We spent the day visiting with the sister and the brother-in-law yesterday. Our kids and the niece and the nephew get along real well, despite minor age differences, so we like to get them together. The kids ended up spending the night sleeping over at their cousin’s place, so it was something different for everyone. The sister and brother-in-law got the short end of the stick this time around. We’ll repay the favor some other time.
The boy is a bit older than both cousins, plus the older one is the niece. This makes for moments where the boy feels a bit estranged from the group due to age and gender dynamics. So his uncle pulled out some big boy toys for him to try: his bow and arrows.
The bow was a recurve bow that was sized appropriately for someone the boy’s size. His uncle setup a target, gave him some instruction and let him take a bunch of shots. The boy has actually expressed interest in having a bow and arrow, so it was a chance for us to gauge whether to pursue it further or not.
In the meantime, the nephew, who is 3, came along for the ride to see what was going on with his Dad’s bows. He watched his cousin shooting the bow and arrow and got the funny notion in his mind that he could do that too. So he made his wishes known “Daddy, I wanna play with arrow.” There was extra emphasis on the “arrow.”
So for the next 15 minutes, while my brother-in-law worked with the boy, the nephew kept making his wishes known, “Daddy, I wanna play with arrow.” His Dad kept gently telling him he was to wait.
“I know buddy,” he’d answer.
Several seconds later, “Daddy, I wanna play with arrow.”
“Hang on, I’m working with your cousin.”
Several seconds later, “Daddy, I wanna play with arrow.”
Things went this way for the better part of 20 minutes. The brother-in-law, whose been “playing with arrows” since he was a kid, did a quick demonstration with his compound bow as well. But after every shot, we’d get “Daddy, I wanna play with arrow.” The Wife and I and my sister were all laughing because the request was so regular and expressed in the exact same tone every time. The brother-in-law, for his part, weathered it with good humor.
I should note that the nephew is about the same size as the bow the boy was using. So there was a bit of a physical issue with him being able to shoot the bow and arrow. Not that he cared.
Finally, when everyone was done, the nephew got his wish. The brother-in-law stooped down next to him and helped him use the bow and arrow. He was setup about 4 feet from the target and his Dad would nock the arrow, then help him hold and aim. The nephew would pull the string back and shoot the arrow.
Which just goes to show, it never hurts to ask. Repeatedly, if necessary.