As we move quickly into Thanksgiving week, I really couldn't be more thankful for the extra time I've gotten to spend with the boys over the last couple of months. It's been a blessing that I do not take for granted. It will come to an end, but the impact these last weeks has had on me, my relationships with them, and my mindset about a great number of things will remain. I am refreshed. I am thankful. Grateful. Blessed.
I thought I'd share a glimpse into one of the most creative solutions to a "situation" that popped up at school in a long time. Zane is in 4th grade this year and is in a class full of, let's call them high achievers. He's having a great year. He's always been a good student, but this year he's also getting into extracurriculars. He was invited to join the Junior Beta club. He participates in the running club. He engages in a wide variety of ways and topics. All in all, he's just an easy kid to parent through elementary school.
So I didn't really think much about it when he started talking about Pokémon again and pulled out the old Pokémon cards. I mean this same thing happened with Minecraft... what was cool for the big guys eventually becomes cool for the littles as well. So we got all caught up on the world of Pokémon. Turns out remarkably little changes... and got used to the chatter between Zane and Beckett in what sounds suspiciously like a foreign tongue.
Then one day disaster struck. His teacher thought that the Pokémon chat was becoming too big a distraction and she - GASP - banned the cards at school. Zane was pretty bummed about this. Then he ran outside to play... and I didn't really think much more about it.
A few days later he asked if we have any index cards. Yes, of course. What kind of respectable family with a bunch of kids in school doesn't have index cards. Do you want white or colored? He took a stack of the white ones and off he went. I didn't ask why. I didn't really care, to be honest.
The next thing I knew, he was working on these cards every chance he got. He pulled out a bunch of old colored pencils. He carried them back and forth to school in a zip lock bag. Finally curiosity got the best of me and I asked him what he was doing. His answer was very matter-of-fact. He and his friends were making their own battle/trading cards to sell to each other to take the place of the Pokémon cards. They found a way around the teacher's ban. LOL And honestly, if I were the teacher, I would support this whole-heartedly! These cards have rules, there's a storyline, there are drawings. In short, there's some serious thought and creativity going into this project.
I just love that kid and the way his mind works. There's no stopping him - especially if he decides to work around whatever future roadblocks hit his path. Lookout world... Zane is coming for you!
Sporty news (because what's a POTW without a sporty update?)
- Spencer is back full time on the mats with the Varsity team. He wrestled in his first dual last night and went 2-0 with a forfeit and a pin in 23 seconds.
- Quinn wrestled JV yesterday and ran into another hammer who is working on dropping weight so he can get back onto his varsity team. He lost, but gets to try again soon.
- Zane and Beck are doing a tourney on Sunday. They are both ready and looking really good. They are really motivated this year. I'm excited to see what they can do!
- Quinn and the JV team are going to a tournament on Monday (which I'm really looking forward to seeing!)
- Both Spencer and Quinn are wrestling on Tuesday in the West Thanksgiving Duals. This is always one of my favorite events - despite the amount of work that goes into making it run. It's a fun one!
Then we get to take a breather and enjoy some downtime for Thanksgiving break before hitting the ground RUNNING in December!
No comments:
Post a Comment