The Origami Forum

Following the non folders reaction to origami
How do your parents react?
Mine go like
"go study, origami is just a hobby"
"How much paper do you want??"
but when i make something good they are all stunned

that's about the same as mine except they have seen nearly everything and its hard to impress them again

Trouble wrote:they have seen nearly everything and its hard to impress them again

Same with mine.

Haha. I usually get in trouble for being on the computer for too long. I dont have an iPod touch yet so I spend alot of time upstairs on the computer. My mom is constantly telling me to stop leaving stuff around XD well yea, they all love when I make something really cool though : D

My parents get bored with my complex folds... I mean, they love them, but they are so used to it, that it gets less and less surprising to them when I fold something.

Lol same here XD and it's like " I SPENT HOURRSSS on this.... and they are like eh I guess it looks cool

i make very complex models and then they say that it looks complex but when i make a super simple box their like why dont you make more of them

My mom knows how impatient, reckless, easy to anger kid I was especially when something didn't go as I wanted to (yeah yeah spoiled brat )! So now even that I'm 29 with my own wife and kids, she still brings that up whenever I show her newly folded model. She can't understand how I'm able to not rip the paper after few hours or how can I study some step in diagram (I can't fold from CP ... yet ) for few minutes, that I don't understand at a first glance. And she really appreciates and compliments every model that I folded.
But my father is like: "Yeah, it looks OK" every time.

Haha! Similar things happen to me as well. At first my mom says to stop folding and do your work but when I finish the model then she gets really astonished.
Nowdays she just quickly says nice or something. When my big brother sees any of the models the first thing he ask me is: "Did you study"? and I miserably answer "no". Sometimes when he is in a good mood then he appreciates it.

Being around people hard to impress is the best way to get better.

My parents have always been very supportive of my origami.
I started folding at age 7 and they've always thought it was a good thing.
I'm almost 30 now, and my parents often tell other people about my skill and passion for origami.

I can somewhat understand the lukewarm reactions that a lot of people get when showing off really complex models.
To an outsider, the true complexity and ingenuity of a design is often not immediately evident, or the scale of complexity is hard to judge.
To someone who knows no origami, a traditional crane can be almost as astonishing and unbelievable a creation as an Ancient Dragon can be. The transformation of a simple square into a recognisable three dimensional form is a kind of magic to them no matter the complexity, and many of the simple or traditional designs have more grace and elegance than the super complex ones. The simpler ones are easier to fold more neatly and precisely too, which can contribute to their appeal.
This is one of the reasons that I tend to avoid the very complex models and keep my focus on simpler designs. (The other reason is that I just like small paper. )