Enjoy your trip!

Since my 7-year-old son joined in the practice trip of Karate yesterday, my husband, 6-year-old daughter and I took him to the place to meet up.

The trip was organized by the Karate school which my son joins.

The Karate school has a lot of branch practice venues, and more than 60 children and 25 adult took part in the tour.

I was worried about my son because it was the first time for him to go on the trip without parents and only my son would attend the trip from his branch.

I asked him before I pay the travel fee:

"Are you OK? There will be no friend there."

"It's OK! I want to go!"

He told me that he was looking forward to the test of courage which would be held at the temple on the night of the first day of the trip.

I was surprised to hear that.

In my case when I was a child, if no friend participated the tour, I would not join in it.

We reached the meeting spot and I said hello to the man who was in charge of there.

"My son is going to join in alone. I am worried about it. Please look after him."

I asked the man.

He said:

"OK. Adults will participate a lot, so please don't worry."

There were about 10 children there and some of them already seemed to know each other.

My son looked nervous.

Two college students who sometimes join in the practice at my son's branch found my son and came to him:

"Hi! Are you looking forward to the test of courage?"

"Yes."

He answered with a small voice and looked shy.

Other children started riding on the tour bus.

I told him:

"Have fun! Don't forget take the medicine before you ride on the bus tomorrow, OK?"

 He nodded and rode on the bus.

When the bus has left there, we waved our hands.

He smiled and waved his hands, too.

After the bus has gone, my daughter, who was looking at it, suddenley started crying saying:

"My brother has gone! I am lonely!"

I couldn't stop laughing to hear that.

She turned down the corners of her mouth and cried more.

"Hey! Why don't you go to buy the donuts? I found the store over there."

I told her.

She stopped crying and said:

"Really? Let's go!"

It is not difficult for me to change her mind.

I hope my son will enjoy the tour and make new friends there.

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It's too late

My husband came home at 7pm with a branch of bamboo grass.

Since he usually comes home after our children go to bed, they were excited that he came early.

But I was disappointed to see the branch of bamboo grass which he had, because yesterday was Tanabata (Star festival) and it was too late to bring it home.

We were not able to decorate it only one day and we will have to put it away on July 8th.

Furthermore, it was nothing more than an increase in my work because my 6-year-old daughter would need a help to make the strip of paper and ornaments.

"You should have brought it home more early. We have already made the strips of papers for her nursery's Tanabata festival!"

But my husband didn't give up, and started making them with my daughter.

I was surprised at him because he didn't sleep yesterday because he was too busy for his work.

Nevertheless, he tried to enjoy the Japanese events with our children.

He and I have the same parenting policy that we want to let our children experience Japanese traditional events.

He must be tired and sleepy, but he helped that my daughter made the strips of paper.

I am proud of him as a good father, and our children loves their dad very much.

But I want him to get a enough sleep.

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My 6-year-old daughter's wishes for Tanabata

Since the Tanabata festival will be held on July 7th at my 6-year-old daughter's nursery school, she wrote her wishes on the strips of paper last night.

Tanabata (Star festival) is on July 7th.

It is the festival based on a story from legend.

A beautiful weaver princess named Orihime (Vega) and a young cattle herder named Hikoboshi(Altair) fell in love with each other at first sight.

They had been absorbed in each others love, and they did not perform their duties well.

Then God got angry and decided to separate them by The Milky Way.

And they were able to meet once a year on July 7th.

We decorate branches of bamboo grass with strips of paper, celebrating reunitign of Hikoboshi and Orihime.

When we write a wish on the strip of paper and hang it on the branch of bamboo, it is said that the wish will come true.


Her first wish is "I want to be a pastry chef (ぱてぃしえになりたい) ".

The second one is "I want to be more punctual (じかんをちゃんとまもれますように)."

Since she can't wake up in the morning even though I wake her up so many times and she takes too long for breakfast and dinner, I often scold her.

I was glad to know she also wants to improve her own habit.

The third one is "I want to live in peace getting along with everyone (へいわなじだいでみんなとなかよくくらせますように)".

I was surprised with her third wish, but I knew why she wrote it.

Because when we watched the TV drama before, it was a story during World War 2.

