New Skill: Rubik's Cube

There is a flaw in my plan.

One of my personal goals for the year was to spend 20 hours (over two-month spans) learning new skills. First it was Spanish, then ukulele.

I'm not becoming an expert at either one, but it's been challenging and fun.

What's the problem, then? Well, my plan was to spend 30 minutes, 5 days a week, for 8 weeks (that equals 20 hours) learning the skill. But of course, to maintain and continue to grow, I still need to spend time practicing my Espanol and my ukulele.

Even if I only maintain with 1.5-2 hours per week, I realize that I will quickly be overwhelmed how much time it takes to develop and retain skills. By the time I'm on my 4th skill, for example, I could be spending 7 or 8 hours a week just on these "hobbies."

And that doesn't include the time demands of blogging, editing the book I wrote last year, or any other leisure activities. Oh, and I need to work, too.

Yep, there's a flaw in my plan. But I'm stubborn enough to keep going.

This Month's Skill: Rubik's Cube

A couple of years ago, my son got a Rubik's Cube. Even using the instructions, it still took hours and hours for me to solve it. For the next two months, I will improve on this.

But I will not do the full 20 hours learning this skill. I will probably go for about 10-12 hours over the next two months, so that I still have time to keep learning Spanish (I'm just finished with Year 1!) and the ukulele.

How am I going to learn to solve the Rubik's Cube (besides taking off the stickers, which was my technique when I was a kid)? I will probably use this guide, or this.  

Or maybe you know of a good source? (Please let me know in the comments!)

Of course, I could just with DeStorm Power's rap:

The Next Level?

Maybe one day I could solve this one to the right -->

Maybe.

And here's a video of someone solving 6 types of Rubik's cubes: from 2x2 to 7x7.

Then again, maybe it would just be easier to program a robot to solve the cube in under 3 seconds.

Let's Hear from You

How about you? Are you learning any new skills this year?

And if you are a Rubik's cube expert, do you know of a good "cheat sheet"?


Edit: Here's how I did Solving These Skills.    

What Concepts About Sharing Can My Toddler Understand?

Here's a question I got from a mom recently, on the heels of the Christmas season:

Our older son (age 4) will be playing with a toy, and his younger sibling (17 months) becomes interested and tries to play with it at the same time, or sometimes just takes it. Older brother starts to whine, since we've taught him not to take something out of someone else's hands. What concepts are they old enough to understand?

Sometimes I try to coach the older boy through possible solutions (play with it where his brother can't reach it, get him interested in another toy, or share the toy), but others I just step in and take it back from one and return it to the other. Sometimes if I get one interested in another toy, the other boy ends up coming over and wanting to play with that toy. I figure I need a consistent approach, but haven't settled on what it is.

The Guilty Parties

Ah, yes. Sibling squabbles. Brotherly rivalry. This case is not the first, and won't be the last.>

Obviously, there are two separate people we are dealing with here. We have to consider each child separately, and engage their individual hearts and souls. One way I have been lazy as a parent in the past (and I still err in this way) is by treating my kids as the same.

(And, of course, we should also consider the parents' hearts, since parenting is not just about kids. But it's discomforting to think that our kids' issues might be our fault, so we'll leave the parents out of it for now.)

I think that this mom is using some good strategies. Usually removal of one of the boys from the situation, and distracting them with someone else, can avoid or solve many of the problems.

But in both cases (and when it comes in our own hearts), we have to remember to look beyond the behavior, and to address the heart issue. Yes, we'll deal with the behavior, but we also have to try to discern the motivations of the heart.

Leading Your Preschooler

For the older child, I think for him the heart issue is not about being fair, but about him being will to put aside his own desires for the sake of loving his brother. He may be a little on the younger side to fully grasp this, but I think it's important for him to begin to understand (as best he can) the concepts of idolatry and worship.

When he whines about his brother taking his toy, he is worshiping himself, and putting his own desires ahead of his brothers', who was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). When he cares about a toy more than his brother, that is sin.

That's a heavy concept, but I think you can incorporate terms like "love," "sin," "worship," etc., in this context. You are teaching him the gospel -- helping him understand that his heart is sinful, and that's why Jesus had to die on the Cross.

