Nope, I am not 11, but one of my grandsons in Seattle is. I asked him recently if he would like to help me with a column describing how he spends his time during this period of dealing with you-know-what. Most of us were 11 at one time but I suggest we faced very different challenges with fewer tools with which to work. Check out the normal day for my grandson Alden Whitlow.
“Wake Up: The first part of my day is to wake up. On most days during school I will wake up from 7 to 7:30. During the first few nights of self-isolation I’d still wake up at 7 or 7:30. But because of the fact that I had no school, I’d stay in bed until about 8. But now I have responsibility to get my new dog out of the crate. The perfect thing to do in these rough times is get an extra family member. You can train them, and they will bring happiness to you.
Do Schoolwork: After a nice and healthy breakfast of sugary cereal I start doing schoolwork. My teachers will post educational work for their subject every weekday. Some more than others. I like keeping up with my schoolwork and learning, but it is very hard to read directions on a mini-computer screen that are not that clear. I’ll probably work on schoolwork for about three hours during the entire day.
“Video With Friends: Since I don’t see my friends every day like I used to, I will talk to them through video-calling. We use Zoom. We will spend lots of time emailing and texting each other to set it up. Sometimes not everyone will make it and sometimes they will. Sometimes we decide that we will play an online game and sometimes we decide to just talk. On Fridays, some of us will watch a movie all together while chatting on its website. Friends are very fun to see and I’m glad it worked out.
“Extra Work: There are other things that I have to do around the house during self-isolation time. I’ll play my piano to get ready for my online lessons on Wednesday, I’ll practice typing through a school website to get faster on typing. I will also train my new dog Winnie to do more and more stuff. She has so far learned “stay” and “come.” We are all very proud of her.
“Playtime: Most of my extra time I play with my brother. We will bounce on our trampoline together, create a Frisbee golf course in the backyard, create a movie together, play with toys that we never play with, and have lots of fun. Our dad and mom work a lot as college professors, so we have to keep ourselves entertained. Our mom and dad are very happy that we are finding ways to entertain ourselves and have now bought us new toys to play with.
“Evening: In the evening the whole family will eat dinner together. It is amazing that now every night it will just be the four of us. Depending on how late dinner is, we’ll either play a family game, talk or do something totally different. Or maybe everyone will go their separate ways: me playing sports, my brother on the trampoline, and my mom and dad working separately. Or it’ll be two and two. I play a game with someone while the others go on a walk. My brother and I watch a show while Winnie goes on a walk with Mom and Dad. There are many possibilities during the evening.
“Bed Time: My brother will go to bed sometime between 8 and 8:30. I’ll go to bed at 9. After he’s gone to bed I’ll probably eat an apple or frozen fruit. Then I’ll either talk to myself, watch a show with my mom, watch classic soccer matches with my dad or play a game with them. That is my time to relax, wait for the next day and realize that I won’t be lugging myself out of bed to go to school. I’ll be lugging myself out of bed to get the dog.”
So, there are some ideas for you to pass the time from an 11-year-old, particularly if you ever turn 11 (again?). BJ and I try to get in some walking to counteract the food and wine. But honestly it is tough to manage the weight. Let’s be real here as Arthur C. Clarke advised. “The best measure of a man’s honesty isn’t his income tax return. It’s the zero adjust on his bathroom scale.”
Love a curmudgeon and your grandchildren, unless they have the virus, and have a great week!
(Ned Luce is a retired IBM executive who is homebound in his favorite place on earth, Port Ludlow.)
