Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Parenting gold star (?)

It's summer.

Which in our family means summer camps.

Oh, the kids are happy playing together, and we usually have one or two of the neighbors kids running around too, so it's not like they tend to get bored. But Tove is a big believer in making doubly sure that they don't go stir crazy around the house, so summer camps it is.

Last week was Tae-Kwon-Do camp (Tove is also a big believer in beating up other people), and apparently it was all fine. But what do I know - I wasn't interested in sports when I was small, I'm not interested in sports now either.

And as part of their camp (presumably when they were taking a breather from trying to kill each other), they had to write a letter home about how they are thankful to their parents. Oh, those wacky Asian self-defense sports and their respect for their elders - another thing I don't seem to recall from my own childhood.

Anyway, very cute. They all seem to be well on their path of writing pleasing prose, and I see a promising career of writing Hallmark cards (and made-for-TV shows) for all of them.

Except possibly Celeste. There's a WTF moment here:
You buy me lunch, breakfast and dinner. You bought me animals to play with so I could have a lot of fun in my life.
Ok, fine so far. She's a bit hung up on the "buying" part of this whole parenting gig, but hey, she's just eight. She'll get over it, and if she doesn't, I guess she'll fit right into the culture. But then comes the kicker:
You also let me bury them instead of flushing them down the toilet.
Ooh, yeah! That's some premium parenting there. Gold stars all around! It just makes me glow with pride.

Of course, she has clearly forgotten about the fish. We did flush those.

30 comments:

alvaro said...

How about the "Space Camp"? I would have loved to go there.

Antegallya said...

Hello !
You sure are a good father in her eyes for having written that. That was cute.
But aren't you afraid that some time in the future Celeste might read that post and think something like "Oh no! My fish :'(" ?

Fred said...

Dear Mr Torvalds,

You maybe already read my first comment on your blog.
You might think it's a joke (so would I), but it's not. Maybe the press services of the UCL are gonna be more lucky and reach you.
Hope to see you next year in Belgium.


Yours sincerely,
SEVERINO Frédéric
ro72m7mlyeh0lay@jetable.net (I'm not gonna put my personnal email , sorry).

James said...

I've unplugged blocked toilets many times before. It's unpleasant enough without having rotting animal carcasses coming back up at you. Burying sounds like a far more sensible idea to me.

Ryan Lovett said...

Actually, she probably does remember the flushing of the goldfish since she's comparing flushing unfavorably to burying.

pcleddy said...

ok, WINNER! i really lol'd on the "buying" thankfulness. bizarre, i never thought that way as a kid

no exercise? when are we getting the secret torvalds abs cutting dieting method post?

flush a gerbil? rabbit? cat? ostrich?

send them to verbal aikido camp. fk the violence, not usually needed if you can take our your opponent w/ a deft phrase or two. rip out their heart w/ a passive aggressive thank you. etc.

but, yes, i'll send all my kids to green beret schooling, and clap as they torture the bullies and cheneys

Linus said...

pcleddy: I think it was a gerbil where the whole "burial at sea" idea came up.

I think the last one died when we had a feet or two of snow on the ground, which made me slightly less enthusiastic about the whole grave digging thing.

But it clearly made a big impression on Celeste.

Fred said...

Or maybe is she just kid'ding.

derLichtschalter said...

"You also let me bury them instead of flushing them down the toilet." <- "she'll fit right into the culture" <- [sarcasm]Modern culture is very simple: "Buy animals for your children and then flush the dead animals down the toilet."[/sarcasm]
Let's hope Celeste doesn't fit right into the culture ;-)

Greetings from Germany

Andrew S said...

Gee I hope the animals that got buried were already dead.

Anonymous said...

Aww! that is really sweet. Haven't we all had those experiences burying/flushing our pets... :) Eight-year-olds have a peculiar and interesting way of seeing things, though...

llaurén said...

Drats. I wonder what i've started by burying this little fellow in the trash instead burying it in the backyard... My daughter was alright with it though my son [0] wanted to keep it "because it is so cute".

I'll get my garden spade ready for the next dead furrie, just in case.

Man, being a dad ain't easy.

[0] Incidentally, my son's name is Linus. What makes it odd is writing about it here. His name has more to do with the fact that he is the kinder gentler little brother of a flamboyant big sister, a fact usually disputed by friends who know i'm a vocal user of an penguinistic open source operating system...

Tim said...

I think its a gold star, but I'm basing that on an assumption that her first experience with death was a pet.

Giving her a small amount of say or control over the end of the process (apparently, repeatedly, despite having to dig in frozen ground) was a good thing to do. It could be that she's appreciating that on a different level now.

