Wisdom of a 4 Year Old

Annabella and I are backstage at her first ballet recital. It's time for me to leave her with her class and head out to the audience. Later, my own mother will remark that I seemed much more nervous than Annabella did.

Me: I have my camera ready.

Annabella: I don't want you to take pictures of me. I want you to watch me.

Comments

[Suzanne]

Ah, there's the rub. Twenty years from now, she'll wonder why you didn't take pictures of said dance recital!

[John]

Lol...I've said the same thing to my wife sometimes. Taking pictures is one thing, but watching your child grow up through the view finder of a video camera is another.

[CoolB]

Good wisdom. I'm sure she did a great job as well.

[Steve Still]

I have a four-year old daughter and a 35 year old daughter. With the 35 year old, we look and laugh at some of the old pics now and again, but there was no video...just a couple of silent super 8 films. She seemed to do fine with us capturing her life in still pics and in our personal memories. I admit, the little one might need a little more footage as her parents enter the elder years. Take the picture, but put the camera away and stay involved

[Tech Talk Dale]

I do the video taping for all of our kids' dance recitals, concerts, etc. Concerts aren't so bad, but dance recitals require me to dance more than they in order to get the camera on them. Consequently, I find myself watching much of their lives through a small LCD screen.

The ordeal reminds me of the scene in Return of the Jedi where Vader is dying and says to Luke, "Take off my helmet so I can see you with my own eyes." I'm watching my kids grow up through Darth Vader's helmet lenses instead of my own eyes.

Great podcast, BTW. Just started listening and not caught up yet because it's one my wife and I listen to together, and co-listening time is rare for us, usually in the car while the kids are using their own personal electronics.