Are your kids collectors? Do you know any that are? (And how can I tell if they are learning this from me? Or if collecting is, well, just something kids do?)
Veronica (7) is a collector. Wow. The things she could bring home from school astound and amaze us when we think about it. Every acorn within a five-block radius of the blacktop playground has passed through this house. Countless "gems" of chunks of black tar have found their way into our washing machine. My husband has joked that sticking one's hand into Veronica's backpack is taking a risk…you never know what you may find. So, when cleaning her room, it wasn't really a surprise as much as curiosity running across a concrete pyramid weight (that secures balloon arrangements) that she had stashed away in her clothes drawer. She had "borrowed" it from a family anniversary party.
Now Mac (4) seems to have become a collector as well. One of the kids' cousins is staying with us this week and she was helping them get ready to go to the beach. Mind you, I have sorted and cleaned and stocked Mac's dresser forever. His cousin, who has been in our house for less than 12 hours, walks out asking if there was a reason he had a piece of charcoal in his drawer. A piece of what? Sure enough, his contraband was a briquette of Kingsford charcoal with the telltale 'K' on it. From where and when, I have no idea.
I guess we need to start frisking them at the door.
We went to Two Guys Grille tonight and I forgot to pat them down when we got home. I'm assuming that the origins of any banana pudding remnants left in their pockets will be easier to wash out than a block of Kingsford charcoal. But somehow I'm sure they will find a way around even that….
Oh, the ways one could respond to this! Mac is saving up for someone's stocking perhaps? Or he's saving for the odd cookout he might need to contribute too. You gotta love a kid who is thinking ahead. This of course is coming from an objective collector of sorts:) Marion
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