Jack Journal

 So, a couple of things have happened recently that lead me to believe a dedicated series of journal entries may be warranted in order to document one of the journeys we are on.  I often think time spent  with humans who are aged in just single digits is precious time.  Time with folks like this is exhausting and yet exhilarating at the same time. Life is very different through their eyes and there is a lot to learn.   It is Jack, at age 7, who is providing the entertainment and lessons in recent days.

Yesterday the family stopped in to visit.  Well, their mom visited while Emma carefully prepared multi-faceted Valentine's Day greetings for her classmates.  I honestly wish I went to school now given the care taken with these greetings.  Each little red cellophane bag has hot cocoa, a puffy marshmallow creature, a small piece of chocolate and a hot cup.  This is all accompanied by a personal note.  She worked long and hard on the assembly.

Meanwhile... an Amazon corrugated box was being worked on by Jack.  Not bad.  The two worked in different corners of the room on their respective projects - both very innocent.  The box was cut, markers were sought, tape and glue nearby.  The box project took much longer than the Valentines and I, for one, could not wait to see the outcome.  So often these projects produce an elaborate diorama, football field, or other structure of significance.  Always interesting.

Finally, he finished his masterpiece for the day and came into the larger group with a framed, flat, human figure that was dancing through the open frame.  Elaborate and totally unexpected.  It begged the question "What is that, Jack?"  The answer "It's Emma's Tinder date."  

Now here's the problem - everyone in the room dissolved in laughter.  Except Emma who indignantly asked for explanation as she doesn't have a Tinder account at 9 years old.  Jack responded that the cardboard figure is merely the date she would have IF she did have a Tinder account.  She was not amused.

This is not a problem for the obvious reason of why a 7 yr old is creating an imaginary date from a electronic app for his 9 yr old sister - neither of which have access to the app.  The problem is that we need some adults who could point out the error of Jack's ways at 7 rather than laugh hysterically at the representation.  The problem lies in my lack of parenting skills and those I obviously didn't instill in my daughter.  How effective is it to drill down into the thought process and knowledge that brought us to the flat Tinder buddy AFTER we laughed so heartily at the image?  How sincere can the lessons of appropriate access and acting like a 7 yr old be when we have all succumbed to the the broader lessons of 2022?  

My guess is - this will all take time to sort through.  We better sort in out quickly because Jack will always look at the world just a little differently.  He is funny.  He is also in tune to way too much in the world.  He will continue exploring, creating, and probably using his sister as his straight person.  Yep, we better figure out how to laugh in private and appropriately try to guide him.  What a fun journey.