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Journal

We get a lot of homework! Five minutes of math, twenty minutes of reading and another homework sheet that could be any subject. Finally, there’s a ‘journal’. One sentence everyday about anything that interested or excited her.

The sentence per day, has been a good insight for me. It forces her to choose the most interesting thing that day. I’ve noticed sometimes she cheats and writes the second most interesting thing, since she’s already written the most interesting thing once before. For example, “We went out for dinner”. If she can’t think of the second most interesting thing, then she may get a little more descriptive, in order to be less repetitive. For example, “We had burritos for dinner”.

For me, the most interesting is when she decides to write something which tells me a bit more about her.

She mentioned her friend’s absence from school once. She’s social, and this reaffirmed that importance that people have for her.

She mentioned learning about syllables once. Again, she’s fond of reading, but I realized that she seems to be fond of language.

They have prizes for good behavior at school, and she mentioned that her good behavior ‘credit card’ is almost full. I guess that just shows, that gamification works.

Sometimes, I know what she’s going to write. I know she’ll say “We went to the jumpy house today”, because that beats everything else, hands down. (Bonus dad joke, one of her favorites. 6.30 pm is the best time, hands down)

I look forward to these sentences that tell me a little bit more about her and help me feel a little more connected. I dread that the day her journal will be locked!

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About the Blog

I became a father on 17th April 2010. Even though I was prepared for being a dad, I was not the least bit prepared for what it meant to be a dad. This blog is about some of the pleasing, joyful, horrid, wonderful and annoying realisations that I've had as a parent of a beautiful baby girl.

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