She learned the fear of war from it.
She said:

"War is scary. I want to get along with everyone. I love everyone! I love mom, dad, my brother, friends, teachers...."

I really hope no more war and no more tears from losing their families.

(Her wishes written on the stips of paper which includes some mistakes.)

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Children in bad shape

When I went to the nursery school to pick my 6-year-old daughter up, a teacher came to me and said:

"She has a high fever and is lying in the bed in the teacher's room."

"Really?"

I was surprised because she was as usual this morning.

I took her home, then my 7-year-old son told me:

"Mom, I had a stomach ache and feel sick."

He also had a slight fever.

Since it wasn't during the clinic hours, I called the clinic whether we could see our family doctor.

They accepted our appointment, so I took my children to see the doctor.

On our way to the clinic, my daughter threw up.

After we got to the clinic, the officer told me:

"Please use the room. There is a bed, so they can lie down."

I appreciated their offer.

The doctor came to the room and examined my children.

"I think she has a summer cold. She will recover it for about 2 days."

I was relieved to hear that.

"And he is constipated. We are going to give him an enema from now, so that he will feel better."

After it finished, he said:

"I am hungry!"

I was also relieved.

When we came home, it was already 18:30pm.

My daughter's fever went down this morning.

Maybe she will be able to go to the nursery school today.

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A very irritating day

I went to work yesterday.

My work shift was from noon to 5pm, but we had a trouble and had to deal with it.

As a result, I had to work overtime for one hour.

Before I left home, I asked my husband:

"Can you prepare dinner today? I will come home at the latest by about 5:30."

"OK."

He said.



Before I left home, he e-mailed to me and saying that he and our children were at the shopping mall.

I called him and asked him:

"Haven't you finished making dinner yet?"

"Not yet. We are at the appliance store and we will leave here in 30 minutes."

He answered unapologetically.

We usually have dinner at 6pm, after that, I do housework and take a bath with my children at 8pm, and go to bed with them at 9pm.

If the time we go to bed is later than 9pm, I know that my children will not be able to get up at 7am the next morning and it will be a hard time for me to wake them up though the morning is the busiest time.

I really want to avoid that situation.

And my 6-year-old daughter takes a long time to finish meals, for example, she always takes about an hour to finish dinner.

That's why I want my children to finish dinner.

I was really upset to hear his answer, but it can't be helped.



I came home at 6:20pm.

I was surprised that my 7-year-old son had not put his toys away and the room was messy.

To make matters worse, the window at the stairs wasn't closed and it had rained strongly.

The stairs were soaked with rain, so I had to wipe them with a cloth.

I tried to contain my anger and made dinner.

They came home after seven.

My son had not finished his homework yet and my daughter took for a long time to finish dinner because she was playing while eating.

It is needless to say at that point that I was most angry.

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Swimming practice

Since it was too hot, our family went to the municipal swimming pool yesterday.

It was a good opportunity for me because I am out of shape.

Elementary school students learn how to swim at school, so my 7-year-old son has learned how to do flutter kick and do the crawl.

He told me:

"Let's go to the bigger swimming pool!"

There are three swimming pools there and each water depth is different.

He wanted to swim in the deepest swimming pool, so I had to go there with him because he couldn't stand at some deeper areas.

"Look! I can swim! I am going to try to swim alone!"

He started swimming, but it just looked to me like he was drowning.

I tried to grab his arm, but he said:

"Don't do that! I can do!"

Then he started doing flutter kick with a kickboard.

But he seemed to struggle desperately.

"Are you playfully on purpose or trying desperately??"

I asked him, he nodded when I said "trying desperately".

"Why don't you go to the shallow pool?"

I asked him, but his answer was "NO".

He swam 3 round trip in the 25 meters pool.

After finished swimming, he said:

"I am tired, but I did my best. I want to do it again!"

I told him:

"I think you should do it after you learn how to swim again,"

I tried to teach him how to swim before, but he didn't like to be taught by me.




We went back to the shallow swimming pool.

My husband and our 6-year-old daughter were playing together.

He said:

"She can put her face in the water and swim with flutter kick. I taught her and she was able to do it soon!"

"Really?"

I was surprised.

"Look at me, mom!"

She said and started swimming.

It was a short distance, but she was able to swim.

I was impressed with her.

