My children's favorite playthings are sticks. Our front porch is covered with walking sticks, swords, spears, and lances, and wands. I remember being a little bit surprised that a close friend of mine, the mother of many boys, had so many pretend weapons for her sons to play with; swords, guns, etc.. I gave in when my boys started biting their toast into the shape of pistols and sword fighting with bananas. We made the rule that the fellas couldn't point the guns at each other but had to shoot wild beasts or dangerous monsters and other such creatures. Is that rule realistic? or is it absurd? I don't know. But that's how it is at our house.
Slaying imaginary dragons with stick swords only brings so much satisfaction, though. They don't really make very challenging opponents. So dueling occurs in earnest in the forest around our house. It's not just our boys, it's all the boys and some of the girls in our neck of the woods. For the most part it's good natured fighting (did I really just write that?) and the worst injuries sustained to this point have been grazed knuckles. The clacking of weaponry outside our house is as familiar to us here as the croaking of frogs.
Recently our neighbor, Jenn, who grew up in Colorado wondered out loud, "What is it with our kids and sticks? I don't remember ever playing with a stick when I was growing up. Jay matter of factly reminded, "What sticks? We had no trees." Oh, yeah.
Rocks are right up there. I rarely turn on the dryer without hearing thudding sounds. I know instantly that the rocks I just cleaned out of the washer weren't the only ones left in pockets. Every day when I find rocks on the counter I open the front door and throw them back out into the driveway. This works well as long as no one is sword fighting in that precise location. Occasionally one of the children will rediscover a rock that they had previously brought in for their "collection" and bring it in again. This astonishes me. "How can you be sure it is the very same rock?' you may be thinking. One day we put rocks in the oven and when they were very hot we drew with crayons on one side of them. When the children weren't looking a few days later I chucked those guys (the rocks) back out into the driveway. Within days the children had found all of the crayon rocks and another that didn't have crayon but was shaped like a heart and they had been returned to their home on the kitchen island.
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4 comments:
I love it! Jared is reading a book with a very clever title that I can't recall about getting kids back into nature and away from TV, video games, etc. It sounds like your kids are rocking--no pun intended--that idea.
Thanks for keeping us up-to-date on even the little things they are doing. It makes me feel like I know them a little better. Miss you all!
Thanks for sharing all of the little things that the kids do. I love it! Yesterday when the grandkids were here and playing outside, I stood at the kitchen window with a smile on my face and was very thankful that I had such a big yard (did I really say that) so that they could run and play all they want. Spencer only got stuck in the willow tree once. Love you all - give the kids a big hug for me. I really miss them.
Yet another beautifuly written piece! An friend of mine who I havn't seen or spoken to for a long time just sent me this like. She called it "therapy for the soul" It's quite inspiring actually.. check it out if you get a min..
http://www.hasanyonetoldyou.com/
The other day I got in my truck and found a fresh new pile of special rocks on the floor. I know not to toss them out for a couple of days to make sure that whoever left them there doesn't come asking. If I don't hear from the hoarder, I toss them into the driveway. I'm sure I'll see them again.
Ronan got smacked in the face the other day while "sword" fighting and got a major scratch above and below his eye. He was pretty pleased about the whole affair.
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