I had my first den meeting of the New Year today, and I learned something: boys like ropes and knots.
In retrospect, I shouldn’t have been surprised by this at all. I remember playing with ropes at various points. Either as part of some game or just sitting and tying knots in some kind of pattern or trying to figure out some knew way to make a knot. But I guess we forget some of these things, until present with such an occasion to remind us that, yes, we too were kids once.
For the record, I taught them the square knot, slip knot and bowline knot. I used a heavier twine because I figured it would be easier for them to manipulate than a floppy string or otherwise. I even showed them how to whip the ends of the rope with a piece of masking tape to keep it from fraying.
I really expected them to start tuning me out once I started demonstrating the knots- I just figured it would be the sort of thing they’d try, have trouble with and then get bored. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Every single one of them wanted to tie each knot themselves. I demonstrated the tying over and over and over again and in a few cases worked with the kids individually to help them figure out the process. Even more remarkable, they weren’t satisfied with their knot after I’d helped them- they still wanted to be able to do it without any help.
So for almost 45 minutes, we sat and tied knots together in the den meeting. Amusingly, I purposely waited until the end of the meeting to work on the knots because I was so sure they’d be over and done with it so quickly. My mistake meant some of the kids ended up staying almost 30 minutes later than I’d originally planned. Parent’s were showing up and waiting on their son because they insisted on finishing their knots.
So now, I’m thinking I’ll try teaching them a new knot at each remaining meeting. After today’s experience, why knot?