Selwyn Times: December 04, 2019

26 Wednesday December 4 2019
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz
News
VITTORIA
& Matt
SELWYN TIMES
Personal choices and felt pens
ENGAGED: Writer Paula Green reading poems to year 5/6
Darfield Primary School pupils as part of the Storylines national
tour. ​
Darfield kids meet
with book creators
DARFIELD PRIMARY School
pupils got a visit from a group of
writers and illustrators as part of
the Storylines national tour.
Authors Phillipa Werry and
Eileen Merriman, poet Paula
Green and illustrator Vasanti
Unka presented to the pupils,
telling them about what they do.
The tour visits schools,
early childhood centres and
community venues to extend its
reach to communities that have
not previously had direct contact
with New Zealand children’s
writers and illustrators.
Spokeswoman Margaret
Samuels said: “It is an
opportunity for teachers,
librarians, parents and young
people to hear four of New
Zealand’s top creators of books
for children and young adults
discuss children’s literature in
today’s world and talk about their
own work,” she said.
PEOPLE PICK some weird hills
to die on.
But in a world of flat earthers
and people who think trickle
down economics works, being
dead set that you can’t leave the
house without a yellow and green
pen isn’t that weird.
Vittoria’s really starting to get
good at communicating what she
wants. Like if she wants something
to eat, she’ll literally drag
me over to the fridge and point
out what she wants.
You can really tell she’s having
a good look and she definitely has
her preferences.
It also extends to fashion
choices. When I tell her to grab
her shoes, she’ll grab the pair she
wants to wear.
Which, because she’s a toddler,
is never weather appropriate
– jandals when it’s raining and
cold, gumboots when it’s scorching
hot.
Mostly I just give in because
there’s only so many times a
person can say “these shoes bub,
they’re better” before the words
just seem to lose all meaning.
Occasionally, I just hide a
more suitable pair of shoes in her
nappy bag in the hopes she’ll be
more compliant later. Like when
she’s asleep.
On Tuesday, while getting
ready to head to the playground,
Vittoria used her developing
sense of preference and ability
to choose to decide that she
required a green and a yellow felt
pen to leave the house.
They also had to have the tops
off, which was my major concern.
My car might not be pretty, but
it would look a whole lot worse
with green and yellow lines all
over the interior.
A line was drawn in the sand
and neither of us was budging.
The slightest suggestion of leaving
the pens behind cause for
screaming.
She was so set on conveying to
me why the pens were so vital
that her wee face was just crimson
from the yelling and sodden
from tears. The reason behind it
was hilarious, but how can you
laugh at conviction like that?
So after repeating the phrase
“put the pens on the table and lets
go” a hundred times – putting
me at risk of a Game of Thrones
Hodor situation – I decided to
relent and let her bring the pens
with the tops on.
CONTENTED: Happily at
the playground, with not a
felt pen in sight.
Unfortunately, she was unwilling
to compromise on that, but I don’t
deal with terrorising toddlers.
I resorted to deftly forcing the
lids on, grabbing the pens as she
threw them away in disgust and
carrying the screaming toddler
whose newfound belief system
was being crushed to the car.
Her sulking in the back, pens in
hand was almost audible over the
music.
But by the time we arrived, the
pens had rolled under the seat,
quickly forgotten in a haze of
playground enjoyment.
The reason they were so
important in the first place lost
to time.
•Former Star Media
journalist Matt Salmons
has become a stay-athome
dad. We follow his
journey weekly
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