THE DANGEROUS BOOK FOR BOYS:

I ran across a Web Site, mother-talk, whilst surfing the blogasphere tonight, that was touting this book:The Dangerous Book for Boys, and I found it to be quite interesting and amusing, as it caused me to reminisce about my own childhood and that of my Son’s.

The book outlines many building and adventure projects for a father and son to do together. It includes building a Soap Box Racer from rummaged parts, a Bow and Arrows from tree limbs and branches and twine, and several other activities.

The postings on mother-talk are all ecstatic about the bonding and camaraderie of their husbands and sons playing together. There is also a Trailer for the book on YouTube.

As a child and again as a father I remember doing all these activities as a natural occurrence. We had no commercial outlet for our toys or recreation. We used our imagination and the natural material and skill resources we had at hand to develop games, activities, and toys to play with.

I remember one Saturday afternoon, when I was about twenty seven years old, after spending the early afternoon playing with my son and a half a dozen neighborhood kids, a young boy of about eleven or twelve years old came to our door and knocked; my wife answered, the boy asks her if Philip could come out and play! I guess a kid, to a kid, is a kid, no matter his age.

I’m all for this book, and I think it should be purchased and used as a guide to get fathers and sons together to share discovery, fun, and develop the youngster’s imagination and hand crafting skills.

It just seems a shame though, that the inspiration has to come artificially, from a book, rather than naturally, from ones own imagination.