Duck!

Sometimes, parenting it blissfully easy.

I spent the late afternoon spreading the remainder of the river rock. The kids, once again, attempted to aid me. They were somewhat less enthusiastic than on Friday. Not surprising since this time they knew what they were in for.

So anyway, while I’m loading up another bucket with rock, I hear the boy tell the lass “Duck!”

So I glance over and the boy is standing on the edge of the area where the rock has been spread with a bucket that appears to be mostly empty. He’s holding the bucket by the blue handle with his right hand.

The lass is standing out in the area where the rock has been spread. She just dumped a bucketful of rocks and was heading back to either look like she was loading another bucket, or give it that old 6-year-old try.

“Duck!” the boy said again, and then he kind of flung the bucket up and out. There was a little rock still in it. Rather than reach in with his other hand and remove it, he was trying to launch it from the bucket. Fortunately, the bucket was spinning wildly on the handle pivots and the rock didn’t go anywhere.

As he loaded for a second try, no doubt more attuned to keeping the bucket from spinning around as he flung it, I said simply “That’s a really bad idea.”

The boy looked over at me for a moment. I stood there, one hand on the shovel, sweating and tired, and looked back at him silently.

He reached into the bucket, pulled the stone out and dropped it onto the other stones. Then, he returned to loading his bucket.

And that’s how an emergency trip to the dentist was avoided today.