Horsie Stall Demolition: Wonder Studio Week 2

When we live a Life of Wonder...one of the by products is...

Questions...

And, often these "Wonder'ers" begin to Question Authority or at least the "status quo" .

Basically, this is one of the main agendas at the "Hippy School" (A friend told me that this is her husband's name for The Wonder Studio, which of course, I LOVE!!)

What I continually hope to create at Wonder Studio (and at my home) is a place where children are heard.  Listened to.  Respected. 

About 2 or 3 years ago we went to Olivia's birthday party and the kids painted Wooden Horsie stalls to bring home as a parting gift.

As with most "Goodies" that are taken home after Bday parties...the horsie stalls were never played with again :(  Well, I'm sort of slow to get rid of things sooooo...
Recently, my 4 year old son retrieved his Horsie Stall (actually, I think it was his sister's but we couldn't remember) from who knows where and he began to hammer it to smithereens. 

This seemed very destructive to me.  I could hear that voice "This is destructive not CON structive... Shannon, he needs a boundary...you better put a stop to this." 

So, as he was tearing the cute little horsie stall to bits, shards of wood flying.  I said, "Son, I don't like this.  It doesn't feel right."
"I'm worried that this is dangerous."

My guy looks at me with such sincerity and says,"It's ok Mom, it's an old house, I gotta tear it down, and build a new one."
Then, he went and got a towel to put down on the ground while he hammered it to death.
I admired his Safety precautions and I really admired his "IDEA". 

Still...I really struggled as I watch him destroy this toy, even though I should have thrown it in the garbage long ago.

As I made myself busy with other things (cooking dinner most likely)...he continued for many minutes carefully "tearing the house down".  

I remembered how many times he has asked questions about buildings or houses that we had seen "torn down" and something new built in it's place. Obviously, he sees value in this process.

Sometimes, we must destroy something that seems perfectly whole as it is.

In the middle of cooking dinner, the kids got the paint and glue out 

and the Horsie stalls were made "new" again. See below...Just had 

to add a picture or two.  

Look at this face below. WOW...I don't think you will ever find the

idea to Hammer a cute Horsie stall to smithereens and then glue it 

back together in what looks like a complete Heap then 

Paint it... on Pinterest.  But, what do we have here??  

We have creativity in it's purest form.

This is the genius of the child...if we can just LISTEN...

Let go of our preconceived notions...

And, think with some logic...It's a damn horsie stall that has been sitting in the garage on it's way to the dump.

What could really go wrong here?

No, I wouldn't be ok with the destruction of my coffee table, etc... I do have limits.

This kid questioned my authority, he questioned the Status Quo...And, even though it's not the cure for cancer...maybe someday, it will be.

Somewhere, there is a balance in this world that we must find with 

our children.  Letting go of the notion of complete and blind 

obedience and being able to respect the world through the child’s eyes.