And, well, my folks flushed my fish too, while they were still living (the fish, of course). I just could not be bothered to clean out that slimy tank.

Ronin said...

Linus,

It is always an interesting thing when you get a look into your child's mind like that, I think.

Too funny that what she remembers is burying the pets that pass away. But I suppose that sort of thing is important to a small child. It does seem more dignified than flushing them away.

Osman said...

Wow, I thought Linus's kids would spend 16 hours learning OS design theory :-P

jk,

It's interesting reading this blog, I thought it would be full of coding rants and open source politics. I never really pictured Linus as a "Normal person"

umesh3034 said...

maybe .. better send for a Linux camp instead :-)

Osman said...

Linus, do your kids know any C yet?

Unknown said...

im sorry bout this sudden email to you...

just..i wanted to tell...

cos..below is..


>Frankly, I don't know. I got a default homepage (in Finnish) made automatically for me, and now I wonder what I should do with it. If you have any great suggestions, feel free to mail me, and I'll probably feel free to ignore you.


..well..i felt one person...yes..he is my stolker..(he is bad cracker..)..
well..i told you to him etc.
"you(linus-san) are genuine..."like that..

cos he is cracker...he stole sooooooo many videos..etc.nex to next...
and he copy those..as selfish aims...etc..for bad aims..

actaully...he uses my messages or my comments to him...to new people...next to next.
yes..he pretends..as me...on the internet..toward soooooooooooooo many people...


cos..he likes my head so...
yes..i had my head by nature..

he wanna pretend as me...
yes..as his crimes...he keep doings those..


so i worried bout that contents..of linus-san..

cos..i felt he may do that..

he hided behind of me..for 3years...more than 3years..

yes..at first..i didn't notice..
and..i can't like him...etiher..
so..he has hateness to me..

he disturb my actions too..



what i wanna tell now..
just..if he might make those...for disturbing linus-san..
and..he may pretend as me...

yes..my nickname is fumimi..

he may say..as fumi etc...for attacking..


but..even he said any bad and weird words..to linus-san..etc.
but..not mine..

cos..to him etc..direclty..i told those words..
just he likes to hurt people... ...in a sense... . .


so..he may hurt linus-san etc.... ...

i'm sorry...cos those messages...from my comments to him..etc.
as editing etc...by him..

so..don't care...if u received weird messages..as pretending me.


or..if linus-san didn't receive..
i relive...(cos he attacked people sooooooooooooooooooooo much for this 3years..on the internet..)

for stopping that too..
i faced and face to him..



thank you very much for reading these.
I'm sorry my english isn't enough..


if linus-san didn't receive anything bad from him.......

please don't care...
thank you.

just i worried bout a little...
cos it was similar as one of his ways for bad aim.....


i need to go.
thank you in advance.

please take care.

fumi

+81-03-6222-4894
+81-03-6222-4895 (fax)

Fumiko Ebata

Suite 610
compurtment tokyochuo,
3-24-1chuo-ku,Tokyo
Japan


P.S.

>This is Patricia Miranda Torvalds, my daughter:

nice pics!

LLL said...

share website to you can download movies.
http://llc-movies.blogspot.com
http://sexylady-asian.blogspot.com.
Soooo! Don’t tell you friend about this website. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

roflol.
nice

Unknown said...

my telephone number is +81-03-6222-4894.

fumii
Suite610 compartment Tokyochuo,3-24-1 hacchobori,Tokyo,104-0032
Japan.


thank you for reading this..
maybe...my stolker attacked Linusan..T__T

I'm sorry bout that.

fumi

Nadia said...

Great parents........

Emyr Bateman said...

I wouldn't worry, last month I buried my daughter's hamster as she didn't like the idea of flushing them down the toilet, and she's 20!

Unknown said...

I wish I knew you in real life. You sound like such a nice guy. I'm sure you've heard this before, but I guess it never hurts to hear it again. Linux is top-notch. I love everything that you've done in your professional life. Thanks for everything Mr. Torvalds. I hope you get to enjoy your summer.

Chui Tey said...

Ever wondered if those teachings about being grateful to parents during camps are actually trying to get to the parents by proxy?

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I really like to read.Hope to learn a lot and have a nice experience here! my best regards guys!
_____________
manishfusion

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NoName said...

Somehow, kids always manage to be amazing. I doubt adults could ever measure up to them. At times I regret I'm not a kid anymore - don't you? Life seems to be so different when you look at it through a grown-up's eyes!

You've got a cool daughter. (Hope she grows up to be a heart-breaker!) & Tove's right about beating up other people. :-D

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Beans said...

hehe....that is funny. you gotta love kids...