Poetic justice, I am now Whistler's Mother !

Sandy Jasper · Post by **Sandy Jasper** » Sun Sep 01, 2002 12:03 am

Just wanted to share with everyone a new development in my life. 4 weeks ago I taught whistle at a performing arts school primarily for bagpipes. My son was enrolled to take highland drumming and I decided to take that as well. I thought it would be interesting to learn about another dicipline and give me something in common with my son.

When the afternoon came and it was time for me to teach, I tentatively asked my son Adam if he would like to join in. He shrugged and said why not?

The dilemma, NOW HE PLAYS THE THING ALL THE TIME!!!!

He plays it in bed, he plays it in the car, he plays it next to me while I am typing on the computer. He took it camping and played it all day and all night. He had me photocopy all of my music for him and played at his first gig with my Mom's band last week. He had me build him a new whistle and NOW HE WANTS TO BUSK!!!

When I was a child I played my flute and recorder for hours at night and took them everywhere. Is this God getting me back?

I love him and am proud of him, but all day and all night... Whistlers beware, right now you may be driving other people nuts, but anyday now, that extra whistle you have laying around could turn you into...WHISTLERS MOTHER!!!

avanutria · Post by **avanutria** » Sun Sep 01, 2002 12:07 am

Sounds like you need to get him a whistle mute!

I can relate to a point - my boyfriend has confiscated my nontunable Dixon D and is learning. Problem is, when he is playing he won't let me play because he says I go too fast! hehe.

But now he says he appreciates how hard it is to play well (I haven't told him that by most standards I don't play well yet!) *and* he says he won't disown me if I ever take up pipes!

Sandy Jasper · Post by **Sandy Jasper** » Sun Sep 01, 2002 12:46 am

Won't disown you if you take up pipes? WOW!!

It must be love! I am learning the pipe chanter and my husband cringes and makes pained expressions when I play. I have finally resolved to practicing when he is at work! You are truely blessed.

A word from the wise though, keep your chanter hidden incase he decides to take that up!

Sandy

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Sun Sep 01, 2002 1:14 am

On 2002-09-01 02:03, Sandy Jasper wrote:
I love him and am proud of him, but all day and all night... Whistlers beware, right now you may be driving other people nuts, but anyday now, that extra whistle you have laying around could turn you into...WHISTLERS MOTHER!!!

Sandy, you'll know you're in trouble when someone puts a bonnet on you and asks if you'll sit in a chair while they paint your portrait!

Adriel · Post by **Adriel** » Mon Sep 02, 2002 6:17 pm

For some odd reason, I like that painting. I would hang it up in my house if I had it. If i knew it caused so much pain to play whistle around people I would do it more often

Adriel

Jane · Post by **Jane** » Mon Sep 02, 2002 7:15 pm

[quote]

The dilemma, NOW HE PLAYS THE THING ALL THE TIME!!!!

He plays it in bed, he plays it in the car, he plays it next to me while I am typing on the computer. He took it camping and played it all day and all night.

LOL Join the ranks of Parents of Whistlers!

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Jane on 2002-09-02 21:16 ]</font>

Dewhistle · Post by **Dewhistle** » Mon Sep 02, 2002 11:09 pm

I'll join this club. I may be a bit premature, however. I found my 9-month-old son with a Sweetone in his mouth. He was naturally only intending to bite it and maybe suck on it, but he inadvertently puffed a breath into it and it fweeped at him, which gave him considerable delight. So he did it again. I confiscated it after that.

Sandy Jasper · Post by **Sandy Jasper** » Tue Sep 03, 2002 12:30 am

Ha! I knew I wasn't alone!!! For heaven's sake keep him away from the pipes!

Sandy

Hils · Post by **Hils** » Fri Sep 13, 2002 11:07 am

Whistlers Grandmother here. I can vouch for Sandy's son Adam and his dedication to his whistle. I also think this is Karma, I had the same experiences with Sandy however so did my mother with me and my recorder. Adam is the 4th generation (Oh! so that's why they call them generation whistles!) Adam just came back from a trip to the mainland with his aunt, Sandy's sister Kerrie, she was just a bit traumatized. He played in the car all the way there, on the top deck of the ferry, and to make matters worse he encouraged his three cousins, where they were staying, to play their whistles so now their mom, my niece, is going GaGa. The good thing is, with all this practice he is getting quite good and our band asked him to guest with us at the opening of our town's fiddle fest this afternoon. With PAY!

chas · Post by **chas** » Fri Sep 13, 2002 12:57 pm

On 2002-09-03 01:09, Dewhistle wrote:
I'll join this club. I may be a bit premature, however. I found my 9-month-old son with a Sweetone in his mouth. He was naturally only intending to bite it and maybe suck on it, but he inadvertently puffed a breath into it and it fweeped at him, which gave him considerable delight. So he did it again. I confiscated it after that.

