I picked Girl up from school yesterday and when she climbed in the car it was one of those, “Mom, can Katie come home with me and play?” Katie’s Mom was one car ahead of us in carpool line and for a second my gut instinct was to say, “No, the house is a mess.” But, since the house is a mess 99% of the time, I was proud of myself when I said, “Sure. I’ll motion for her mom to pull over.” We did the kid exchange and headed over to Sonic for ice creams and a sweet tea to fortfy ourselves for a little Target shopping (I’ve had my eye on some deck furniture for a oouple of weeks now.).
Anywho, we finally get home with the deck furntiure in a huge box. The kids helped me lug the furniture pieces up to the top deck and then they were free to do whatever while I started to assemble said deck furniture.
They pulled that huge empty furniture box to the middle of the drive-way and spent the next couple of hours entertaining themselves by “decorating” the inside with markers and playing and having a good old time with that box. No fussing. No “I’m bored.” No one plopped down in front of the t.v. or the computer or Nintendo DS or plugged into a headset. There was just lots of laughing and giggling.
When it was time for us to take Katie home, the girls dragged that huge box into the t.v. room. There’s hardly room to get in and out of the door, but I don’t care.(*) It was so reaffirming to me that kids still know what to do with an empty cardboard box on a sunny afternoon…I hope that box gets another round of play today. I suspect it will.(l)
Sweet story. Our friends bought a big screen TV that came in a huge box. They cut a door for it, put butcher paper all over it and their 2 and our 2 had the greatest time with that thing, coloring and sitting inside of it, giggling.
Then the little monkeys started climbing on top of it and dive bombing (2 & 3 yr olds - not good) so we tossed it. Sad. :(
Better to use your imagination than be stuck in front of a TV any day!
Comment by Karen — April 29, 2006 @ 9:33 am
LOL at them dive-bombing. :d
Comment by Jennifer — April 29, 2006 @ 10:05 pm