Bow and Arrows

The weather finally warmed up enough this week for the kids to really stay outside for hours and play. I’m big on kids playing outside, but somehow the past few months they have stayed in so much and many days seem to have little to do. I am not used to this as usually they stay busy. I think some of the problem is that Bethany is spending more time reading and sewing and the others are used to following her lead. Anyway, this was a really nice week and Bethany started out making a kite. She got some sticks and material and worked on it and it did fly a little, but we had almost no wind so it wasn’t very successful. I think when we get a windy day it will fly pretty well as she has made some pretty good kites before.

While she was making her kite, Tess decide to make a bow and arrow. She used the same sticks and next thing I knew she was out in the yard shooting at stuff. Then she made one for Piper. My first instinct was to tell them no – they had sharpened the sticks in the pencil sharpener to very sharp points on the ends and it made me nervous. But, I saw how much fun they were having and decided to give them the rules and if they were responsible and did exactly as I said they could play with them. They actually listened and were very careful. Only one time did I have to take away someone’s bow and arrow.

They played and played with them all day and then the next day, too. Joey stopped by to pick up something and saw them and immediately asked for the directions to make them and when I told him Tess just threw them together he had me take pictures of how they were made so he could go home and make them for his kids. Then today Evelyn and Liam came over and Liam was immediately asking for one so he could play. They literally ran around the yard playing with them for almost 5 hours today. When they have so much fun it makes my day. I sat outside on the porch and watched them for hours – making sure they were careful at the same time. It was a really nice day and all the kids were tired tonight. After Bethany realized we were not going to get any wind for her kite, she made one for herself and enjoyed shooting for awhile.

When John picked up Evelyn and Liam this evening and saw what they were playing he reminded me that he once had a bow and arrow with a rubber tip (not a sharpened stick) and he shot it towards his sister and his dad took it away and actually broke the arrow. Said it seemed strange that his arrow was rubber tipped and broken and here I was letting my kids and his run around with sharpened sticks. I had no answer for that – except he DID shoot at his sister.