Like Father Like Son

I've had an interest in writing for a long time.  I can remember being in Sussex Corner Elementary School and writing a "Hardy Boys" type story in my writing journal.  I loved writing but as a kid I suppressed this desire to be cool as I felt young boys were to play hockey and explore outside.  I don't regret these decisions I made as a young boy but I sometimes wonder how my life would be different if I had focused on my writing instead of athletics. 

Recently I have recognized a similar battle taking shape within my six year old son.  He has taken a strong interest in reading and writing while trying to get him to hockey in the morning is a bit of a challenge.  It was made even more apparent recently when he had one of his stories published in the Sussex Corner Elementary School Newsletter for March 2012.  I'm a proud father so I'm going to share it here.  To be accurate I'm not going to correct the spelling mistakes as I think it shows his true mind.  Keep in mind he is six years old so many of the words are well beyond his expected reading level.

Here is what he wrote:

"Have you ever gon skating?  One day I went skating.  It was on Sunday at my aunt Beckees after cherch.  My aunt Beckee put on my skates.  When I got on the ice I slipt and fel.  I hit my head.  I thot I should of had my helmet on.  I didn't beecos my Dat thot I didn't need it.  So I sat down.  My aunt Beckee found a helmet so I put it on.  I went to play hockey with my kosen Kiele and somebody els.  Then I saw a side by side.  I stuck my stike in the snow and climbed on.  We foload coyote tracs.  Everee tiem he foload the coyote tracs into the woods he saw a rabit.  Beefor I went home I had another ride.  I had alot of fun."

So now that he is writing and communicating like an adult I have to be more cautious as he can rat me out when I make a mistake, such as not putting a helmet on him.  In my defense I opted to put a thick hat on him to keep his head and cheeks warm.  Thankfully he wasn't hurt to badly and he still enjoyed the day well enough that he wrote about it.  I will be making an effort to encourage his creative side while hopefully balancing it with his more active side.  I believe that each benefits from the other.

Dad is proud of you buddy.  Keep it up.  Love you.