year old daughter and I were in the car together and a song from her playlist came on. She said, “mom we have to sing along to this song” which really scared me. It’s probably silly of me to be scared but I knew that this was important to her so we both had a really fun time singing along to the song. Another time I took my oldest three kids indoor rock climbing. They love indoor rock climbing, especially my oldest daughter. She has a lot of talent. The workers gave us a tour of the gym, which included climbing down something that was either a very steep staircase or a very tilted ladder. It was the worst of both worlds, that’s for sure! But, I do try to really be involved with them, especially since we have started unschooling. There is so much more time for real experiences like this since we started unschooling. I love that. So much more time to watch movies with the kids. I’m not a big movie fan but one of my children learns so much from movies and shares special ones with me. I’m thankful for that. Again, great podcast. I’m glad you had a nice trip!
Well, I had to look it up. I see an akubra is a type of Australian hat, kind of like a cowboy hat. I’ve seen that type of hat and now I know what they are called! My 9 year old daughter spent a week at camp. There theme was Australia. When she came home she had lots of interesting facts to share and some not quite so factual information too. It took a little convincing on my end but she finally believed that there is no such thing as drop bears. I had to google it though! ?
Venisa,
Oh yes, it’s sometimes scary joining in with the things our kids enjoy doing. Or we’d rather do something else. I’m not a movie person either. But I’ve noticed that my kids enjoy themselves even more if I join in so I guess it’s worth pushing ourselves out of our comfort zones, isn’t it? Also, I always end up enjoying myself!
The other day, my Goddaughter wanted to climb a tall spiral staircase that led to the church bell. She wanted me to join her. I urged her to go by herself but then changed my mind. Unfortunately, the gate to the bell was locked so neither of us got to experience the thrill of climbing high. I imagine the view from the top of the staircase was fantastic!
Akubra… Yes, it’s a hat! All the country people seem to wear them. Callum has a couple of them. He also has a Driza-Bone. That’s another iconic piece of Aussie clothing!