Thursday, August 31, 2006
Two Observations From Family Night
On Tuesday nights, we have family night. We make or buy pizza. Sometimes we have a treat, too. And we watch a movie or play a game or swim together.
Last Tuesday, I thought that we had settled on watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But Lydia didn't want to. So I said that I was open to suggestions. For the next half hour, various members of the family made suggestions: Let's watch Planet of the Apes, let's go swimming, let's have a checkers tournament, let's watch Spirit, and on and on.
To each thing, Lydia said no. She had just washed her hair, so she didn't want to swim. Spirit was broken. Planet of the Apes was weird. She wasn't in the mood for checkers. She had just watched this movie or that. We repeatedly asked for her suggestions, but she didn't have any.
Finally, Andrew and I had a talk with her about being part of a group. It's not okay, we told her, just to veto every idea. If you are going to complain about our activity, you need to be willing to at least make suggestions for an alternative.
She didn't really seem to get it. She's 11 and has her own way of viewing the world!
Once you step out of your barn and into a show or club meeting or rabbit social gathering, you are part of a group. The same idea applies - be willing to be part of the solution to the problems that you see and to improving the things you dislike. It is not sufficient to simply point our problems and complain.
Now for the second observation.
We did watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang after all. Lydia decided not to join us for family night, which was a big loss to me. But since we couldn't determine an alternative, it was the best we could do.
If you've ever seen the movie, you know that it is jam-packed with musical numbers. Andrew likes the one where the grandfather is singing about the POSH life (Port Out, Starboard Home refers to the cabins requested by the rich on oceanic journeys, by the way).
I like the song the baron and baronet sing to each other - while he's trying to do away with her! I can't say that I see a moral there, though.
But what struck me was a song sung by the grandfather and a group of captive inventors - From the Ashes of Disaster Grow the Roses of Success. Over and over they describe how each failure can be motivation to try harder, not to repeat a mistake, to build on what you learn from trials, and so forth.
Of course, my mind wandered to bunnies and I thought about how I feel when things don't work out. We can either get frustrated and quit or we can use it as motivation. If we try a breeding and it's awful, we add that information to our fund of knowledge that makes us a better breeder in the long run. If we have a period where we aren't producing rabbits we like, it makes it all the sweeter when we find that wonderful bunny in a litter.
So next time things go wrong in a club, show, or group, remember to be part of the solution and not just a complainer. And when something goes wrong in your barn, remember that from the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design ¶ 6:52 AM
Last Tuesday, I thought that we had settled on watching Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. But Lydia didn't want to. So I said that I was open to suggestions. For the next half hour, various members of the family made suggestions: Let's watch Planet of the Apes, let's go swimming, let's have a checkers tournament, let's watch Spirit, and on and on.
To each thing, Lydia said no. She had just washed her hair, so she didn't want to swim. Spirit was broken. Planet of the Apes was weird. She wasn't in the mood for checkers. She had just watched this movie or that. We repeatedly asked for her suggestions, but she didn't have any.
Finally, Andrew and I had a talk with her about being part of a group. It's not okay, we told her, just to veto every idea. If you are going to complain about our activity, you need to be willing to at least make suggestions for an alternative.
She didn't really seem to get it. She's 11 and has her own way of viewing the world!
Once you step out of your barn and into a show or club meeting or rabbit social gathering, you are part of a group. The same idea applies - be willing to be part of the solution to the problems that you see and to improving the things you dislike. It is not sufficient to simply point our problems and complain.
Now for the second observation.
We did watch Chitty Chitty Bang Bang after all. Lydia decided not to join us for family night, which was a big loss to me. But since we couldn't determine an alternative, it was the best we could do.
If you've ever seen the movie, you know that it is jam-packed with musical numbers. Andrew likes the one where the grandfather is singing about the POSH life (Port Out, Starboard Home refers to the cabins requested by the rich on oceanic journeys, by the way).
I like the song the baron and baronet sing to each other - while he's trying to do away with her! I can't say that I see a moral there, though.
But what struck me was a song sung by the grandfather and a group of captive inventors - From the Ashes of Disaster Grow the Roses of Success. Over and over they describe how each failure can be motivation to try harder, not to repeat a mistake, to build on what you learn from trials, and so forth.
Of course, my mind wandered to bunnies and I thought about how I feel when things don't work out. We can either get frustrated and quit or we can use it as motivation. If we try a breeding and it's awful, we add that information to our fund of knowledge that makes us a better breeder in the long run. If we have a period where we aren't producing rabbits we like, it makes it all the sweeter when we find that wonderful bunny in a litter.
So next time things go wrong in a club, show, or group, remember to be part of the solution and not just a complainer. And when something goes wrong in your barn, remember that from the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success!
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design ¶ 6:52 AM
