Thursday, August 3, 2017

Welcome to August!

My calendar until this morning was still set to July.
I think that is subconscious trying to convince the rest of my body not to let summer go so quickly.
I have finished a pair of pair of socks,

and am currently working on another pair,

This pair will be finished when I run out of yarn. I think they will make fun boot socks!

I have also been working on my painting and sketching.
This is the progress of my Sunflowers:

This painting is finally starting to make sense to me. Quite a few hours have been invested. At one point I thought I might just paint over it and start something new but, I am glad I persevered. I am liking the colour scheme and how your eye travels from one point to the next smoothly. I will continue to work on this in my shop today.

As you all know, I live with a teenager. With young person in my house we sometimes need to have some very serious conversations. Hubs and I try to be fairly open and honest with Little Man, who really is not so little anymore. The past few months we have noticed a change in his social circle. There are a few young ladies that have joined their group. This began the conversation of about respect. We know he is going to be very curious about some subjects. Those of a sexual nature, I leave to his father. They talk about what sex is, how things work, body parts, feelings and so on. I leave that to my husband to discuss because they have a very good relationship when it comes to communicating. Little man is not shy when it comes to asking Hubs about the birds and the bees and Hubs has no problem explaining the details of what some of us would might find very embarrassing. Other things addressed is to respect a person's opinion and response. No means no, regardless of when it is said. A person's body belongs to them. We have no right to interfere or touch another person without their consent. Women and girls are people. Not just objects or play things. Little Man is very pro-feminist. Everyone deserves respect. Everyone deserves to feel safe.
A few months ago, he Ipod chimed stating he had a message. It lights up and shows the message so, it's not like I actively searched for the message. Also, Little Man knows that his father and I will give him his privacy, but until he is mature and old enough, we still have power over all electronic devices. This message was from a young girl demanding that he meet her some place. I said to Little Man, so and so is asking to meet up with you. The look on his face told me the rest of the story. Apparently this young lady makes him feel uncomfortable. I asked him what did he mean. Well, turns out not all parents and guardians have the conversation about respecting others.
We explained to Little Man that he also deserves the same respect that he is to give others. If this young lady is treating you as an object and not respecting you or your response to her questions/demands, you do not need to associate with her at all! Little Man by his own choosing avoids this particular young lady. She made him feel uncomfortable and did not listen when he said he was not going to do anything. To be honest, I never really thought about saying that he also needs to know that when he says no, it is no. We are inundated with all sorts of pro-feminine information, especially in the wake of our southern neighbours politics, we might forget that our sons also need to hear the same information. I very wrongly assumed that women are told to also respect men. Living with this young person in my house has really opened my eyes to all sorts of things I never even thought about.
So, we need to inform our children and teenagers, all of them, about respect for others and themselves. I sincerely hope I am doing right by this kid. I keep saying my goal is to get him to adulthood and to be self-sufficient. I think we are on the right path.

I hope you are all well. I'm off to complete domestic stuff and hopefully enjoy the sun while I can.