Growing up ain't always what it's cracked up to be -- Adults' vs Kids' Perspectives:

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Get up on the bed WITH your kids and say, "OK, but just this ONCE!!!!"
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They will REMEMBER that moment.
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When I was in highschool, the family down the block had two really nice
and cute daughters that went to another highschool... so their house was
the center of a LOT of activity (and interest).
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Once, in the Fall, we were TP'ing their house after dark and one-by-one
we stopped and FROZE when we realized that their MOM was in our midst...
gleefully throwing rolls of TP over the trees.
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She turned to us and said, "WHAT?!?!?!? I'm not the one that's gonna
have to clean it up tomorrow!!!" and continued on (as did we all).
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COOL mom.
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This last one is also known as a "Derr-dit-derr tube".
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My sides hurt.

The reason I ask is that it could be incorporated into any child development course in psychology programs and would be a useful addition. I so often have to remind people how their children's minds work, that they spend a great deal of time in a kind of self-hypnotic state where the lines between fantasy and reality are genuinely blurred. Their brains literally do not work like adults' do. A child playing is not so different from a kitten playing; it's safe practice for adult behaviors (that later often hearken back to the safety of the pretend play, as in the real Monster Truck rallies, where it seems dangerous but people seldom get hurt). That's one reason we in the profession don't look so kindly on the disappearance of free play time from childrens' heavily scheduled lives. It's important for creativity, social prowess, self knowledge and a host of other things to be able to indulge and share that imagination with your parents there to keep you from actually sticking that fork in the plug but not inhibiting the part that sees it in some wonderfully innocent and grandiose way.

So, original question, is that wonderful creation yours or were you just smart enough to recognize how wonderful iit is?

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I've just recently re-read one of my FAVORITE books, "Cannery Row"
by John Steinbeck and it reminded me of my absolute favorite chapter
in the book -- the one near the end about Mary Talbot, the poor and
lovely wife (Mrs Tom Talbot), who still gave "tea parties" to which she
invited the local cats.
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Every once in a while, I THINK I'm fortunate enough to catch sight
of something with a childlike perspective... but, of course, I'm just
guessing that I am.
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I remember visiting my MiddleFingerMomSis' family in their very upscale
surburban neighborhood. It was a very gray and drizzly cold Autumn
Saturday afternoon and my niece and nephew, probably about 4 and
5 years old, were trapped in the house and just as miserable as the
weather... whining and griping at each other and the world.
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I grabbed a small blanket, snuck out the front door and knocked on
the windows of their glassed-in playroom, and ran around the backyard
wearing the blanket like a cape, LEAPING over bushes and Big Wheels
and turning running somersaults and cartwheels and making grandiose
gestures as I saved the world. I could hear them HOWLING inside.
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For a few minutes, I was fortunate enough to have been able to live
with them in THEIR world again.
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Suddenly, I realized that everybody in the neighborhood, without being
able to see or hear the kids I was entertaining (there were three of
them -- including myself), was simply seeing this obviously out-of-place
big long-haired bearded gnome prancing about in a CAPE in their very
upscale suburban neighborhood.
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It started me laughing so hard that I could hardly stand, let alone
somersault... and I scurried back inside -- where the three of us
spent an incredibly better afternoon together.
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Uncle MiddleFingerMom was ALWAYS my favorite "job".
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The overfed, long haired, leaping gnome, I believe?

I can't take it all in right now, because it is to late for me. Great post though!

boys will enjoy

I have a plethora of real swords, some with real edges. I take great pride in my blades as they are my tie to our family of the past.

However, my family won't let me play with them anymore as I always cut myself. (It only happens once with every blade I own. Like magick, that blade will never cut me again :) They are just worried that the cut will be life threatening. My first Katana cut my earlobe open - I still have no idea how that one happened.)

And so, I see cardboard tubes as swords. It is great since I like to swing them at my younger sister :evilgrin: (I'm in my mid thirties and it never gets old!)

:hi:

Bake

Ain't it the truth?

when they were @5 or so. Lousy job. Had some little ladders and a hole to crawl in to. Some sand beneath it right next to a tree.
I was talking to my oldest about a month ago (now 33). I told her i always felt bad about what a crappy job I had done.
She said "you're kidding we had more fun on that thing than you could ever imagine."

They also loved it when I brought some big boxes home. We duct taped them together into rooms and tunnels and put it on the porch. Hardly saw them on on the weekends all summer. They'd come out for food and to go to the bathroom.

Yeah. Sometimes we need to be reminded of perspective. :)


The pig-kissing thing?? Different intent and all, but, THAT'S why my boys would always wipe off my good-night kisses!! Even when they were sound asleep. :rofl: