Boy vs. Wild

We don't watch TV much at all in this house. James and I have maybe 3 shows that we may make the effort to watch during their season. The kids never ask to "watch TV" because they really only know of videos that we carefully select for their viewing. There are some great shows on PBS including Nature shows which catch our fancy every other week or so and some mornings they get up early and will ask if Clifford or Curious George is on. They are accustomed to sitting down and reading or playing outside or playing cards together rather than wasting time with the tube. People are shocked when I tell them that we only pay $7.95/month for our 20 odd channels- 3 of which are Shopping Networks, 2 Spanish (can be fun to dub in your own dialog as to what you think is happening), 2 PBS, 2 Catholic, 1 Croatian, 1 African American, and a few weird odds and ends of local info channels with nothing but postings. So really we've got the basic ABC, NBC, and FOX. I simply and ignorantly refer to them as 3, 5, and 8.

About a year ago James and I started utilizing Netflix. We recently discovered that you can get DVD's of shows from the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, and all those other channels with which I would have a serious problem controlling myself by not turning them off and leaving them on all day for my own gluttony! So really, the not doing TV is for my benefit as much as the kids. :)

Well, our family has acquired a "Boob Tube" obsession. We have been watching the Discovery Channel's "Man vs. Wild" series. We're in Season 2. Surprisingly, it has been working out great with the kid's school and correlating well with their geography, Peoples of the World studies, and history. After we find out where Bear Grylls is headed, we look it up on their markable map and discuss it in relation to our studies. A month ago, the kids would cringe at all the lovely creepy crawlies that he'd dig up from under a rock or rip off of a carcase and say "Ewww...gross! I would never do that!" Then, last night when we were watching Bear (we're on a first name basis with him as well as planning on naming our next child "Bear") in the Panama Canal, he ate a snake, an iguana, a worm and had termites for dessert. Not an "Ewwwwweeee, gross, or disgusting" dared to leave their lips. It was merely a, "Well, if that's what you've got to do to live..." response from Teagan. It's amazing how desensitized kids become in such a short time!- Another reason we don't do TV! Yet this wasn't a bad case of desensitization. It has been a great case of imagination revitalization!

My eldest son, James Arthur Ross III, has deemed himself the "Boy vs. Wild." His name makes him sound like he should be a Duke of something somewhere rather than a boy of nature. I'll settle for Wild Boy of the Woods of Burlington". Yet, since our encounters and travels with Bear Grylls, James has taken it upon himself to build a fort in the back yard made of sticks, wood, vine and twine equipped with a rock surrounded fire pit and mat. He went into the woods and pulled out fallen trees and asked me if he could cut off the dried-out and old lily stems. "These would make a great bed so that I'm off the ground and away from the life in the undergrowth, Mom. Oooo, and I could use some of it for tinder and tie the sticks together too!"

He was using other sticks and the side of his spade to chop up some twigs, trees and branches. With some frustration growing from stubborn sticks- he confidently informed me that, "This isn't the best way to do this Mom. I think you might have to teach me how to use a knife like Bear." I chuckled while at the same time thinking, "You are a very responsible and self-discplined boy that I have a mind to let you...but I don't want people arresting me for stupid mothering." Next thing I know, he'll be asking me to but him a flint necklace so he can start fires. I already told my husband that I want one for Christmas.

He has built dozens of spears and hunting tools and all around has become one with our "wild," big backyard. I'm so proud of him and his constructive imagination. Yesterday, he came running in from the garage, where he had been diligently working on something for over a half hour. In passing, he hollers to me that he needed red construction paper, and scissors. He ran to get his craft box and aforementioned essential tools of the trade and went to work. I was quietly observing him and smiling while I was working with Teagan. I heard him say to himself, "Okay, I need to cut a bunch of triangles of different sizes." A few minutes later he was "Done...perfect." "Okay, MOM! Now I need some tape since I ran out of twine."

Thoroughly intrigued, I asked him what he was doing. He excitedly told me that "I'm making the spears for the bow and arrow I just built. I'm gonna go hunting for dinner later. I can't wait to show Daddy- now COME AND SEE!" He grabbed the tape and off he went to finish his Big Boy bow.

We've become very impatient waiting for Daddy to get home in the evenings because I've been told by the kids that "It's just not the same watching it without him."

By this afternoon, JAR III, or "3 sticks" as his Indian heritage demands, had made a large bow and set of arrows and a smaller one for his Dad as a birthday present. Perhaps he thinks his Dad isn't boy enough to handle the big boy bow.

I think that the pride his Dad feels is present enough.