True story happened today. My little two year old wanted a drink out of a water bottle. But not just any water bottle, his sister’s water bottle. This is a story of inginuity and perseverance. And a little bit of sibling rivalry.
The hunt started innocently enough. Sister on the bottom bunk, her water bottle on her bedside table, mom and dad watching from the other side of the room.
Sister leaves the room. Two year old brother brings the water bottle to dad, so that dad will exclaim, “That’s not yours, its your sister’s!” Then, the two year old squeels with delight, takes a drink, and put the water bottle back in it’s place. Sister walks back in and notices nothing out of place. Two year old brother does this routine two more times with great joy at the new game.
But then – dun dun dun – sister enters the room and shouts, “That’s my water bottle!”
Sister yanks the bottle from brother’s hands, and places it on a tall dresser next to the foot of the bunk bed. Sister leaves the room.
The moment she leaves the room, he waddle-runs back to the bunk bed. The game just got more fun. He uses her bottom bunk, sticks his head and chest through the large space between the bunks, and reaches the top of the dresser. He expertly snatches the bottle from its lofty perch, careful to balence his massive-99-percentile head while in an akward postion. He manages to bring the bottle down to the bottom bunk.
Then, Two year old brother grins as he presents the bottle to dad again. Fully expecting dad to exclaim, “That’s not your’s, it’s your sisters!” But he is enthralled to find that dad and mom are now giggling with him. He finishes the routine and looks for where to ‘put it back’. He decides up, on the dresser is the best choice.
But alas, that 99-percentile head! Maintaining that akward postion while lifting a large water bottle, and balancing his large head proves to be too much for this little two year old. He calls out, “Mommy, Help!”
Mom, shaking with giggles, helps the little one to balence, and he returns the bottle to the dresser. Mom settles back down accross the room, and brother slides off the bottom bunk.
Just then, sister enters the room.
“Your timing is amazing!” dad chuckles. The sister interrogates the parents with a smile. The parents crack. “You came the exact moment after he put your water bottle back.”
She was filled with rage. Climbed the bunk bed (with a cast on one arm) and seized the bottle from the dresser. A moment later, her face emerged triumphant over the edge of the top-most bunk rail.
Two year old brother was joined by four year old brother. The hunt for the water bottle was on. Four year old used the bottom-bunk-to-dresser trick to get to the top bunk. Two year old brother is a touch too short for this. In his struggle, fearing he would fall, dad came over to help the two year old up.
Once up there (dad standing by the whole time), the bottle was not to be found.
Dad, showing that the bottle was missing, took two year old and four year old brother down. Aaand, they climbed up again. When two year old brother got to the tricky spot beween the bottome bunk and the dresser, he reached out alonge the dresser top and expertly used his grip strength to pull himself accross the top (and therefore up) the top of the dresser.
Mom and dad began to panic. There was already one kid in a cast from her own bunk bed related incident (she jumped off and landed on another bed and rebounded, hitting the bottome frame). They didn’t need another one breaking a bone (ever again).
Mom and dad worked together to rearrange the room so that the bunk bed and dresser were parted. In the process, they uncovered the window sill that was slightly hidden by the top bunk of the bunk bed. As the children flowed back into the room, curious to see the new arrangement, Two year old brother used the remaining bed to reach the widow sill. He pulled back the curtains and there found the object of his long hunt – THE WATER BOTTLE!
- Gameifying a challenge often makes it more motivating. What ways can you change your challenges into games?
- How does child-like joy help you toward your goals?