It's not really just Ella's, it's the family's. I've been inwardly somewhat resentful that my laptop, where all of my work is stored, has been regarded as being The Family's laptop, with people feeling free to use it for, e.g., internet searching at the dinner table. No more! We now have a great, cute, sturdy little Netbook we can whip around the house easily. But, we got it in honor of Ella, and when no one else is using it, she gets first dibs.
It's not just that it's Ella's 8th birthday next week, although that is handy because this seems like the start of a series of celebrations. In March, Ella worked hard, so very hard, on an original story with illustrations for the annual Reading Rainbow contest. She really wanted the first prize, which was a laptop. And when she saw the Netbook at Best Buy and then one that her friends had, she really, really wanted the Netbook. She had a hankering for the computer in a way she never had before. She'd bring it up at odd moments, ways she might use her Netbook if only she had one.
At one point when she was writing her story, called "The Shy Snowy Owl," she was stuck. The end seemed a long way away. "I'm so motivated by that prize," she said. "But what if I don't win it? Imagining that I don't win is getting in my way right now."
"Don't worry," I said. "I'm so impressed with all of your hard work here that if you finish it and don't win, there will be a Mommy Prize."
The story really was good. I thought she had a chance of at least placing in the Rochester competition. But no, last week we got the word that she hadn't. So, that afternoon we went over to Best Buy. I led her to the Netbook section. She was elated. But they didn't have any ASUSes in stock. That night, I placed my order for the Netbook and it came yesterday.
The child is happy, happy, happy with her Netbook. Can you tell from that face? And we may enter the story in another competition some time.
As a matter of principle, I don't go buying stuff (much less computers!) for the kids when there are disappointments, and very few things that they accomplish are motivated by anything other than how good they'll feel for having accomplished it. But sometimes, when very hard work has gone into something, a concrete representation of the work can serve as a great future reminder of how hard something had been and yet had been accomplished. Ella named the computer SnowyOwl, and she is very proud of the work she put into "The Shy Snowy Owl." Not having won doesn't bother her. It may be partly because she's watched my own experience of the last few months: I know that my own book is good, but it's been rejected by a dozen agents so far, and I was completely prepared for that to happen. So, it can happen to anyone, and I think she gets it.
A friend mentioned that she'd heard there are services out there to bind your child's story into a real book. Anyone know where I can do that?
No comments:
Post a Comment