The kid had a plan all along. His dad just took a while to catch on. Glad he rolled with it. Could've easilly ended with buiyng some tape and heading home.
Such a cute story. When I give my boy these moments of no-judgement free reign, he can surprise with such elaborate ideas and plans. It really gives me these moments of complete amazement of the human brain capabilities. I think that good parenting is mostly this struggle of keeping consistent boundries while holding on to the idea that they learn most when they try themself.
This is such a good story. I remember reading it when my son was a toddler. It was one of the first times I started to internalize one of the most important parenting lessons I've learned being a Dad:
Never say 'no' to something unless there's an obvious safety issue.
Especially don't say 'no' just because you don't understand the request: that's the time to show them that you're curious about what they're thinking and give them practice explaining their reasoning in a safe and comfortable situation. Kids need freedom to explore their world.
The image credits at the end made it even better.
Related. Others?
A lesson on the importance of encouraging your children with their projects - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2757980 - July 2011 (103 comments)
Such a great story and almost impossible to try and read on a phone but I made it to the end. Memories for a lifetime time Dad.
Wait, so who built the table?
At the beginning of the article, Guy says "And this is a table I want you to make by cutting up the board with the saw. I'm going to paint squares on it."