Boy the Builder

The boy loves to do 'jobs' around the house. For Christmas he got a tool box, and now, that gets lugged around the house all the time. It has everything he could possibly need, a hammer, screw drivers, a level, measuring tape, and more. He adores his tools and when he's wearing pants that have pockets, you can often find him with his hammer, pliers and a screw driver crammed into one pocket – just in case he needs them.

He likes to feel useful, and so he 'helps' by doing different jobs. The Bob the Builder song could be his theme song “Can we fix it? Yes we can!” In his own word he does 'banging or screwing, or whatever needs doing' (Yes, it causes me to giggle like I'm a 9 year old boy). So that means that occasionally I'll hear tapping on the walls or chairs as the boy does his thing. Occasionally he'll ask me what needs doing, but then, if it's not something that he wants to do, he disagrees with me, and says 'no it doesn't need doing, I did it already'. So then I have to invent something else for him to do.

I enjoy the fact that he wants to be handy. He already knows the difference between a Phillips, Roberston, and slotted screwdriver, and he can name most of the tools in hubby's workroom. He comes by his DIY skills naturally. Hubby is quite useful, I can wield a drill no problem, Monster Grandad puts up a mean set of shelves, and hubby's Grandfather was a lumberjack/carpenter.

It's nice to see him up and active and using his imagination as he does all the jobs around the house. Just the other day he 'installed' a new smoke detector for me. And this afternoon he 'helped' to patch and prime some holes before painting. These are all jobs that he really has helped with in real life, and has obviously remembered and is now part of his imaginative play.

Hopefully this love for being handy will continue as he grows older. I'd really enjoy having a contractor/tradesman in the family, given how hard they are to find, and how much the good ones seem to charge! That way I could have things repaired and updated when I needed it, rather than hoping to find someone. Provided of course, that he's grown out of the habit of contradicting me, and just fixes what I ask.