Saturdays were once my favourite day of the week, especially when I lived in Brooklyn (Williamsburg). Despite waking up early all week for work, I'd still get up early on Saturday mornings and try to get all the practical stuff out of the way so that I could have fun for the rest of the weekend. After moving to France my schedule changed and Saturday became my least favourite day of the week.
I attribute the change in my feelings to the fact that as they say, New York is the city that never sleeps. I could buy bed linens at Bed, Bath, & Beyond at 9:45 pm if I wanted to or drop off my laundry and pick it up on my way home from work. It's not until recently that grocery stores in Paris were open after 8 o'clock so that meant when Saturday rolled around I, like most of the French people my age, spent most of Saturday being practical and fighting the massive crowds also trying to get things done.
So Sunday became my favourite day of the week and even now that I'm not working a 9-5 job, it's still my favourite mostly because of my neighbour's son.
On Sunday Coco comes for his English lessons. Since he's 8 (going on 9), I tend to try to make the lessons as fun as possible for him. Today since it's a bit chilly I made some chocolat chaud à l'ancienne for him with lots of lots of whipped cream. Last week we had guests over who all spoke English so we made the lesson about practicing speaking to people with different accents (we had Northern Irish, Australian, and American for him to chose from), eating strawberry shortcake, and then took a little walk.
The truth is most of my friends are either with child (and about to burst) or they already have at least one child. I have a dog and while La Chienne quite the hound, it's not the same level of responsibility or interaction. I'm very lucky that my neighbour allows me to spend time with Coco because it's not only hopefully rewarding for Coco, but it also is very rewarding for me as well. We play football or board games, and since he is generally always smiling, it brightens up my day.
If you're like me and don't have any children and you have a lazy afternoon in your life to spend, I highly recommend you spend it with a child. Borrow one from a friend or volunteer. In the US I was a Big Sister through the Big Brother and Big Sister program, volunteered through a therapeutic horseback riding program, and read to children at my local library.
Unfortunately in the current economic climate more and more educational programs are being cut for children either through schools or public libraries. Now in Coco' s case he has really kick ass parents. If I were going to be a parent I would hope I would be half as good at it as they are, but Coco is a fortunate kid. There are plenty of children who need a positive role model in their lives. If you think you have the time to dedicate, don't hesitate.
I might be a sap to say this, but there is a certain joy you get from making a child happy. When I went to Holland (Coco's family is Dutch) I promised Coco I'd get him a shirt for the Dutch player Wesley Schneider who is his favourite. He was bit worried I might forget to bring one back for him while I was away, and told me so. When I told him I of course wouldn't forget he smiled at me and said he knew because I always keep my promises. He wears the shirt every time he goes to football practice and always smiles when he has his shirt on.
It's like that MasterCard commercial they had a few years back. Tickets to Amsterdam 250,00 euros (mostly because I got the date wrong and had to rebuy a ticket), T-shirt of the best player in Holland 15,00 euros. Seeing Coco so happy because I didn't break my promise, priceless.
I remember reading a quote once that said (I'm paraphrasing here) that by giving it is you who receives something in the end. I have never found this to not be entirely true.
I attribute the change in my feelings to the fact that as they say, New York is the city that never sleeps. I could buy bed linens at Bed, Bath, & Beyond at 9:45 pm if I wanted to or drop off my laundry and pick it up on my way home from work. It's not until recently that grocery stores in Paris were open after 8 o'clock so that meant when Saturday rolled around I, like most of the French people my age, spent most of Saturday being practical and fighting the massive crowds also trying to get things done.
So Sunday became my favourite day of the week and even now that I'm not working a 9-5 job, it's still my favourite mostly because of my neighbour's son.
On Sunday Coco comes for his English lessons. Since he's 8 (going on 9), I tend to try to make the lessons as fun as possible for him. Today since it's a bit chilly I made some chocolat chaud à l'ancienne for him with lots of lots of whipped cream. Last week we had guests over who all spoke English so we made the lesson about practicing speaking to people with different accents (we had Northern Irish, Australian, and American for him to chose from), eating strawberry shortcake, and then took a little walk.
The truth is most of my friends are either with child (and about to burst) or they already have at least one child. I have a dog and while La Chienne quite the hound, it's not the same level of responsibility or interaction. I'm very lucky that my neighbour allows me to spend time with Coco because it's not only hopefully rewarding for Coco, but it also is very rewarding for me as well. We play football or board games, and since he is generally always smiling, it brightens up my day.
If you're like me and don't have any children and you have a lazy afternoon in your life to spend, I highly recommend you spend it with a child. Borrow one from a friend or volunteer. In the US I was a Big Sister through the Big Brother and Big Sister program, volunteered through a therapeutic horseback riding program, and read to children at my local library.
Unfortunately in the current economic climate more and more educational programs are being cut for children either through schools or public libraries. Now in Coco' s case he has really kick ass parents. If I were going to be a parent I would hope I would be half as good at it as they are, but Coco is a fortunate kid. There are plenty of children who need a positive role model in their lives. If you think you have the time to dedicate, don't hesitate.
I might be a sap to say this, but there is a certain joy you get from making a child happy. When I went to Holland (Coco's family is Dutch) I promised Coco I'd get him a shirt for the Dutch player Wesley Schneider who is his favourite. He was bit worried I might forget to bring one back for him while I was away, and told me so. When I told him I of course wouldn't forget he smiled at me and said he knew because I always keep my promises. He wears the shirt every time he goes to football practice and always smiles when he has his shirt on.
It's like that MasterCard commercial they had a few years back. Tickets to Amsterdam 250,00 euros (mostly because I got the date wrong and had to rebuy a ticket), T-shirt of the best player in Holland 15,00 euros. Seeing Coco so happy because I didn't break my promise, priceless.
I remember reading a quote once that said (I'm paraphrasing here) that by giving it is you who receives something in the end. I have never found this to not be entirely true.
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