Problem Solving

It was like Deja Vu all over again. We like to wind down with Eli before we put him to bed. Usually we'll all sit in the floor of his room and play with some colored shapes he has. You know the kind. There is a plastic box with variously shaped holes in the top, and there are plastic shapes that kids are supposed to put through the holes. Theoreticly that have to match the shapes to get them to fit. I don't work that way though... My brothers don't work that way... and my sons apparently don't work that way either.

Maybe there are kids out there who take the time to match up the shapes... not mine.

It was just me and Eli... He was tired and cranky... but he did want to play. So I got out the blocks and off we went. Just like his big brother did 2 years ago... he tried to put a square in a triangle hole. Then he looked at me. Then he looked at the box. Then he took the box apart and put the shapes in 2 at a time.

He was standin' up... bending over and droppin' the shapes in... and I guess he leaned over to far. He fell forward face first into the box.

It was like deva vu all over again.

He growled... and unleashed a furious combo of punches on the unsuspecting toy. He picked it up and threw it across the room and proceeded to send shapes in all directions as well. The he stood up... and surveyed the carnage. Well pleased with his revenge... he went over and got his bed time book and brought it to me to read.

The boys remind me of... well... my brothers and I. I know all you 80's kids had rubix cubes. I think I fooled with that thing for about 5 minutes before I jammed a flat-head screwdriver into it and popped it apart. JAC and Welldigger were the same way.

This kind of thinking gets you trouble though. Believe me. Teachers hate it. College professors hate it. Entrepeneurs love it... but the bureacracy they produce despizes it. The big companies claim to want it... but its just talk. In practice they beat it out of their people as fast as possible.

Organized society sees this sort of thing as Cancer. It's dangerous. It demonstrates an unwillingness to play the game... even a disrespect for the game.