Engaging Your Toddler 

The younger child may be a little tougher in some aspects, but you are right that it's so important to be consistent. At his age, it's more of a basic concept of "be kind" than it is trying to help him understand his heart. He may need removal from the situation if he is repeatedly not being kind. And yes, he will often whine.

In both cases, I think it's important to use regular language (kindness, sin, worship, etc). Even if they don't understand it, it lays a groundwork for future conversations about the gospel.

And that's what you as a parent have to understand about this matter. This is not a one-time issue or conversation. This is a multi-year process of discipling your child.

That's tough for me; I'd rather just have one conversation lecture, but I think that's how God is working on my heart. He shows me how weak and unwise I am as a parent, to remind me how much I need a Savior.


What counsel would you give this parent?

(If you have any parenting-related questions, please email me.)


Related Links:

• Parenting: It's Never an Interruption  
• "It's Not Fair!"   
• You Guys Are Being Selfish  
• 4 Effective Consequences for Disciplining a Young Child 
• Biblical Parenting vs Gospel Parenting    

**image courtesy of criscris1 via sxc.hu

Favorite Tweets for August

School has started in our neck of the woods. Lots of learning going on!

Here are some top tweets from August -- from others and from moi.

From Others

@JamieTheVWM:  Ministry in the suburbs is challenging. Everyone here is surrounded by shiny new stuff, so it's hard to see the Light.

@FrankieBoyle:  I don't see why the last day of the Olympics shouldn't be all the gold medalists playing dodgeball till we have an ultimate champion

@mitchmillerme:  Nothing will leave you friendless faster than making sure you get credit for everything.

@compassion:  Do the people in your community know why your church exists? #wcagls | A good question to regularly ask

@myBR1DGE:  All it takes is one caring adult to get the most out of a young person. #BuildOne

@mdroyster:  Let passion energize & sustain you. Give it all you've got one step at a time. Focus on small victorys & the the big win will come. 

@theHSHproject:  If you don't think it's hard to follow Jesus . . . then you might not be following Jesus.

My Tweets (@EspinosaJoey)

Thunderstorm knocked out 20% of the traffic lights in #AllendaleSC. Fortunately, the other 4 are still working.

My wife is out of town. This is my dinner. http://instagr.am/p/OFhnKyDygI/

Loved watching this video with my kids! The LEGO Story. http://buff.ly/N0husQ  #parenting

"As much as we want God to explain himself to us, we are in no place to demand that He give an account to us." Francis Chan 

"I never have to do a moment's labor to gain or maintain my justified status before God!" Milton Vincent #gospel

"Short-term mission trips will not evangelize the world. [Churches need] a long-term presence on the ground." Zane Pratt

MC Escher in Lego

Sky and Water

When I was a kid, I loved the works of M.C. Escher. I even had a T-shirt, with the design to the right, of Sky and Water. I was fascinated with how he could trick make my eyes not believe what they were seeing. It was probably the only time in my life that I enjoyed not knowing the answer.

I also liked Legos. I had 1000's. It used to be that all there were were regular "town" creations -- cars, houses, police station, etc. But I moved into castle sets. Now, there are at least a dozen series of different sets -- Star Wars, ninja, Pharaoh, and whatnot. I brought Elijah and two of his friends to a Lego store last December; it took them over 45 minutes to figure out how they each wanted to spend their $20. A little overwhelming, for us all.

It's fun to use Legos to create real life depictions and artwork. My kids have been inspired by others creating Bible Stories with Legos, even building Easter scenes. They have not built an SUV out of Lego bricks. Not yet, at least.

Recently, we came across a site that showed how someone recreated M.C. Escher's artwork using Legos. Here are some of our favorites:

Belvedere.

Relativity.

Waterfall. On this one, he had to cheat a little (read the story in the article). Still pretty cool.

I was amazed at how few kids in the after school program here have used Legos, until I'm reminded of how expensive they are (the Lego SUV has an estimated materials-only cost of $40,000, not including labor, or an engine). We were so thankful for a friend's HUGE donation of their unused Legos. 

Do your kids like to create with Legos? What's been their biggest project?