Monthly Archives: April 2013

Sports, Stories

Dedicated to Boston…

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boston

“It’s sad that our children will never feel the safety we felt when we were kids” – Tom Brokow

This quote resonated in my mind last night when I was watching the news about the tragedy in Boston. It’s such a simple but true statement. We can’t take our children to a sporting event, a parade, a show, or any public event without having fear of something tragic happening. It’s so sad that we live in one of the most powerful countries in the world and yet we are powerless to the evil around us.

Those of you that know me have heard me joke around about wanting to move back to Sydney, Australia where my family and I had the opportunity to live for 2 years. I seriously would move back there in a heartbeat if the opportunity arose. Not so much for me, but for my family. I am not saying that Sydney has no faults or is free of terror, but life there reminded me more of what it was like here when I was a kid. The safety I felt as a kid still resonates there and life is calmer and you get the sense of peace. It’s possible that the reason for this may be the fact that Australia’s total population is equal to the population of the state of Florida and terrorists have no interest in doing small damage to non-westerners. Nonetheless, peace and safety are still present there, not to mention the fact that it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen.

I’m still a New Yorker at heart and always will be. I am resilient and I don’t want to give in to the evil terrorists and crazy people who perform these senseless crimes. I stand besides Boston today and feel their pain, pray for their victims and hope for recovery. Yesterday was a harsh reminder of 911 for me as well as many other NYers.

I believe that there is only so much our government and law enforcement can do to restore order. I believe that they do everything within their means to protect us. But I strongly believe that the problem we have in the world is the way we educate and bring up our children. The only way to restore peace is to teach our children to breakdown barriers between nations and religions. Teach them to love by demonstrating love to them each and every day. This must be a world effort and it most likely is a pipe dream but I do continue to have hope that one day the world can achieve that feat.

Lastly, one thing that I notice when tragedy occurs is the how quickly the world responds to help. Everyone forgets about the barriers between nations, the color of your skin, and the religion you follow. People rise and help each other and turn into heroes. Even weeks and months later, you’ll still see people displaying loving acts as simple as giving up a parking space for someone, or lending a helping hand to someone in need. If we could only harness that power and perform these acts everyday we would make this world a better place in an instant. So thank you to all the folks that acted yesterday to help the victims of Boston. I hope that you continue to be heroes every day.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.  Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King

My thoughts and prayers are with all of the families…

 

Inspire, Stories

RIP Bubba…you will be missed!

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This is Bubba about 2 weeks ago!
This is Bubba about 2 weeks ago!

Today is a sad day for the Estigarribia household. Abby lost her pet Betta fish Bubba today. He was over 4 years old (taking into account that when we got him he was almost a year old). Which in Betta fish land is a pretty good lifespan for a fish that is in a 1 gallon bowl with no filtration system.

Bubba came to our family as a Hanukkah gift to Abby in December 2009. I think that Abby has learned quite a lot from this fish. Some of the experiences that I can remember talking to her about with regards to Bubba included mostly questions about life itself. Early on she questioned why Bubba lived alone in his tank and didn’t have friends. We had to explain to her that Betta fish are not fish that really enjoy each other’s company. She also questioned life itself. She asked us how long Bubba would live. We wanted to ensure we prepared her for the inevitable so we explained that the lifespan of a Betta fish is usually not more than 2-3 years. This prompting her to associate death with people and herself too. Which is not an easy subject to discuss with a 4 or 5-year-old, but it is part of life. I’m sure at the time she was a bit confused but over time she’s obviously getting a full understanding of the concept of death. She was sad about the fact that eventually Bubba would possibly die. But understood it.

As the years past we taught her the importance of keeping Bubba fed, his tank clean, and how he was her pet. Abby being very loving in nature accepted this responsibility and always kept on top of things. Over the last few months Ilyssa and I suspected that Bubba was getting old and would not make it through the summer. You could see that he was slowing down. So we started to talk to Abby about it and started to prepare her for what happened today.

Despite all the preparations, it was quite sad this morning when she discovered that Bubba was not moving. Tears rolled down her eyes as she came to me with the news. We held her and consoled her for a few moments and I promised her that when she got home from school later today that we would have a proper burial for him in our backyard. I’ll probably be tasked with doing the eulogy….what do you say about a fish? “Bubba was a good fish, he swam. He swam like no other fish…” Ok, that’s a good start!

I am sure that after a week or so we will go to the pet store to get another Betta fish for her. This is another thing we’ve told her throughout the years. A new friend will come into her room to keep her company for another 4-5  or longer years. Life will go on…but Bubba will always be remembered in our hearts.

Rest in Peace Bubba! 12/09 – 4/13.

 

Family

Lets get the kids outside to play!

outdoors

A few weeks ago I posted “Educating our children…don’t take away their creativity” 

The weather got a bit nicer this week and my daughter was outside playing with her friends. It was nice to see them outside and it reminded me of the post I had about creativity and the role outdoor plays in providing it. So it inspired me to write this post today.

One of the things that I believe keeps kids creative is outdoor play. Today Kids don’t play outside much anymore. They are watching TV or playing video games. I think they are losing some great creativity. When I was a kid, I would come home from school, do my homework and go outside to play.

I guess there are many factors that have contributed to the demise of outdoor play over the years. Both parents working, more TV channels, video games, the internet, and safety for your children. Years ago, there were more stay at home Moms but we didn’t use that term back then, they were simply Moms that didn’t work. Kids could come home after school. They weren’t taken to childcare or after school care. Today more kids end up in after school childcare and don’t get home until after 6pm or later.

Regular TV consisted of a just a few channels like, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX AND PBS. Kids could find TV shows to watch only during certain times of the day. No one offered children’s programming 24 hours a day. Now we have dozens of channels for kids to watch everyday, all day.

Kids are spending hours everyday, playing video games. They are glued to a screen. Thank goodness that some of the video games today require you to actually get up and move around. Before these existed they would just sit and play. This time spent indoors used to be outdoor time before.

The internet is the key to email, texting and Facebook. These things have sucked the life out of outside play, not to mention other social behaviors. There are 1st graders with iPhones these days. Kids under 14 years old should not be allowed to even have a Facebook account in my opinion.

This is a very sad factor today. Some kids live in neighborhoods that are not safe, so they can’t go outside to play. Back in the day, kids were able to play safely even in the worst neighborhoods.

Parents today tend to over schedule their kids as well. I’m not against the Karate, Dance and Instrument lessons, etc. But there needs to be a balance. Parents should reflect more on their own childhood and not deny their children the opportunity to have simple fun like they did. Take your kid outside to play dammit!

Kids need outside play time. It fosters creativity. Sometimes kids just want to play and not think. Maybe they just want to run around. Every kid should have some unstructured outside play time every week if the weather permits. And we as Parents need to make this happen!

What ever happened to hide and seek, freeze tag, catching fire flies, red light green light, jump rope, hope scotch, duck duck goose, tag, kick ball and the other games we used to play or just make up on the fly?

What games did you and your friends play?