Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 370
Treading Your Own Path
Hello Everyone
Do you have older brothers or sisters or cousins that always seem to get to do things before you can?
They go to parties on their own, or even on holiday.
They might go to the cinema or to the shops with their friends.
You might be a bit envious and feel left out.
You just aren’t old enough yet to do these things.
Maybe your friends are allowed to do things that you are not allowed to do and they are the same age as you, and you don’t think that is fair.
Bill, Bob. Emily and Henry don’t really have this problem. They are all the same age and although they have cousins that are older than they are, they don’t see them very often.
But a lot of people may feel left behind when they live with people who are all older than they are.
The truth is that life is not a race against other people.
We all have a special and unique path to follow which is our own life and we have to do what is the right thing for us.
You may have lots of pressure around you to achieve things or do things.
This pressure comes from the media, your school, family, culture, friends and social media.
You also want to fit into social groups and be accepted.
Humans don’t like to be lonely.
You need to always stay strong and be true to yourself.
Don’t compare yourself to other people. lt is better to compare your present self to your past self and see how much you have progressed.
lf your friends are doing something wrong like stealing or playing near a railway line, you need to be strong enough to walk away and say that it is not for you.
You can tell them they are wrong to do it and they may not listen to you, but even if you are the only one who doesn’t want to join in, you are still in the right.
You need to choose to be with the kind of friends that don’t behave in that way.
Maybe the children at school think you are in the wrong because you don’t watch the same television programmes as they do, or play the same games as you do.
Maybe your family thinks that it is better for children to be playing in the garden than watching television, for example.
You need to stay strong and be true to yourself.
lf you are being bullied at school for being the slightest bit different; it could be that the bullies are jealous of you. They might be jealous because they think that your parents give you more attention than they get from theirs.
Sometimes people are nasty because they are hurting.
That really is something to think about, isn’t it? Hurt people hurt.
That may not seem much of an excuse for them, or a help to you – but it might still be true.
Maybe your older brother or sister is really good at playing a musical instrument and you are hopeless at anything like that. Everyone admires them for it and you don’t feel as though you can match up.
lt is hard to watch them being praised and get all the attention while you are being ignored.
But you may be good at something too. You might be better at sports or drawing pictures. You might not have discovered the thing you are really good at yet. You might just need a bit more time and growing up to find it.
You might find that you never win a race on sports day, never get picked to play a role in a school theatrical production or win a poetry competition.
But you might be really good at English and one day you might be a famous journalist travelling the world and having an exciting life.
Then, not ever having won an egg and spoon race really won’t matter!
You don’t have to win every race to be happy, enjoying the route to the finishing line is just as important.
lf you push in front of other people all the time, you may become unpopular, if you do things in too much of a hurry, things can go wrong and fall apart.
lf things look easy for other people, it probably won’t just be because they are playing to their strengths, but they put in a lot of hard work behind the scenes – doing a lot of learning and practising as well.
A lot of things take a long time to perfect.
lf you really want to do something well, don’t get jealous of other people.
This negative emotion won’t make you the last bit happy or get you any further forward.
lnstead, admire people who have got what you want, and find out how they got to where they are.
You could pick up a few tips for yourself!
Ultimately, winning in life is not about being first at everything; it is being successful in your own personal journey that counts.
lf you like my blog, please support it by telling all your friends and followers about it.
Thank you!
And see you again next Fun Friday!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bill: What do you call a person who gives up on their diet?
Bob: A desserter!
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
Picture Gallery
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
This week, the whole family went to help Auntie Alice plant her new hedge.
She has ambitions to plant a long hedgerow each side of a rotten old fence at the bottom of her garden. It faces a field and so she needs a barrier to make sure no farm animals come into her garden.
She looked out of her window once to see her garden was full of goats.
She doesn’t want that to happen again!
Another side of her garden faces the Rocky Bay Woods and a third side faces the river, the front of the garden faces a lane that runs down to the town.
She thinks she might even plant another hedgerow in another part of the garden if this one is successful.
So we planted lots of seeds that we had collected last autumn.
We also planted seven trees that had seeded themselves in the garden in a place that Auntie Alice didn’t want them to grow.
A big tree needs room to grow and so it needs to be planted in the right place.
The trees that Auntie Alice found had planted themselves. The seed they came from could have blown into the garden or even been deposited by a bird.
Not having the heart to kill the little trees she pulled them up and put them into pots. These pots were then lined up by the side of the unheated greenhouse.
It was now time to let them stretch their roots into some fresh soil!
So now the hedgerow is seven trees about a metre in height and some disturbed soil which we know is full of vernalized seeds.
Vernalized means overwintered in a cold place.
If the seeds don’t all germinated and there are too many gaps left, we will fill them with some more seeds that we will collect this autumn.
