Saturday, February 25, 2006

Unexpected side effects of writing

My husband & I were just discussing why our kids think our house is a playground. At the same moment, I had to tell one son to stop doing flips over the couch and smashing the cushions, and the other son to stop jumping on a wooden chair. "Why do you always want to do that in here?" I asked them. "If you want to climb, go to the tree fort outside!" I figured out where to place blame. "I know--it's because restaurants started putting playscapes inside, and now kids think that indoors is a good place to climb!" The couch-flipping son soon proved it wasn't just climbing, when he put on a pair of roller skates & tried to skate around the living room. "Guys!" I said. "You can play like that outside, not inside! The inside isn't the same as the outside!"

"It is in that poem you wrote," said the chair-jumping son matter-of-factly, "about the inside out house."

Ack. He's right. I brought it on myself! And here I thought he didn't listen to a word I said.

I may have also unwittingly influenced Guideposts for Kids, because they're currently having a contest for their members to win carpet skates! (Though my kids might ask, who needs carpet skates when you can use the regular kind?!)

2 comments:

Kim / POWER OF RUN said...

Love the poem! I'd better not read that to my kids. They'd follow right behind your kids. My house always feels like the inside out house.

Crazy MomCat said...

This poem was adorable! With writing stuff like this, I'm sure you're a fan of Shel Silverstein. I just quoted him on my blog. I love his books and his poems I committed to memory as a child.