Spring has arrived here in the Valley, at least temporarily. Yesterday, while I was digging rocks out of the ground in preparation for reseeding the back lawn (a casualty of the construction process last summer), the younger kids were exploring the woods for the first time this year.
IM came back all fired up with plans to build a bridge out to the island in the river. (In the summer, the kids can wade to it, but the river is far too wild in the spring.) Digging rocks was "too hard" but carrying concrete blocks down to the edge of the property and rigging them up on supports? That we could easily do. And should do. Immediately.
This is not the first time our kids have come up with hare-brained schemes that they are convinced are less work than the chores we assign them.
I think LW is the only child who hasn't yet suggested that building a room-cleaning robot would be easier than picking up the room.
But the classic case in our family comes from EM, when, at the age of three, he managed to lock the bathroom door on his way out of the bathroom. Given that the upstairs toilet was not always reliable, there was a certain urgency and stress involved in coming up with the solution. As Michael and I debated various lock-picking strategies, EM grinned. "I know! We can build a robot that will flatten itself, slide under the door, and open it from the other side! That will be best."
Is it any wonder that as adults we underestimate construction projects?
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