Pez Ponders

Welcome to a special edition of Pez Ponders, which this time is called ‘Really Roberts?’. Those that have read my earlier posts know that I have a 10-year-old nephew who I adore. He’s my biggest cheerleader and I am his, we go on adventures together and have the best conversations – his perspectives on things are so refreshing and sometime scary for a person of his age. He’s my best little pal.

Last week in Wales, it was the Autumn half term and the weather was horrendous. With the weather putting a swift end to any outside adventures, we pondered about what else we could do together.  My nephew has always been interested in my blog and how people all over the world can read it, so we decided for him to write a blog for my page. This was after I provided him a Pez Ponders branded t-shirt which he encouraged me to get some merchandise, in his words – “he loves him some merch!”

When brainstorming what he could ponder, he suggested the subject of why life is hard for a 10-year-old (hence my proposed title of Really Roberts???). I agreed to the premise as long as we could also include things on what was good about being a 10-year-old, always good to be optimistic. So here are his thoughts…

What I don’t enjoy about being 10…

• I am everyone’s butler. I am the one asked to get this, fetch that, put that back and answer the door etc. I don’t mind doing things to help, but it’s a lot!
• I get treated like a child – I know that I am still young but I’m more like a pre-teen than a baby. I have my own thoughts and ideas. 
• I can only play and explore within a certain distance from my house. I really love playing Pokémon Go and it would be great if I could go further when there are really cool Pokémon to be caught. I also enjoy spending my pocket money and can’t wait until I can go to my favourite shops GAME and The Works on my own.
• School is compulsory. Although I like seeing and playing with my friends, do I really need to be there for a full 6 hours. I’m sure it would be easier to have a job than go to school, maybe be a bin-man as they are finished at work early and my dad says they get paid a lot.
• If I finish my bin-man job early, I could then work in Subway and have free subs – the dream!
• I sometimes suffer from a bad back as I am already 5’6 and most of my friends are a lot smaller than me so it means I have to bend more.
• One of my worse things ever, but not linked to my age is when I forget my chargers when visiting my family. I really don’t function well without my phone, tablet and Nintendo Switch. Which, yes Auntie Gem, all need to be on at the same time.
• I have to usually eat the food that is made for me; however, I can now make my own sandwiches, eggs, toast, omelettes and potatoes. I love being able to make my own snacks and I’m hoping I’ll continue to work on my cooking skills.

And what is good about being 10???

• Pocket money every Friday is good. It’s not quite free money but taking the bins out once a week for a tenner seems a good deal to me.
• I have a lot of energy to play and do things I enjoy. My favourite game used to be ‘push-over’ which is where me and my friends all try to push each other to the floor when on a trampoline. But unfortunately, we are not allowed to play this anymore as apparently, it’s not safe – which is a shame because I was so good at it as I’m very strong. My other favourite games to play are hide and seek and scooting especially where my mam lives as I have a good group of friends there. 
• I get to try new things and no-one is mad at me when I change my mind. In school recently I started to learn the trombone but now I want to play the trumpet and sir said that I can.
• I like to play sport too – mostly rugby, football, rounders and basketball. I prefer to watch rugby more at the moment than play it, but I’m hoping that when we are allowed to properly tackle and scrum I’ll enjoy it as much as football.

With a list of 8 things that are not good versus 4 things that are, I encouraged my nephew to consider what else he could add to his second list to add balance. His response made my laugh out loud and then feel such pride, the boy definitely knows how to work an audience. His emotional intelligence has always been so far beyond his years.

Well I don’t have to pay rent or taxes, I’m not sure what either of them really are, but I know they cost a lot of money and dad says that they are non-negotiable. Another thing I like about being me, not necessarily linked to my age, is that I get to have a cool auntie like you.

He also wanted to share the following great ponder – a magical insight into a child, sorry pre-teen’s mind:

We have watermelons, which are lovely but why don’t we also have melons for the other elements. I think there could be a spicy tasting melon for a Firemelon and a dry melon for the Earthmelon and a really light melon for the Airmelon. We could call them all together the Elemelons – I think that would be awesome!

To conclude this blog, I thought it would be nice to reflect on how this amazing 10-year-old enhances my life. Firstly, I get to do so many many fun things that typically a childless adult doesn’t get to do including playing hide and seek, going to the arcade, watching Diary of a wimpy kid and also making everything an adventure, even the most mundane of tasks. When people talk about our inner child its usually linked to some sort of healing, however he reminds me that there is an inner child in all of us and it’s good to give them play time. Also, I get to benefit from his fresh and innocent perspective of the world, we have the best chats and even sometimes debates – he’s so clever and articulate in making his points. He also educates me on new technology (I’m only 40, how is this already happening?) he has, in the last couple of months alone, he’s shown me how to screen share in Whatsapp and introduced me to the metaverse, let’s hope this continues so I can stay relevant 😊. Love you always little man – keep being you! xxx