A Problem Solving Afternoon

One of the things that gets my heart racing more than anything is when my children have been quiet for longer than 15 minutes. Then to make matters worse, you call their name and in return you hear complete silence. If you are a mom of boys or of toddlers, I'm sure you understand. But I truly have found that this situation usually does not end well. Things I have found at the end of that deafening silence have been;  children who've locked themselves in bathrooms, paint on carpet because someone decided they wanted to paint, diaper cream covering their little bodies (more than 1 child has done this), a child who actually left the house and tried to walk to the big boys school, broken toilets from toys being flushed down, and the list could go on.

The other day, I was busily cleaning the kitchen in between doing endless loads of laundry. I assumed the little boys were playing in their playroom, because that's where I saw them last and since they just got new toys from Christmas you'd assume that's where they'd want to be. One should never assume anything when dealing with little boys......that is usually the first mistake. Anyways, after putting in a load of laundry I went back to the kitchen and realized I hadn't heard them in awhile. Little boys play loud, so even when you can't see them you can almost always here them. Then I called for them. Nothing.  Deafening silence. No giggles, no wrestling, no fighting, no whining, no crashing noises....nothing. Walked the house, went to every room and called their names. Not a peep. Garage door was closed and front door was locked (I have learned from past experiences). Next,  I went to look out the windows that oversee our backyard. And of course, there they were.

At the top of the play structure stairs, I saw Landon. And at the bottom stood Carson. In between them,  I saw a miniature toy slide. This must be the boy mom in me because the first thing I did was burst out laughing. They were so funny to watch, they were trying so hard to figure out a way to get that slide up the stairs. I had no idea why they were even trying to get the slide to the top of the play structure.  These two little guys who have a complete volatile love/hate relationship were working together. I just wanted to keep watching them to see what they were going to do next.

After about 15 minutes they decided that they needed to change their plan. So together they tried to carry the little slide to the bottom of the big slide. 

 

This slide can't be that heavy where it takes 2 children to carry it!





 

Now they were going to try and push the little slide up the big slide in order to get it up top. First, Carson tried on his own. But his feet just kept slipping down the slide so he wasn't going anywhere.  He continued to do this for another 10-15 minutes or so. I couldn't believe he wasn't giving up.

Landon must have felt bad for his brother because then he went over and tried to push Carson up the slide. He must have thought he was strong enough to push Carson and the little slide up the big slide.



I love this picture because it looks like Carson is trying to push with his face.
This is what I call teamwork!



 



This is how they eventually got the slide up to the top. Landon climbed up the stairs to pull the slide from the top. Landon pulled and Carson pushed. Little problem solvers!!

And all of this hard work..... ...........just to make their slide just a little bit more adventurous.

That afternoon, I could have informed the boys of all the dangers in what they were trying to do. I could have had them stop immediately. After all, I was busy and needed to finish cleaning the kitchen. I could have given them a lecture on the safe way to play on the slide.
But I'm really glad I didn't and this is why:

 TEAMWORK: They are able to work really well together. Somewhere along the way, they've learned that teamwork really does get the job done. If you've ever seen them fight, you would understand how amazing this is!

 PAUSE BEFORE REACTING: My first instinct when I saw them was to go tell them to stop. After all, it looked dangerous and someone could get hurt. Knowing our boys, someone would get hurt. But by watching them from a distance without interfering, it allowed them to use their problem solving skills in order to accomplish their task. They tried more than one approach, worked together, and accomplished their task by not giving up. I know it's silly, it's just them playing on a slide but in that afternoon they learned more about working together than I could have taught them if I tried.


After they went down their "new" slide once, I did call them over to the window and told them to take it down. This is Carson sulkily walking away.