Teach your Child Intimacy

I had a very specific sales-driven post set up for this week, but the other day, on drive home from the beach, U2's “Every Breaking Wave” came on. Lochlan (my little musician) asks me to turn it up - he likes the song and as luck would have it, he harps on one particular line:

And every shipwrecked soul knows what it is
To live without intimacy

“Daddy, what is intimacy?”

This question led to a 40 minute conversation in traffic and we’re still talking about it today. I have already started some of the birds & bees conversations with Luke (11) but never thought about explaining intimacy to a 6 year old, but I am glad he asked.

It’s our new favorite word as a family and has springboarded a conversation about using iPads less, being together more and, giving each other kisses and hugs (even mommy and daddy kissing on the lips - yuck!).

In the past year, I think I have kissed Lavinia on the lips 3 or 4 times in front of the kids, and Luke was able to tell me exactly when each of those times were. He remembers it because it matters to kids for us to show them this stuff.

Yesterday, we had a workshop and a wonderful family from Wisconsin came in - 3 generations. Lochlan was with me in the shop - and as the family was leaving, they thanked us for giving their entire family a great experience together. I said to Lochlan: “That family just had intimacy together as a family”. One of the boys, Martin started the workshop with a Lord of the Rings book attached to his hand. His parents told me he never puts it down. About 1 hour in - the book was sitting off to the side and he was going for it. Intimacy!

Last night, we drove into the city to pickup Mommy from work (she’s on deadline - yuck!). On the ride in, we’re all singing to The Lumineers - and I screamed out to Luke "Pause it” - car got silent. I waited a few seconds... this is intimacy. Now put it back on. The ride home was intimate, but in a different way. No kissing, Lochlan was sleeping, Mommy was exhausted and Luke and I were talking about the upcoming season in the Bundasliga.

And over at the Workshop, we have set up a bunch of new workshops for kids to explore and create art. Check out our new events, including a “Print the Beatles Workshop”, “Summer Potion-Making” and “Stella’s Bird Creations”.

For the summer months, you can use the Discount code:AugustFun for 10% off any workshop through August. Feel free to share the code with others.

Oh, and one more thing. If you have not seen our Tree with Birds painting in a while, this is what it used to look like. I am updating the blog post I created earlier this week with more pics of this painting. If you are reading this and have any paintings of the Tree with Birds during it’s process, please email them to me - I am collecting pics to post on the blog.

Thanks so much - I’m off to get a bag of ice so Lochlan and I can make snow-cones. Thanks for reading.