The plants will be different heights and that will make the hedge look more natural.
The children are very excited and want to come back in a few weeks to see if there have been any developments.
I expect they will be back next weekend actually, even though I doubt very much there will be anything to see!
We planted a lot of hawthorn berries amongst others. These seeds have to be soaked before they are planted.
You can actually eat hawthorn berries; they taste better when they are young – although you cannot eat the pips that are inside the berries.
You can eat hawthorn leaves as well; they taste best when they are young too. The spring leaves can be put in a salad.
The leaves have a very distinctive shape.
The berries can be made into tea or jam or a syrup sweetened with honey.
Auntie Alice makes a clear jam made with hawthorn berries, elder berries and crab apples. She washes everything carefully before she starts cooking it.
She calls it her hedgerow jam and when her hedge grows, hopefully she will have more fruits to make more jam.
Remember never eat anything outside unless an adult says that it is alright to do so.
Hawthorn berries
Today is
Global Recycling Day !
Do you recycle?
Donating clothes can save landfill.
Composting can improve soil health.
Recycled wood can be turned unto pulp to make building materials.
Recycling newspapers can save energy, water and oil as well as trees.
Recycling preserves resources and saves energy.
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Quick Quiz
What do these phrases mean?
- The path of true love never did run smooth
- All roads lead to Rome
- To lead someone up the garden path
- The road to Hell is paved with good intentions
- The road to ruin
- A relationship is a two way street
- To pour oil on troubled waters
- To travel in convoy
- Par for the course
lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE A PLASTlC CANVAS STORAGE BOX FOR SPARE KEYS
WlTH A TOWN SCENE DECORATlON
You will need 2 sheets of 7 mesh 10.5 by 13.5 inches/26.7 by 34.3cm
Some lengths of yarn for sewing in three or four colours for the buildings
Blue for the sky and white, black and maybe grey as well for the trim
Cut the following panels:-
Outer lid top 35 x 21 holes 1 panel
Outer lid sides 35 x 4 holes 2 panels
Outer lid sides 21 x 4 holes 2 panels
Inner lid top 33 x 19 holes 1 panel
Inner lid sides 33 x 3 holes 2 panels
Inner lid sides 19 x 3 holes 2 panels
Outer base bottom 33 x 19 holes 1 panel
Outer base sides 33 x 15 holes 2 panels
Outer base sides 19 x 15 holes 2 panels
Inner base bottom 31 x 17 holes 1 panel
Inner base sides 31 x 14 holes 2 panels
Inner base sides 17 x 14 holes 2 panels
- Create buildings of different sizes along the bottom of the outer sides of the base of the box using cross stitch – make sure you make buildings that match up at the 4 corners of the box
- Fill in the windows and create doors details with black yarn.
- Fill the sky in with light blue cross stitch – work vertically to get around the buildings easily
- Embroider railings and TV aerials on top of the buildings if you would like to
- Cover the base of the box with grey cross stitch to create the foundations for the buildings
- Add white trim in cross stitch on the top of the lid in the shape of a frame
- Cover the outside of the lid with light blue cross stitch
- Cover the inner skins with tent stitch or cross stitch if you want to and also cover the side edges using white yarn
- Embroider birds or an aeroplane on the top of the lid using black yarn, if you would like to
TO MAKE UP
- Sew the sides of the lid to the top of the lid then sew up the corners using blue yarn
- Sew the sides of the storage box to the base using grey yarn to create pavements then sew up the corners
- Sew up the inner base to the inner sides and the inner lid top to the inner lid sides but do not sew up the corners – you can cover the side edges of the panels with yarn to cover the plastic
- Push the inner skins into place and sew around the rims of the lid and box – you will only sew into one layer of canvas for one hole at each end of the sides
- You can put a square of felt into the base of the box if you want to
The aeroplane tail is a French knot
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use and for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015
Quick Quiz Answers
- The path of true love never did run smooth – a Shakespeare quote from Midsummer’s Night Dream – a romantic relationship can have its problems but that does not mean that the love between two people is not real
- All roads lead to Rome – many different plans and decisions can bring you to the same place/situation
- To lead someone up the garden path – to deceive someone by telling them something that is not true
- The road to Hell is paved with good intentions – good intentions don’t seem to do much good if the outcome of someone’s actions is bad/goes wrong
- The road to ruin – behaving in such a way that will cause you problems later – like spending more money than you earn
- A relationship is a two way street – to have a successful relationship/friendship you need to consider the other person’s feelings but they must consider yours too
- To pour oil on troubled waters – to do or say something to stop an argument or calm a stormy/unhappy situation
- To travel in convoy – vehicles travelling together in a line along the road on a journey in companionship and support
- Par for the course (golf term – the meaning is similar to equal or expected) – normal/typical/expected problems encountered when a certain path or plan is followed
