Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Number 396
Taking the Right Path
Hello Everyone
Once upon a time there was a very kind nurse who looked after people that were very ill.
They were near the end of their lives.
She spent time talking to the people and they looked back and thought about all the things they had done and all the things they had not done.
The nurse’s name was Bronnie Ware.
She noticed that when her patients told her about what they regretted, the same themes and topics kept coming up.
She wrote about what she had learned from these people because she thought it would be useful for lots of other people to know about these thoughts too.
You may think that this is a bit of a sad topic for me to write about this week, but l thought it would be a good thing for lots of young people to learn while they still had time to use the information.
The patients Bronnie cared for often regretted that they did not allow themselves to be the person that they wanted to be and live the life they really wanted to live.
Thinking too much about regrets is a form of self-punishment.
lt is better to learn from mistakes, and not dwell on them.
lt is even better to not blunder into making mistakes in the first place of course.
The patients talked about how they had carried on doing what they thought they ‘should’ do according to what they thought other people’s expectations of them were.
They might have lived according to other people’s ideas of what success is, rather than doing what made them happy.
Lots of animals follow patterns of life because of their inborn instincts – like for example migrating when the seasons change. They do this generation after generation whether they are whales, butterflies or birds.
Arctic terns are birds that migrate from one end of the world to the other twice a year to find food more plentiful in the summer seasons. They make this long journey without questioning. They just do it. One bird can fly one and a half million miles in a lifetime.
But humans are not like that. They can make more conscious choices.
You clearly need to take responsibility for your own behaviour and be really clear about what you do want, so that you can steer a path towards it in an intelligent way.
You will be interested to know that the five top regrets that Bronnie listed were as follows:
l wish l’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
l wish l hadn’t worked so hard.
l wish l’d had the courage to express my feelings.
l wish l’d stayed in touch with my friends.
l wish l’d let myself be happier.
The more your life goes on, the more you will get caught up in studying for exams, trying to find a job and buying property. Then maybe bringing up a family and having a busy life.
There will be lots of things you will feel that you need to do.
lt seems like you shouldn’t forget to set aside time for fun and happiness as well.
The list is giving a lot of people a lot to think about.
They may have been waiting for someone to give them permission to follow their dreams.
The person that needed to give them that permission was themselves.
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: Why are you laughing Bob?
Bob: lt says here in the Rocky Bay Gazette, that yesterday, a cement lorry crashed into a prison van. And police are now on the hunt for three hardened criminals!
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
Which is the right path for you?
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
This week. Miss Pringle taught her class what a tautology was.
She said she heard too many of them when she was watching television and she wanted to explain how they were not correct English – unless done intentionally for a special reason.
She felt it her duty to do so as a teacher!
A tautology is an unnecessary repetition of words.
If you say the athlete was a fast and quick runner you are adding an adjective that means exactly the same as the adjective you have just used – so it is pointless.
If you say a ‘tiny, little kitten’, this is a tautology because ‘tiny’ and ‘little’ have the same meaning.
The phrase ‘a tall, high mountain’ is a tautology’.
Also…
Frozen ice
A round circle
A new innovation
A roomy, spacious apartment
The summit at the top of the mountain
Thinking in her head that…
To self-promote yourself
A plant that self-seeds itself
An autobiography of his own life
The phrase ‘he arranged it himself’ is a tautology.
The word ‘himself’ is unnecessary.
She hoped the children would keep all this in mind and the lesson would not drift off out of their heads like autumn leaves in the wind.
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Quick Quiz
Un-muddle these words to find seven things that make people happy…
- Cresuity
- Rivetay
- Throwg
- Vole
- Ciagnisenifc
- Unnotcitribo
- Emoh
lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE A LlTTLE KNlTTED FAlRY
If you would like this fairy to hang from your Christmas tree, just attach a loop of green thread or yarn to her head.
Use sparkly white yarn for the wings to make them look more magical.
You could use sparkly white yarn for the whole fairy if you would like to.
She is a very good fairy, so I hope she brings you good luck.
BASE (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and white dk yarn cast on 30 stitches
Cast off
Curl the strip of yarn into a disc
Using the two ends of yarn left over to sew across again and again until the disc is stable
FRONT (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and white dk yarn cast on 12 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 24 rows of stocking stitch
Change to pink yarn
Knit 6 rows of stocking stitch
Change to brown yarn or whichever hair colour you would like to use
Knit 2 rows of stocking stitch
Don’t cast off – leave a length of yarn to pull through your stitches
BACK (KNIT ONE)
Using 4mm knitting needles and white dk yarn cast on 12 stitches
Knit 2 rows of garter stitch
Knit 24 rows stocking stitch
Change to hair colour yarn
Knit 8 rows of stocking stitch
Don’t cast off – leave a length of yarn to pull through your stitches
ARMS (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and white dk yarn cast on 8 stitches
Knit 6 rows of stocking stitch
Change to pink yarn
Knit 2 rows of stocking stitch
Don’t cast off – leave a length of yarn to pull through your stitches
TOP WINGS (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and white dk yarn cast on 10 stitches
Knit 4 rows of garter stitch
Decrease 1 stitch at the beginning of very row until you have 2 stitches
Knit 2 together
Cast off
BOTTOM WINGS (KNIT TWO)
Using 4mm knitting needles and white dk yarn cast on 8 stitches
Knit 4 rows of garter stitch
Decrease 1 stitch at the beginning of very row until you have 2 stitches
Knit 2 together
Cast off
TO MAKE UP
- Using over-sew stitching and with right sides together sew together the side seams pulling the stitches in at the top of the head to make a round top – use appropriate colours as you go
- Turn the body right sides out
- Stuff the fairy body and insert the base
- Sew the base into place using over-sew stitching
- Using over-sew stitching and with right sides together sew together the arm seams
- Turn the arms the right way out tucking the ends of the yarn inside – this is all the stuffing the arms will need
- Bind one end of pink yarn tightly around the wrists – poke it out of the base of the wrist before you turn the arms the right way out
- Bind some white yarn tightly around the neck and under the bust to create the head and body form – make sure the ends are secured well at the back
- Secure some loops of brown yarn to the top of the head to make some long fairy hair – put some back stitches along the centre hair parting line to secure the hair in place
- Sew the arms into place
- Run some yarn along the edges of the wings to stabilize them and pull the bases of the wings in so that they look like petals
- Construct the wing formation so that you have a diamond gap in the middle of them
- Sew the four wings together at the base
- Tidy seven ends of yarn by securing them before you cut them off and then use the longest end left to secure the wings to the back of the body
- Embroider a face onto the fairy before or after construction as you prefer
- If you use sparkly dark yarn the eyes will sparkle too
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
There are seven things that make people happy.
- Security – like knowing that you have enough money to pay your bills
- Variety – like always having something to look forward to
- Growth – adults sometimes forget that this is not just for children
- Love – to have love/connection/friendship/companionship from other people and also pets
- Significance – to feel that you have significance – that your life is worthwhile
- Contribution – that you are making an important contribution to the world, that you are needed and valued
- Home – you have a comfortable place to live
Different people will put the list in different orders of importance – and it might change at different times of their lives according to their changing circumstances.
