No X-Box, No Worries – by: Keran Coetzer

Mom’s know best, as the saying goes. ‘No X-box, No Worries’ is a heartfelt letter by Durban based mom, Keran Coetzer, explaining to her ten year old son why he can’t have an X-box for Christmas. It’s also an entry into ‘Write to Surf‘ – our surf journo competition which has some epic prizes up for grabs (see below for details).

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NO X-BOX, NO WORRIES – by: Keran Coetzer

A letter to my ten-year-old son.

So you want an X-box for Christmas? All your friends have an X-box – everyone has one except you.

Your dad and I have worked hard and have been fortunate in life, so we can afford to buy you an X-box. It would be really easy for us to buy you an X-box and silence the nagging and stop our search for other gifts to fill the space of the X-box.

So why won’t we buy you an X-box? Because we don’t want that big beautiful brain and strong healthy body you are building to stop growing as you spend hours glued to a screen playing on an X-box.

We have seen you progress from a little boy splashing in the waves on a boogie board, to a ten year old super-grom. Every time your dad takes you surfing, you get more confident, and better on that amazing surfboard he bought you. Yes, we do spend money on toys for you – but toys that we see are making you grow into a better you.

You are only ten – you don’t understand what a compliment it is when Durban’s most famous surfboard shaper says to you in his shop that he saw your amazing left this morning and that you are surfing so well.

You also don’t understand that the reason why you have improved so quickly is because of the hours and hours your father has spent taking you to the beach whenever he gets a gap. When he packs your school lunch at 4:30am and makes your breakfast and then gently wakes you and loads you into his car in your pyjamas for an early morning surf before school.

You don’t know any different because you have only had a dad who is totally committed to getting you to know and love surfing the way he does. You don’t know that other boys your age have fathers who are too busy, too tired, or are just not around to do the same for their sons.

Sunrises, toasted sarmies, after surf ice-creams, special songs you listen to in the car on the way to the beach and hours and hours of your father’s undivided attention – these are just a few of the things you would have missed out on this year if we had bought you an X-box for Christmas last year.

So with a whole new year of fun ahead of us, your dad and I choose once again to say no to the X-box. Not because we are mean and don’t want you to get what you want, but because we know all of the things you will miss out on if we do buy it.

And one day, even though it doesn’t seem like it now, you will thank us for it.

Love Mom and Dad

PS When Eskom start load shedding again in January, your friends won’t be able to use their X-box’s, but your surfboard needs no batteries or electricity – just a bit of paddle power, a good attitude and a big old smile.

Click here to check out all the entries so far >>

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THE FINEPRINT:
Send your stories to calvin@zigzag.co.za. One submission will be selected every six weeks to appear in Zigzag magazine. The selected submission will also receive a hamper from Billabong. Zigzag retains the right to use any work submitted for the Zag Surf Journo competition on zigzag.co.za as outlined in the rules and terms of the competition. Zigzag reserves the right not to award a published winner in the magazine every six weeks, depending on the quality of entries. Zigzag is not obligated to run any and all entries submitted, either online or in print. Zigzag retains the right to edit all work submitted for brevity and / or clarity.

For the next three issues the Billabong prize hamper includes: 1 x Billabong Wetsuit; 1 x Billabong Boardies; 1 x Billabong Cap; 1 x Von Zipper Sunnies; 1 x Set of Kinetic Racing (KR) fins. After which the hamper will get a shake-up with new product of equal value for the following three issues.