An empty masking tape roll sat on the children's bathroom counter for a few days before I asked, "Can I throw this away?"
Anni responds, "No, it's good for crafts."
I inwardly roll my eyes and think pack rat, but I love this pack rat and completely love that this is the nature of this child.
Later when I use the last paper towel, I'm tempted to keep the "craft item" for Anni. I succumb to my white tornado self and toss it in the recycle can.
Saturday arrives and it's time for soccer practice. Annika didn't bring her shin guards when we switched houses. It's almost time to leave and her house is a good twenty minutes away. Anni contemplates the alternatives: don't go, borrow Max's (he doesn't wear his in practice), borrow some from a friend ( no guarantees here).
This is when her ingenuity kicks in. "I'll make some. Do you have some cardboard?" There is a computer box top within arm's reach. She wields scissors and produces two rectangles. She bends the cardboard to her legs, we add some air-filled packing wrap for cushion and she slips the guards into her socks. They look pretty good, but I'm dubious.
When I pick up Anni three hours later, after watching her game, she's still wearing the homemade shin guards. When we get in the car she pulls them off with no complaints, no indentations nor blisters, and I am impressed.
When we go back to her house, I take a closer look at the craft area reserved just for her creative side. It's right off the kitchen in what should have been the formal dining area, but her mother understood this child and she nurtures her child's ingenuity, her need to create.
Annika's great grandmother, my mother, used her ingenuity when faced with a somewhat similar problem: a school dance. Mom's dance shoes were too worn to wear to the dance and her family was too poor to buy new shoes; but this didn't keep Mom from dancing. She cut from a piece of cardboard two new soles for her shoes.
My creative Mom, my creative granddaughter-- so thankful for them both.
Annika's Sacred Space and Tools For Her Creativity~~
Anni responds, "No, it's good for crafts."
I inwardly roll my eyes and think pack rat, but I love this pack rat and completely love that this is the nature of this child.
Later when I use the last paper towel, I'm tempted to keep the "craft item" for Anni. I succumb to my white tornado self and toss it in the recycle can.
Saturday arrives and it's time for soccer practice. Annika didn't bring her shin guards when we switched houses. It's almost time to leave and her house is a good twenty minutes away. Anni contemplates the alternatives: don't go, borrow Max's (he doesn't wear his in practice), borrow some from a friend ( no guarantees here).
This is when her ingenuity kicks in. "I'll make some. Do you have some cardboard?" There is a computer box top within arm's reach. She wields scissors and produces two rectangles. She bends the cardboard to her legs, we add some air-filled packing wrap for cushion and she slips the guards into her socks. They look pretty good, but I'm dubious.
When I pick up Anni three hours later, after watching her game, she's still wearing the homemade shin guards. When we get in the car she pulls them off with no complaints, no indentations nor blisters, and I am impressed.
When we go back to her house, I take a closer look at the craft area reserved just for her creative side. It's right off the kitchen in what should have been the formal dining area, but her mother understood this child and she nurtures her child's ingenuity, her need to create.
Annika's great grandmother, my mother, used her ingenuity when faced with a somewhat similar problem: a school dance. Mom's dance shoes were too worn to wear to the dance and her family was too poor to buy new shoes; but this didn't keep Mom from dancing. She cut from a piece of cardboard two new soles for her shoes.
My creative Mom, my creative granddaughter-- so thankful for them both.
Annika's Sacred Space and Tools For Her Creativity~~