Spontaneity

 Liam, Alex, and Charlie are rambunctious, busy boys. I have a variety of age-appropriate, diverse activities and games planned for them twice a week when I babysit. Fridays are park/splash pad/ swimming days. Public pools cannot get enough life guards, so we will be using the collapsible kiddie pool more than we'd like this summer. 

Sometimes I have to be spontaneous and come up with something off the cuff. This was one of those moments. After they'd successfully and cooperatively built a four room fort frame indoors with those sticks and balls, these were left overs. I made sure the sticks were secured into the holes in the hard balls to make putters, and I took a bucket of ping pong balls outside.

There is a sewer grate in our long driveway. Their goal was to land in the grate. Alex was the champ. Liam broke a few balls with his strength, and Charlie pounded and pummeled the hard solid plastic balls and concrete diligently trying to make contact. They had half an hour of exercise, fun and laughter.

Spontaneity is important in this world. Out-of-the-box thinkers take a round-about way to achieve the same goals as others. My husband says I am the only person he knows who can destroy one good thing to make another. Well, yeah...