Couch Creativity

“If you want to see what children can do, you must stop giving them things.”
― Norman Douglas

I just so happened to see this quote right smack dab in the middle of the boys' real life demonstration of these exact words.  We are not a family of many toys.  And of the toys we do have, the boys have a few favorites but most of them sit untouched for days at a time.  Instead, they spend hours a day living out the imaginary worlds, stories, and characters from their minds.  For some reason, and I have no idea what that reason may be, our living room couch as recently taken center stage in the boys imaginative creations.  With literally nothing but the couch and its cushions, the boys have flown a space probe to Mars where they built space habitats and explored the largest volcano in the universe (bonus points for anyone who can name it!), they have been on the Titanic- both floating and sinking- and have explored the floor of the Atlantic via submarine, they have opened a factory and store known as the "Greater Tennessee Chair Company" where they've made and sold chairs, and they have built tree houses similar to those of native tribes that live in the rainforests of New Guinea.  I can't help but be amazed.  (And I can't help but wonder where in God's great world they came up with the name "Greater Tennessee Chair Company")   But it really goes to show what children can do when they have nothing.  And the real bonus is that it takes loads of pressure off of us as parents.  We don't need to buy our kids the fanciest toys or latest trends.  Instead, they very well may be better off with nothing at all.  Sounds like maybe this mama can afford an extra latte this week!!!