(no subject)

[elizilla]

Today I went with Michael to his family's Christmas get together. He has a huge family. Four brothers, who all have at least two children apiece, ages 4 on up to adults. His oldest brother now has six grandchildren. So the place was packed. It's funny how every year, more of these nieces and nephews have gotten old enough to become interested in adults who don't have other children.

There are two nieces, both 8th graders, who seem to like me. I have suggested that maybe sometime they could both come over here for a day or a weekend, and we can find something to do. They were very interested in this idea. But now I'm worried. What would we do? I don't know if I can keep them amused for long.

One of them is living a life a lot like mine was at that age. Good student, strict parents, church every Sunday, encouraged to do all kinds of parentally sanctioned and properly chaperoned activities, but not allowed to run wild or be idle. She's very well trained and polite, too well-behaved to tell me if I bore her. The other one reminds me of the girls who, when I was that age, were to be found in cars with older boys, smoking cigarettes and skipping school. She's also polite, but not in a well-trained way; she just seems happy to have my attention. I don't think the adults in her everyday life pay much attention to her. I'm afraid she'll get tired of me and I'll have my hands full.

So now I'm trying to think of activities I could do with these two girls, that both girls would enjoy and which wouldn't cause the first girl's parents to kill me.

Here's what I've thought of:
I could take them out to a nice restaurant and a concert or play, and treat them like grownups.
We could go skating.
I could teach them to sew.
We could stay here, make cookies and rent movies.
We could play board games or networked computer games.
We could go to a museum or do some other educational thing.
We could do each other's hair, or go get our nails done, something girly like that.
I could put them to work, make them help me with some project around the house.
I could take them to an empty parking lot and let them drive my car.
I could take them shopping and buy them impractical stuff.
If it were summer we could go canoeing or swimming or something, I suppose.

Half these ideas are lame, and I can't think of anything else. What do girls that age like to do? I can't remember doing much that wasn't completely solitary, at that age.

Comments

[jeffreyab.livejournal.com]

Those ideas all sound good to me.

Of course I am a guy.

Shopping in downtown Ypsi or Ann Arbor might widen their horizons.

Followed by activities in the house.