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| "Give a mouse a highchair..." |
Our granddaughter's play reminds me of how free-flowing the days were when our kids were little.
No wonder our children think outside the box. We rarely watched TV: we galloped through the neighborhood pizza store or fire station on our field trips, glided past possibilities in our boatload of imagination. We padded through the world, flipping through pages of library books and we stalked adventures as if on cat paws.
Everything in sight was fair game. An item did not just "do" its original function. Anything could serve whatever purpose we dreamed up in the moment. When we put it away, we left its ideas behind and started our next adventure. It wasn't quite Pippi Longstocking, but some days probably came close to her nutty household.
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| #3 grade pine soffit boards |
- Jars of kitchen spices, sniffed, to determine a menu = letting our noses decide how supper should taste.
- Screw-in hooks and metal drywalling corners from the hardware store that made affordable curtain rods (that lace valence stretched across 2 rooms).
- Stale rice dumped into a huge Tupperware, set in the middle of a blue tarp = an indoor sandbox for rainy Seattle days.
- Baking science and math curriculum = the kitchen chemistry lab of measuring cups, the amalgamation of ingredients, oven light on to observe fusion as cookies melted and rose ...)
- #3 grade pine soffit as 8" floorboards = 20 years of decor satisfaction, even if my dad mentioned that "Grandpa wouldn't use this in a barn" while we were nailing it down.
- Hiring the Paris diplomat's daughter as babysitter ("Please speak only French to the children," when they hadn't heard a word of French before.) Spanish Muzzy - the kids remember how to count three apricots in Spanish to this day.
- Children's magazines as core curriculum: Zoobooks for geography, botany, and zoology curriculum. Ladybug and Cricket magazines as literature. National Geographic Kids as social studies, geography, art, and photography.
- Year-end educational testing to see how our homeschoolers measured up to state standards = play dates with a bit of paperwork between. (Yeah, our kids were pretty relaxed during tests.)
- Funeral wreaths tossed into a pile by cemetery maintenance workers, stripped and reused for pinecone wreaths at Christmas. Pinecones also gathered on our walks through the cemetery. (Okay, so my m-i-l thought that was a slightly gruesome robbery. Love you MomK - and weren't the wreaths pretty?)
What's in your hands today? How can you look at resources differently?
Oh - this just popped into my head because my coaching session today helped me rethink a few of my own assumptions. My mind is churning and sorting.
I'm a coach as well as being coached. Contact me if you could use a free hour of coaching to talk through a stalemate or look at things a new way. I need a few more clients for the next certification level. Thanks!
Read more:
*My heart exults in the Lord. 1 Samuel 2:1 NEV
*I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between me and them. Ezekiel 20:12
*Jesus said, "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly." John 10:10 ESV
*Abide in my love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. John 15:9,11 ESV
Moravian Prayer: As we awaken to a new year, let our first thought be a song of praise to our Father in heaven. For your gift of life, we thank you from the depths of our hearts and we boldly call upon you, Lord, to lead us safely through our time on earth. In Jesus' name we pray.
Praise God, praise God, praise God. We love you, we honor you, we sing to you praises of joy. Praise God, praise God, praise God. Your mercy, compassion, and grace are our strength and anchor. Hear our songs, O Lord. Amen.
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