About every other Saturday, I back the car out of the garage to make space for my girls (just like every other room in our house) to play ‘construction’. We have buckets of wires, wood pieces, shells, rocks, even some recycled trash I have found on the beach, along with basic tools such as hammers, screwdrivers, and pliers. With a few benches set-up, my daughters work on constructing their designs, either from in-the-moment inspiration or from journals and notepads. They make shells factories, traps, machines or princess-power suits, usually with loud music and curious cats rounding out the scene.
The spark came from youngest kinder teacher last year. During the month of February, she entered her classroom each day and chose different construction centers to learn how to use a hammer, or turn a screw or cut a board. She came home one day with a fully painted piece of wood that had eye hooks, nails and metal objects that she had attached herself. “I was doing construction in class today, Mommy. This is what I made.” From there, she would often ask to play construction with either of us. Soon, her sister wanted to construct as well, since they often create and play together, and demanded their own hammers and screwdrivers. During a recent Saturday afternoon ultimate disc game across the street, we had six girls in the garage making a time machine, mostly to send American Girls dolls back to their own historical time periods.
A conversation this past Friday with another father shocked me a bit. I was describing taking pictures of my five year old was hammering a nail, and he stopped me. “Wait, you let her use a hammer. I haven’t let my kids do that yet (they are 7 and 5). I am afraid they would get hurt.” Sydney gets hurt every time she uses a hammer. She almost always bangs her thumb, even after we bought her a shorter handle, and wails, ‘not again’. After a few minutes of nursing, she is finishing her creation while in a sequin mermaid dress or pirate hat on. I think the fear comes from not recognizing that the short term pain teaches them so much and they should not stop creating or playing because of it. And, admittedly, I am deliberately creating the spaces and interest for my girls so they feel empowered to create and not inhibited by our (or society’s) values of what they can or cannot do.
However, I haven’t introduced any power tools yet. I want to, but as I question my own comfort level with circular saws and welding torches, I am hoping others will teach my girls first. Perhaps they can finish the time machine so I can go back to ’83 and pay attention to my father better when he asked if I wanted to build in the basement.
Building Cairns 