The Boxed Art of Imagination

I am not spontaneous; therefore, we have a schedule for homeschooling. Although I am not rigid with my schedules, I am pretty strict on the girls doing and completing school. Sometimes, though, my children remind me parenting is about living up those spontaneous moments.

Today, E was working with blocks. I sat down next to him and asked him what he was doing. He said, "Building shapes. I'm going to make a triangle for you." He proceeded to make a square.

"That's a square," I said.

He smiled, "Yes, I said I was going to make a square," he proclaimed. And then we made several shapes together.

Later, he was sitting in an empty box and I said, "Are you sailing in a ship."

He said, "No, in a choo-choo train. But it's missing cars, Mommy." So I found several other boxes for him. He grabbed the dog's water container and made it a smoke stack. He managed to convince his sisters to help him decorate them. They sat in the foyer "riding' their choo-choo train for at least an hour.

As parents, we often hear children would rather play with the boxes than what is inside a box. For my children, that is definitely true.