Awhile back someone posted a pic of his ~1.5 year old son playing. I immediately put the Generation G in my 6-month-old daughter's mouth. She started babbling into it, so I got her a kazoo, which she loved. A few months later I was carrying her and my Water Weasel Bb, and she started blowing into it. She wouldn't touch another whistle for awhile, but I finally got her onto Susatos. Now she's 15 months and she was eyeing the pile of wooden whistles I was playing last night. I can't decide whether she has really good taste in whistles or she's figured out that they're the only ones that can be ruined by excessive drool.

_________________
Charlie

What kind of idiot asks rhetorical questions?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: chas on 2002-09-13 17:59 ]</font>

gogo · Post by **gogo** » Fri Sep 13, 2002 1:14 pm

On 2002-09-13 14:57, chas wrote:
On 2002-09-03 01:09, Dewhistle wrote:
I'll join this club. I may be a bit premature, however. I found my 9-month-old son with a Sweetone in his mouth. He was naturally only intending to bite it and maybe suck on it, but he inadvertently puffed a breath into it and it fweeped at him, which gave him considerable delight. So he did it again. I confiscated it after that.
Awhile back someone (ErikT?) posted a pic of his ~1.5 year old son playing. I immediately put the Generation G in my 6-month-old daughter's mouth. She started babbling into it, so I got her a kazoo, which she loved. A few months later I was carrying her and my Water Weasel Bb, and she started blowing into it. She wouldn't touch another whistle for awhile, but I finally got her onto Susatos. Now she's 15 months and she was eyeing the pile of wooden whistles I was playing last night. I can't decide whether she has really good taste in whistles or she's figured out that they're the only ones that can be ruined by excessive drool.

Knee-jerk, fun-spoiling, mother-hen reaction: watch out for the little ones, it can be dangerous if they fall with a whistle in their mouth. Babies shouldn't be allowed to crawl/toddle around with whistles in their mouths, and older children shouldn't be allowed to run/play with whistles in their mouths. Evey posted a warning about this earlier this year ( http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... 15&forum=1 ).

Just something to keep in mind.

serpent · Post by **serpent** » Fri Sep 13, 2002 11:18 pm

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrgggghhhhhh!

"Don't run with scissors!!"

Know what? It's easier to choke your kid with a toy from Burger King than with a whistle!

I'm nearly 60 years old. I have 5 daughters, and 10 grandchildren. My daughters all learned to shoot (real, honest-to-gosh rifles) at an early age. Every one of them played some sort of musical instrument, some of which required placement in a mouth. Know what? Nobody choked!

It is a Good Thing to care for your children.
It is a Good Thing to teach your children respect for items which can harm them.
It is a Good Thing to trust your children to have learnt the lesson.

When they are small, all of our children are precocious. All of them are intelligent beyond their years. All require less superviaion than the children of our friends. It is only when we, ourselves, grow enough to overcome this silly myth, that we realize that we need to teach these precocious, intelligent, self-supervising children, the meaning of...

COMMON SENSE

Some parents live the myth, and never see this truth. I pity their children.

I spanked one of my daughters, once and once only. Not a beating, but a simple spanking, designed to call her attention to the error of her ways, not to harm her. It was an appropriate and highly-deserved spanking, brought about because she had not used COMMON SENSE. She knew why, as did her siblings. It (The Lesson) never required repeating.

I've rambled on with this thread, because we cannot protect our children from all that might harm them. We can, however, teach them what those things are, and how to use and react to them. Whistles are, in that respect, no different than a Popsicle stick.

Teach your children well...

Cheers,
Bill "Serpent" Whedon
Serpent Music
http://www.serpentmusic.com

Dewhistle · Post by **Dewhistle** » Sun Sep 15, 2002 12:16 pm

Message received (and already thought of). I have a 4 year old. She raised my awareness of common dangers well beyond what I could have imagined. No little tykes play whistles here without sitting, and I even grip the mouthpiece to keep the boy from gagging on it. I got out his sister's recorder recently, in fact, to lessen his odds of it. He still blows a fweep on it and grins.