Brutish or Brave?

This morning, before school started, I happened into the kindergarten classroom and was tickled to find children of various ages having a blast with all the cool stuff in the play area. It always surprises me a little that, in spite of its remote location, our school is well-equipped with all those creative treasures that encourage and delight the imagination.

Today I paused at the Lego table and traded high fives with a first grader who was busily snapping plastic pieces together. He appeared to be constructing some sort of weapon. That wasn't too surprising. It doesn't really matter what type of construction material is involved...modeling clay, Lincoln logs, K-nex, Legos, even a plain old popsicle stick. At some point, most boys can (and usually will) create a gun. I'll be honest, that has bothered me at times. There is always a concern that kids will fail to recognize the value of preserving life if they are allowed to act out imaginary violence against others during play.

I was well on my way to voicing my concern when the intercom squawked the announcement for breakfast. That triggered a frenzied exodus toward muffins and applesauce and within seconds I was standing in the play area alone. As I passed by the Lego table, I glanced back down at the abandoned weapon and realized that I probably shouldn't have worried. This boy might just have a pretty good handle on preserving life after all.

Strange...

Springtime is turning out to be a strange time this year. I'm seeing things that I've never seen before. Can you tell what this is? Scroll down and take a look at the anomaly that I found on my water pipe the other day.

I understand that the icicles formed when they delivered water to my house. A little water always runs back down the pipe after they disconnect the hose. The feathery crystals would have formed later on one of the many foggy days we've had lately, but the shape of the icicles has me stumped. Weird, huh?

Boys Will Be Boys

Okay, so you're five or six years old and the school day has just ended and the sun is shining and there isn't much wind to speak of and you become aware of this shed and it's just sitting there all shed-ish like and there's snow on top, just right for throwing at passersby, and it's not really a big shed. In fact, it's not really very big at all and it looks almost easy to climb like your own personal Everest and you'd be like the biggest guy up there with all that snow to throw and, besides, what could be more fun than that...

...if you were five or six?

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I did try to encourage these little guys away from their scheme, but they weren't inclined to pay much attention to my warnings. They've been playing on buildings such as this for most of their young lives, no reason to adjust their course now! The roof of the shed really wasn't all that high, but it didn't seem very stable to me, so between photos I continued to point out the risks involved which may have only served to heighten the thrill and increase their motivation to persevere. I wasn't particularly surprised. After all, boys will be boys.



It's not so easy to climb a shed without a ladder, especially while your friend is kicking snow on your head!



Almost there...well, maybe not.

Oh, a ladder, where did that come from?

Aarigaa! (Wow!) We made it! We're the biggest guys ever! Who can we hit with some snow?

Hey, is my buddy crying? Oh, he's just making an icky face because there's a girl coming from across the road. Ew, girl cooties! Who wants girl cooties? What can we do?

Whew! That was close! This is our shed! We're the biggest guys! We don't have to share with no stink'n girl!

Wait...does she have candy?