3-D Chalk Art by Julian Beever

There is nothing like two grandsons, eight and 10, to keep one grounded and aware of what is important in life. As a grandparent I always considered it my special job to help my grandchildren keep their imaginations alive and well. Over the years my three grandchildren and I, like countless other grandparents, have created all kinds of fun loving, simple games involving little or no stuff like: “Do not wake Papa up”; “Try to take the prize from the water monster”, the international children’s sign of bringing your hand to your head, etc. As they are getting older there is more pressure from society to excel in school, sports, music, video games etc. Often the imagination plays a small role in such matters. One of the imagination places from my childhood is the Science Store on the outside of Milwaukee. I took the two boys there a few years ago and the creative science projects; simple toys and science stuff fascinated them. Today, since my wife was working, I had planned a bike trip on the Oak (Grape) Leaf Trail to pick grape leaves; going for frozen custard at Robert’s, and working in the garden. However, the first thing the two boys said to me today was “can we go to the science store?” I said maybe, but let’s do this other stuff we planned first. However, they were really hyped on the science store like it was some long-lost place of wild fantasy. Finally I sat down with the two of them and told them they were so fixed on the science store that either we had to go there first or not at all since their minds would be there while doing the other stuff. We talked about this and finally decided to do the bike trip first, go the custard stand for lunch and see where we were. We ended up going to the science store after lunch and then worked on the garden and on preparing the rain garden in front.

At the science store my oldest grandson, 10, headed straight to the small toy soldier section and purchased some more. He keeps them here and has the most imaginative adventures with them. He cannot bring them home since they are not the ‘right stuff’ for 10 year old straight A students who participate in lots of sports and activities. My eight year old always wants to go to the science store but is never sure what we wants outside of the excitement of just gong there.

All in all the day went well and, as usual, I understood more about life from observing my grandsons. The imagination of children is there. They just need the chance to use it. After driving them back tomorrow it will be back to the “same old, same old”, which can also be imaginative if it we let it be.

Comments

(:commentboxchrono:)