I Am Thankful for Little Minds and Big Ideas

School has started so the kids don’t usually hang around until the late afternoon.  Perhaps, I need to explain a little.  Most of the regular readers know that the neighborhood kids have, more or less, taken over the log cabin.  Of course, that’s fine since they are learning to be good citizens and spend much of the time working on community projects.

Anyway, during the week, since so many of the parents work, the kids gather at the cabin and do homework.  Many evenings the older kids cook for the younger ones, and sometimes we get together and cook for the neighborhood.  Occasionally, parents are thankful for coming home to a cooked meal.

Well, as you have read, Marcus has become the latest addition to the neighborhood gang.  I think he is finally understanding that he is a neighbor, even if he lives several miles away.  One of the things we have done as older adults is to give each kid a camera.  Of course, they love snapping pictures of one another, but that really was not the purpose.  The purpose is to teach the kids to “see” what is around us. 

Marcus has had his camera exactly one day.  He really surprised us all.  Not only has he started snapping pictures, he has learned the real use for the camera — to learn something.

Yesterday afternoon Marcus was out snapping pictures of Oliver.  I do believe Ollie was posing.  But, as Marcus started to get closer Oliver seemed to lose interest.  In fact, according to Marcus, Oliver was looking at a piece of his food moving on the driveway.

Well, we all know kids are prone to great imaginations.  At first we dismissed the story.  Then we saw the picture of Ollie looking away.  Of course, all of us older folks had decided that Ollie had just decided that he didn’t want to be bothered.

Marcus, being the smart little boy that he is, decided to see what was the focus of the cat’s gaze. 

Well, what a surpise to all of us.  Marcus had learned something that was pretty smart for a youngster. 

“Marcus, what was Oliver looking at?”

“Mrs. Perretti, his food was moving across the driveway.”

Now, I have to tell you that I was willing to go along just to hear the story.  So, I countered, “What did you learn from that?”

“I learned that no matter how little you are, you can do anything you want to if you really want to.”

“That’s good.”  Maybe the child saw my puzzled expression.  I certainly wasn’t “getting it.”

“Put the picture on the computer.  Put it on the computer.”  Marcus was smiling so big that we could see every tooth in his head.  He started jumping around and trying to download the pictures.

And, there it was.  Marcus had decided to look beyond what most of us would have seen and he did learn a big lesson.  In fact, he got a picture of it.  Apparently, Marcus is right, you can do anything you want to if you really want to — especially if you are an ant.

Well, here’s the bottom line.  Given an eye (the camera) to see the little things in life, Marcus had learned a lesson.  In fact, he taught all of the kids — and the adults a lesson.

So, this morning I am thankful for curious little minds that have big ideas and aren’t afraid to try.

By the way, Oliver ate the moving morsel of food — and for all we know, he ate the ant, too.  Oh, well.  (That could be a lesson for another day!    )

Tagged as: Ants, Big Ideas, Little Minds