Friday, April 10, 2009

Perspective



Happy Fatherhood Friday! Thanks to the folks at dad-blogs.com for organizing this event, and thanks to you, the readers, for visiting.

I distinctly remember being in 2nd grade and thinking, "Man, those 5th graders are huge! I'll never be that tall."

Oh how in just a few short years those 5th graders became, well, short.

It's all about perspective.

I also remember our pediatrician telling us the best way to "baby-proof" the house was to crawl around on the floor in every room to see, from the baby's perspective, the whereabous of potential hazards.

And yet, how easy it is to lose that sense of perspective.

I've always found the best way to engage my children is to "get down on their level" when I talk or play with them. I was reminded of this today, when the boys and I were sitting together on the ground, digging a hole in the back yard with sandbox tools (which felt like Andy Dufrane digging his escape tunnel in the Shawshank Redemption.)

I'm not even going to bother going into why we were digging a whole in the backyard, but it was strangely fun and satisfying.

You may remember that last week we were at the zoo.

Big Brother has recently shown a growing interest in creative self-expression through art.

It started with drawings in his "Blues Clues Notebooks" (which for some reason always have Lighning McQueen on the cover, and lead to the beautiful, downloadable Busy-Dad-E radio button to your right).

Now, it's photography. If we get the camera out, you better believe he wants to take some pictures.

And so, I'm going to share with you some of Big Brother's pictures from the zoo.

Sure, some are slightly fuzzy or crooked (or have a finger in the way), but most important part is they're HIS.

In viewing the photos, it was very enjoyable for me to step away from the hectic pace of adult life, to get a glimpse of the world as it's seen through my 4 year-old's eyes. It was a powerful reminder to me to consider the world from HIS perspective, literally and figuratively, which I think can only make me a more effective parent.

Here they are:

"CAGE"


"PANDA"


"POST"


"SOCKS"


"BIRD"


"POLAR BEAR"


"STROLLER"


"EXIT"


"PEACE"

I can't believe how well this last one turned out, and how well it captures the peace and beauty of the season (from my perspective).



Happy Easter!
Busy-Dad-E

P.S. Please join us in praying for Stellan and his family.

14 comments:

  1. Great post and cool pics, my baby girl like to look at the pic right after they are taken but not ready to take pics yet. That is for my 2 older kids. LOL

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  2. Its very true that the picture people take 100% reflects their POV. Your child took pictures that were from his angles, views, and ideas. Very interesting post.

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  3. I think Big Brother did very well with his photos...especially the one titled "Peace"
    Most definitely praying for Stellan and his family!!

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  4. Great post. As intrigued as our little man is with the camera (or any other gadget for that matter) I'm sure it won't be long before we can start collecting some photography of our own.

    Happy Fatherhood Friday.

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  5. Love it. We love to hand the camera and recorder over to the little one. Kudos!

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  6. Great pictures Big Brother; you are an awesome photographer! Thanks for sharing. As always, I enjoy reading your blog. Rosi

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  7. Great post. Perspective can mean everything. You get huge bonus points for mentioning Shawshank.

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  8. always fun to see a kid's perspective on things. we are doing a road trip this summer and it's going to be a photography one. should be cool to see what the kids come up with.

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  9. I have a file folder full of pictures my oldest took using his didgital camera. They're great to look back on now that he's gotten abit better at his framing.

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  10. This was a great and fun post to read....Great picture taking :D

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  11. Great post and fun to read. I loved the pictures.

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  12. Great pics, big brother! Love, Aunt-E

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  13. You are lying about the panda. I can't find a panda anywhere in that pic! Life is much different at 3 feet tall.

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  14. @ WeaselMomma: Nope, I'm not lying. If you click on the picture, you can see a little better a panda lying on his back, pretty much right in the middle of the picture. Other supporting facts include "Stroller", where you can see a San Diego Zoo map (home of the pandas), and the socks in "Socks" have pandas on them. Still, it's hard to see the lazy, bamboo-eating bum because of the reflection from the plexiglass.

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