The Idiot Box

Yesterday was S's first Taekwondo test as a child instead of a Little Tiger. We were a little nervous because he had to know several techniques and listen for his number to be called, not his name. When his number was called, he didn't respond...but so did a lot of other kids. When he was supposed to stand still, he shifted from side to side and picked his nose...but so did a lot of other kids. When he was asked his question he went on and on and on about why the high block is his favorite block...but some kids couldn't answer their questions at all. So all and all, we were very pleased and proud of our new orange belt!

We were also proud of our new senior blue belt who broke his first board! He told me this morning the school is going to have to get some stronger boards for him to break on his next test. I agree.

I bought a giant box of Mega Blocks for my builders. Most boys this age have moved down to the small scale Legos, but my boys want to build big, big, BIG! The Mega Blocks came in this giant cardboard box, which my dearest S and E dubbed "The Idiot Box" after one of my favorite SpongeBob SquarePants episodes. SpongeBob and Patrick buy a big screen TV (the real idiot box) and throw it away so they can play in the box. Squidward takes the TV from the garbage and calls SpongeBob and Patrick idiots for playing in the box and throwing away the real treasure: the TV. But all day, Squidward hears SpongeBob and Patrick playing in their box and he is driven crazy with the realistic sound effects coming from their imaginations. I will not spoil the ending (but you can read the transcript here). I love this episode. The funny, ironic point of this episode is that the viewers (me and my family) are watching their own idiot boxes to see this episode instead of using their imaginations. But then, this episode inspired my kids to play. So the Idiot Box can have some good imagination sparks inside...

This morning the boys (and M) got right to work building a large castle with their... imaginations!