Likeable Children

Our pupils suffered an acute Covid regulation-related disappointment, so their maths teacher and I met them yesterday for another excursion. It was a beautifully sunny Bank Holiday Monday-- a marvellous day to be outside, marching children to lunch and then to historical sites, full of food and education. 

I think we all had a very good time. My colleague insisted in ordering escargots so that the children could try them. They tasted like rubbery mushrooms. The children, unsurprisingly, were underwhelmed, but at least they can say they have eaten snails (or A snail) and perhaps they will remember, even unto old age, a sunny day in Edinburgh, the 16th century apartment building, cappuccino or hot chocolate in the hidden park off the Royal Mile, the threat of being thrown into one of the pools outside the Scottish parliamentary buildings. 

This morning I remembered a video of Jordan Peterson talking about how necessary it is to raise your children so that adults will like them. This is absolutely true, not only because (as he says) adults will smile at them honestly and make them feel welcome in the world, but also because adults will be happy to take them off your hands for a few hours and (if you have introduced the children to the right adults) impart your values to them from another direction. At the same time, such adults can expand their horizons in beneficial ways: feeding them snails, talking of other countries, exhorting them to save 50% of all money that comes their way, explaining the talent vs practice debate. Normally these adults would be uncles and aunts, I imagine.  

When I got home, shedding hat, mask, and even hair elastic on the way from the railway station, I found B.A. reading a magazine and drinking elderflower champagne on the little porch at the top of the stairs overlooking the garden. I was so tired I just plunked down on the stairs and drank from his glass. He very kindly got me a chair and some peanuts and put another bottle of elderflower champagne to cool in the freezer. So I sat with my back to the sun, which kindly warmed up my head, and was enormously grateful to be so tired in such a good cause. 

The photo is of our apple tree yesterday. I think I will start posting apple tree photos to mark the passage of the seasons, now that I am properly blogging again.