Kidstuff on Al's Ramblingshttps://al.cousins.id.au/tags/kidstuff/Recent content in Kidstuff on Al's RamblingsHugo -- 0.164.0enThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:49:57 +1000Just Write Somethinghttps://al.cousins.id.au/posts/just-write-something/Fri, 11 Sep 2026 12:49:57 +1000Alastair Cousinshttps://al.cousins.id.au/posts/just-write-something/<no value>Each year of at least the last five I have promised myself I would find time to get back into blog writing. So far, no dice. Currently, i’m off on an extended paternity break which includes a balance of some shared and solo days caring for my now 7 month old. I figured maybe i’d find the time during this window to rekindle the habit. I’m now two thirds the way into this break and I’m yet to publish something, so a new entry has gone into my todo list: “Just Write Something”, and in that spirit, here we are.

The Commons: Sandpit Edition

A feature of my neighbourhood I have come to appreciate while finding ways to occupy my 7 month old is a sandpit in a playground a few minutes walk from my house. I have many fond memories of playing in a sandpit in my backyard, but these things seemed to have mostly disappeared when my older children were very young (daycare centers excluded).

The sandpit near my house has a remarkable feature: members of the community seem to have donated a variety of toy trucks and diggers to the sandpit. The sandpit currently has probably half a dozen yellow toy dump trucks and diggers, with a few other random assortments like an american-style extended fire truck and a few spades and shovels. The toys seem to change a bit over time, and it’s not obvious where they come from or go to. This is obviously wonderful as a parent, free toys, what’s not to love?

A sandpit with toys

The act of this community resource existing in this modern world also brings a bit of joy to my heart. My mother saw pictures of Mr 7 Month Old with one of the trucks and instantly assumed i’d bought him the truck. This would have been the default position when I was growing up; no one left things out for the community (despite my neighbourhood being a very middle-class, community oriented bunch of people). It’s ultimately a pretty small act, but the communal nature of the toys goes along with all of the book libraries and other places of free exchange of ‘stuff’ that ultimately make living in a walkable community nice. Definitely something i’m grateful for and i’m sure at some point, will be contributing some sort of truck back into the communal pool as a gesture of thanks.

Writing Plans

It’s not entirely true that i haven’t written anything since going on parental leave. I have stubbed out multiple posts as well as recorded a bunch of memos while wandering around with ideas and takes for more posts. I am going to approach writing here more with a focus on producing material in general vs trying to stick to a theme or topic, for now. This means, observations, technology perspectives and unnecessary detail about things I do like sound engineering and running are all likely to get a platform. If something starts to actually find an audience, maybe i’ll break it out, but right now, i’m happy to just to be getting something out the door.

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