Give a child a gift... and he will play with the box

In this  world of fast food, video games and the Internet, researchers are finding a significant lack of PROBLEM SOLVERS in the up and coming generation. Why is that? Because problem solving requires independent thinking, without a fast fix.

Children today are not often offered situations in which to develop these oh-so-necessary qualities in our fast paced, give-it-to-me-now society. Yet critical thinking is relevant to most --if not all-- employment opportunities.

Our heater was replaced this last week and the owner came out before hand to give us a bid. He told me that his employees would be installing the heater, because he (the owner) had returned to service calls. None of his 5 employees had the ability to DIAGNOSE a problem in a heating system in order fix it. They were hard workers; they simply lacked the skills.

I know my DH has that skill and his employer had clung to him with a fist-tight grip through this declining economy.

So how do we encourage this skill in a our children? Give them something they have to FIGURE OUT... not an assignment for school, not a brain problem. Give them something to do with their hands and let them at it.

This was fresh on my mind when the heater guys began hauling their empty boxes back to their service truck.
There was one empty box that was large enough to fit a grown man.

"Hey, what do you do with those boxes?"

"We recycle them, do you want one?"

"Yes!"

And I sent my two boys at it with scissors and permanent markers. Within an hour they had a "Top Secret Military Base." It has been a source of entertainment now for about 3 days. I think the interest is waning and now it's taking up a fair amount of room in my living room. I need to haul it to my in-laws and put it in their cardboard dumpster.

I was pleasantly surprised as I watched them work. I could see their little brains working on the problem solving. Simple things like where to put a door. And what to do with a permanent maker when you have lost the lid (you put it in a Ziploc bag until you locate the cap).

I guess my grandpa had it figured our back when I was a child. We lived near my grandparents and were nearly a permanent fixture in their home. I don't think they minded much. Grandpa would give us a hammer, a screw driver, and some nails and push us in the general direction of the scrap pile.

I can recall turning a 12" long 4x4 into a school bus complete with windows and doors, using the screw driver as a chisel. Grandmas house didn't have any toys in the traditional sense. But we were never short on things to do. If you asked Grandpa, he'd probably just say "At least it keeps 'em outta trouble."

Today giving a hammer and nails to an 7 year old could raise some eye brows. I mean they could get HURT. Ahh, yes. But they could also LEARN SOMETHING.

Did I get hurt? Probably the first few times I missed with the hammer. But the hammer is a good school master. I didn't miss for long!

Christmas morning my eldest will find a box of nails and a hammer among the treasures in his stocking.  And I think we have some scrap wood left over from a recent project in the back yard.....

~the topic of independent thinking and problem solving was first introduced to me through the Laura Ingram radio show.