She always can do anything skillfully than his brother.

On the contrast, my son is so clumsy and he always has a hard time to be able to do something.

I hope he will have a strong mind and not give up easily.


After that, we went to Karaoke.

I wrote that my children and husband went to Karaoke before in my previous post :

http://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2016/06/karaoke.html

I have wanted to go to Karaoke since I heard their story.

It was really fun!

I was surprised that my son didn't hesitate to sing and my children were so excited and energetic.

Maybe It has been more than 10 years since I went to Karaoke.

We enjoyed singing together.

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The Scramble for Randoseru

I wrote that we went to the bag shop to look for my 6-year-old daughter's Randoseru (school bag) in my previous post:

 https://a-o-j-m.blogspot.jp/2016/06/going-over-new-randoseru.html?showComment=1467405901921#c78504010547554661

The shop started accepting reservation of Randoseru for children who will enter elementary school next April on their website at 10am yesterday.
My yesterday work shift was from 11am to 4pm, so I thought I would be able to finish reserving the Randoseru for my daughter.

So I tried to access their website, but the website was too crowded to open.

I was surprised at this unbelievable and unexpected happening beyond my expectation because I was able to buy my 7-year-old son's Randoseru in August of two years ago at the same bag shop without any troubles.

I tried to reload the website many times for 25 minutes, but the error message was displayed on my computer screen and I couldn't finish reserving before I went to work.

I was worried whether my daughter's favorite Randoseru would be sold out until I came home.

I came home at 5pm and tried to access their website, but it was still crowded and wasn't opened.

I asked my daughter:

"I am sorry I have not finished reserving your Randoseru yet even though I have been trying to access their website. If the Randoseru has already been sold out, are you going to look for another one?"

"No! I want that Randoseru! Because it is the same as my brother!"

She insisted.

"OK, I am going to continue."

Since my 7-year-old son was going to the Karate practice from 7pm yesterday, I wanted to finish it until 6:40pm.

I tried to reload the website many times while I did housework.

At last, my reservation was accepted at 6:35pm!

"Yes! I made it! Hey! I could reserve your Randoseru!"

I shouted.

My children came to me and looked at my computer screen.

It said;

"Your order was completed."

"Wow! I am happy!"

My daughter was glad.

I was really happy to see her smile.

It took about a half and an hour to finish ordering.



This incident was put on one of the news headlines of Yahoo last night.

Most of comments from viewers were critical against parents like me.

One of them said:

"It is ridiculous. Recently the prices of Randoseru are too expensive."

I agree with it.

I definitely think it is ridiculous, but I just did not want to disappoint my daughter.

In our families case, my panrets offered to pay for her Randoseru.


When we chose my son's Randoseru two years ago, I had no idea how to choose the Randoseru.

One of my friends posted the article on her Facebook that she went to the bag shop to choose her daughter's bag.

Since I didn't know the bag shop, I serached their website on the internet.

I learned it was a long-established bag shop and its handmade leather bags made by craftsmen are very popular among those who value its quality.

Furthermore, I liked the design of their Randoseru because they were really simple Randoseru which didn't have any extra decorations like embroidery, emblem, rhinestone, and so on.

My mother advised me to choose the Randoseru with good quality.

She said cordovan was the best, but I refused her advice because it was too expensive for children's bag.

But she insisted that I should not choose a Randoseru made of clarino.

She believed that the quality of clarino was bad, but it has been improved nowadays, clarino Randoseru is lighter than cowhide and enough durable to use for six years.

I told my son to try carrying the clarino Randoseru and the cowhide Randoseru.

He said:

"Either is fine. I don't feel both of them heavy."

He was not completely interested in deciding his Randoseru.

So I accepted my mother's opinion, I chose the cowhide one.

After we received his Randoseru, I was satisfied with its quality and design.

We have not been any troubles yet for more than one years after he started using the Randoseru.



But actually, I think this trend is not good.

Randoseru is Japanese traditional bag for elementary school student, so I hope this tradition will last as ever.

But I think children don't need expensive school bags.

I think children don't need to choose its color, material, and decoration of Randoseru.

I recall my old days that we used similar Randoseru.

Maybe today's children also don't care what kind of Randoseru their friends have, and they will treat it roughly.

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