Welcome to a brand new week everyone 
Eleanor from Give A Brick and Writing Smiles here again with the Shades of a Dream Literary adventure. We have one last life lesson from Roald Dahl’s Danny, The Champion of the World before visiting The BFG together next week. As an aside, I know Heather is looking forward to that one. She tells me it’s a book she knows 
But I digress. If you’ve only just joined us and have missed our previous three adventures with Danny and his dad, shame on you! Where have you been? Really? Ah, OK Seeing as it’s you, here is the link to the very first post in the series. They should be linked forward to the next one from there.
Today we are reading a message that RD wrote very specifically with children in mind. It’s on the very last page of the book in special big letters. Look:
If you hold your computer up to a mirror, you might be able to read it!
OK, so I took that with a web cam and as such, it’s gone all back to front and impossible to read! Here’s what it says:
‘A MESSAGE to Children Who Have Read This Book. When you grow up and have children of your own, do please remember something important. A stodgy parent is no fun at all! What a child wants and deserves is a parent who is SPARKY!”
It wasn’t until I typed that out that I realised RD was not advocating Sparkly parents (as I had always read!) but instead, Sparky parents. Amounts to much and the same though I’m sure.
If you’re a little lost and wondering where I’m going with this, fear not. We’re about to have our grand ‘Ta Da!’ moment. I personally feel that this message for children is something we would all do well to remember on a daily basis.
It matters not a jot if you don’t have children. You might not have the slightest desire to produce little mini grown-ups (oooh, that actually made me shudder. As an aside, how much more shiny and smiley would this world be if it were populated with maxi children instead of grown-ups?) You deserve to be sparky (and sparkly!) The people who you interact with on a daily basis deserve to get to know the sparky you too. I’m sure the sparky you is a lot of fun
So what’s stopping you? Maybe I’m preaching to the converted. Maybe you’re already like some caffeine infused, Ever-ready bunny who lives each day to the max. If so, can I have a shot? I love to have fun. Heather will tell you, I’ve written whole blog posts about the stuff. But there are times when I must confess I am in danger of being a little stodgy.
Prior to writing this post I was procrastinating. By the time you read this I’ll have been to France but it was written well in advance (OK, three days!) of my departure. It is the penultimate post I wrote before rushing around packing but instead of sitting down to write with a sense of excitement and anticipation, I could feel the sludge creeping up. Why do we do that? Or is that just me? 
Why? I have no idea!
But you and I are not destined to a life of sludge and stodge. There is a solution. Just recognising that we’re being a little dull can help. Do you want to know what I did to eradicate the sludge? (No? Just skip this next sentence, I won’t tell anyone.) I took a photo on my web cam of me looking dull and boring. It’s not a pretty picture (and no, I’m not going to share it) but it gave me the virtual kick up the bottom I needed!
What about you though? Are you ever aware that you’re slipping into stodge mode? What do you do about it? Let’s talk …
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[...] I almost forgot, if you’re reading this after 10am, check out my Literary Adventure Series over at Heather’s Shades of a Dream blog. We’re finishing Danny today and you’re going to love [...]