A couple of weeks ago I traveled down the freeway to see my grandsons, Itty Bitty and The Boss Baby in the “Dome Home.” My kids have purchased and remodeled a 1986 “Dome” that sits on 6 acres of wooded land teaming with wild life (as in creatures) and adventure. A perfect place to raise two inventive spunky children with imaginations overflowing.
I was to spend a restful 3 days with my family, eating, shopping, sleeping and cuddling. What I didn’t realize until Friday evening was I would spend a considerable amount of time “dueling” with the oldest grandchild, seven year old Itty Bitty.
Somehow he has acquired two full sized, shiny silver plastic swords that, when you flip a small switch, actually makes clinking sounds when hit together. He bought these with his own birthday money and insisted on two because if he only had one who would he play with? Always thinking ahead, that one.
Upon my arrival and after a hello hug, he quickly thrust a sword in my hand and said, “Let’s play, Nana.” Okay, after a long drive down I wasn’t exactly at my finest but I’m game for anything with Itty Bitty so I assumed the stance and proceeded to lunge and parry.
Now, what the grandson didn’t know was that I took fencing in college and even though I learned with an epee instead of a sword, the principle was the same. This meant I knew the rules of engagement. I proceeded to inform Itty that I once took lessons in fencing and could teach him a thing or two. He was somewhat impressed that I knew what I was doing and could parry most of his thrusts. We played for quite a few minutes, with lots of clanging and clinking, swinging the swords around in the air and some pretty sneaky lunges by the Itty. At one point I had my back turned when I felt a plastic sword swipe across my backside. I immediately knew that my grandson was a back stabber.
ME: “Stop, that was not fair play. Nobody wants to play with a sneaky back stabber.”
ITTY: “What’s a sneaky back stabber?
ME: “You know what sneaky is, don’t you?”
ITTY: “Yes,”
ME: “You know what stabbing means?”
ITTY: “Yes.”
ME: “You know where the back is?”
ITTY: “Yes.”
ME: “Put them together.”
ITTY: “OH, that’s not good? But, I got you.”
ME: “True, but not in an honorable way.”
ITTY: Blank stare…
ME: “When you duel with an opponent you must do it honorably or the whole sport just crumbles.”
ITTY: Blank stare…
ME: “Well?”
ITTY: “What’s duel mean?”
ME: “It’s what we’re doing with our swords. It’s actually a sport, in the Olympics even. But before that it was the way gentlemen handled their arguments.”
ITTY: “Wow, that’s a pretty mean way to end an argument. When I fight with The Boss Baby I’m never allowed to stab him with a sword.”
ME: “True, not a good way to resolve a problem. That’s why it became a sport.”
ITTY: “Ok, so what’s honorable.”
ME: (I have waited just for a moment like this with him. I get to explain how to behave like a gentleman. Hope I don’t screw it up.) “Do you know what honesty means?”
ITTY: “Sure. If you want candy from the store you honestly have to pay for it.”
ME: (It’s a start.) “Okay, so honor is a part of honesty. You want people to trust and admire you. To have them know that you always play fair.”
ITTY: “Can we play again?”
ME: “With a few rules.”
ITTY: Big sigh. “What?”
ME: “Don’t stab me in the back, always make sure I’m ready and stop changing the “rules” in the middle of a match.”
ITTY: “Then it’s not going to be much fun, is it?”
ME: “Probably not.”
ITTY: “Do you want to watch a movie?”
ME: “Yeah, what do you want to watch?”
ITTY: “Robin Hood.”
I haven’t told him yet that I also took archery. I’m waiting until he busts out the bow and arrows.
magicalmess 