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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

October 24. Day 298. Not waving drowning

South Bank, Brisbane 6am. All the other sea gulls were placidly floating on the pools or gently preening themselves.
All but one.
Remember those drinking birds, those instatible little birdie ornaments that used to bob in and out of a glass in a seemingly perpetual motion desperately trying to quench an insatiable thirst?
This bloke was like that. He was creating quite a few ripples on the otherwise smooth surface of the pool. It was like he was trying to draw attention to himself. Not waving, drowning.
And universally the other birds were totally ignoring his antics.
That's the problem isn't it? You are never really sure when someone is desperately splashing about whether they are really floundering or whether this is just attention seeking behaviour designed to do nothing more than create a few waves.
I find parenting a teenager to be much like that. There's a lot of frantic splashing going on and it's hard to know when to stay calm and just try to float it out and when you need to throw the buoyancy ring.
I keep trying to remind myself that the other birds may look calm but there's bound to be plenty of desperate paddling going on beneath the surface.
And it you can't make a few waves when you're a teenager ....

15 comments:

  1. Love the movement/stillness in this shot.

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  2. Lovely photo and don't worry about your teenagers, they will shout if they need help, it is the time in their lives for making a few waves!

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  3. the early bird and all that, love the capture of the ripples and splashes

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  4. I have been finding having a three year old like that too for the past few weeks! Vey good analogy with your fantastic photo and how early we're you up with your camera that day? X

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  5. I have a friend whose surname is Swan and she often says 'aye look at the exterior and you see calmness..but like a swan there's a lot of flapping about going on below the surface!

    Teenagers sure are hard work. They think they know it all! Sometimes we just have to let them splash. They always seem to know where the safety of Mum's wings are though..:-)

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  6. Your words are always so clever and wise!! Yes parenting a teenager is exactly like that but you do come though it eventually .. Apparently

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  7. Love this photograph and always enjoy reading your words! :)

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  8. beautiful photo - can't comment on the teenagers as yet !

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