Maybe he's part Aborigine

Eleven-year-old Mr. A is a seasoned maker of bows and arrows. He has even made compound bows, and his aim is quite good. His bow-making skills are well known in the fifth grade, and he's actually sold bows and arrows to his friends (yeah, you can bet their parents hate me).

Now, he's turned his attention to blow guns, fashioning darts out of toothpicks and Q-Tips. Having advanced beyond the standard plastic straw stage, he has moved on to more durable materials: copper pipe and tubing. He bought a length of pipe, polished it with Brasso, and lacquered it to keep it from tarnishing. His accuracy with it is surprising. He can now hit and pop balloons as they float to the ground after being tossed into the air.

See? If you don't let your kids play violent video games or watch TV, they have the time and initiative to create REAL weapons at home. Why settle for virtual violence when your child can study the physics and impact of projectiles at home?

We're just hoping he never develops an interest in explosives...

April 13, 2007

Comments

[Mary-LUE]

Hands on experience is always the best! What a clever child. Hearing you talk about his tactile facility, I'm not surprised that homework is not his favorite thing. He's got more interesting things to do than sit down. I just read in a personality book about the type that my daughter is, that it is as if their brains are hard-wired to their bottoms. If they sit down, their brains fall asleep!

[JMo]

Blowdarts? Cool! Wait til he learns the joys of turning a spray can of WD40 into a flamethrower.

[V-Grrrl]

JMo,

Lucky you! You'll never be asked to babysit! ;D

[furiousBall]

Very easy to test his aboriginality...um...ness

Give him a didgeridoo, tell him to rock out. If said rock out commences...better buy some boomerangs

[Ortizzle]

I think it's great that he can make all of that stuff. Don't worry about the violence; put it to good use. Like aiming those darts at cockroaches or something. :-)

[V-Grrrl]

We'll have to move to Texas where the cockroaches are really BIG.

[Di]

Lol, just make sure that I never tell him about Orange guns ... shocking things that can project oranges into space at a velocity that excites ex-Airforce pilots back home in New Zealand ;) He would love it.

[mamatulip]

Hey, now that's creative!

[Ortizzle]

And by God, the cockroaches really are big in Texas. After all those years in Spain where they are 3/4 of an inch long, light brown pesky things, I suddenly came back to the 3-inch black b**tards that scare the holy cr*p out of you. Usually at night, when you get up for a glass of water and reach gingerly into a dark cupboard.

[wordgirl]

We have some friends who decided that they would never EVER give their kids toy guns to play with so that they wouldn't become attracted to violent things. One day, her son took his sandwich, chewed out the insides and part of the crus until it was in the shape of a handgun and proceeded to "shoot" her with it. If they're so inclined, they'll make a gun out of their finger. There's no stopping them.

[Michael]

Maybe you should send him our way. Between the Boy Scouts, Marine Corps, and a newly acquired skill with a propane grill I can teach Mr. E a few things.

I taught high school physics for a while when I was breaking in as a teacher.I know some great educational exploding....oops... I mean energy propulsion devices.

[V-Grrrl]

Educational explosions. His dad would be SO into that. Did these take place in your garage? : )

[Michael]

Nope. Out in the field and behind the bushes and waaaaay out of sight and hearing from my mom. We used my little brother as a look out until he ratted me out.

We used to go through my dad's garage shelf of various petroleum, oils, and lubricants and ask the question only a 10 year old pyro or military demolitions expert would ask-"Will this light on fire or explode?"

We'd then take the stuff outside and try it with matches or a purloined lighter. Oh, the pleasures of my errant youth.