Light Saber - with Pool Noodle Blades

We have 6 mass manufactured lightsabers that extend, retract, light up, and buzz. But, these all suck when it comes to having an epic battle... because they hurt, especially the little one. My boys are 5 & 8 yrs. old. The kids really want the satisfaction of swinging their lightsabers hard and hitting their targets with a solid thud. I really want the boys to not get hurt or even cry from perceived pain. 

So, here is my solution: The Lightsaber with a Pool Noodle Blade! 

This activity might not be safe for everyone, so use your own judgment and use at your own risk. If you're not sure, DON'T DO IT. 

This project will take about 30 minutes and $5 per set of 2 lightsabers. We spent hours afterwards battling! 

Materials: 

     Pool noodle from Walmart: ~$2
     1/2" PVC pipes (3 ft. long): ~$3
     misc. tapes
Tools:

     File

     Measuring tape
     Serrated bread knife
Suggestions:

* Each Jedi has different color lightsaber.  

* Ask your boys which Star Wars Jedi he wants to be. 
* Let them tell you about their favorite Jedi. 
* If you don't know how to cut the PVC pipes, ask the nice guys at Home Depot or Lowe's to cut them for you. 

Step 1: (boys do this part.)
Measure the length of pool noodles. 

Divide the length number by 2. 

Mark the length. 

Cut the noodles in half with serrated bread knife

Suggestions: 

* Remind the boys why math is important.  

Step 2: (boys do this part)

Use the file to round off the edges of the PVC Pipes. 

This is necessary to get the pipes to slide it without cutting the hole in the pool noodle. 

Step 3a: (boys do this part)

Wet the hole of the noodle with water. 

Wet the PVC pipe. 

Step 3b: (dads do this part)

Push the PVC pipe through the noodle. 

Make sure that PVC pipe stops at about 3 inches before the top end. (This will make sure that the kids will only get hit with the foam, not with the PVC, when thrusting.)

Step 4: (dads do this part)

Cover the handle of the Lightsaber with duct tape. 

Step 5: 

(boys do this part)

Make your Lightsaber unique with different type of tape. We used black electrical tape, silver tape, sports wrap, and more duct tape. 

Now you're ready battle! 

Suggested Safety Rules:

1. NO attacks to the head or neck. 

2. NO throwing Lightsaber. 

(getting hit with the handle could hurt)

3. Everybody stops when somebody yells "STOP". 

How to deal with Teasing & Overreacting

This Memorial Day weekend ended up being more about being husbandly than dadly… getting a replacement minivan for my wife and looking at options for moving our home.

So, the boys had much more time to free play without dadly activities than prior weekends. Sure enough, the little one would come running to me crying because his brother hit him. This happened couple of times per day. I personally think it's totally within the norm for a couple of boys, but in the spirit of mastering the dadly arts, I spent some time thinking about this.

Every case of hitting followed this sequence:
   (1) TEASING or OVERREACTION
   (2) ANGER
   (3) Loss of SELF CONTROL
   (4) SMACK
This morning when it happened (almost on cue), I gave the older boy a timeout and followed up with a discussion on my observation of the sequence of events. I asked, "Why did you hit your little brother?" "Why did you lose self control?" and "Why did you get angry?"

I told him that people "teasing" and "overreacting" are realities of life that cannot be avoided. I reminded him of another lesson: "life is not fair" reality that he has to accept. We both agreed that the key to a better situation is to not get angry as a response to "unfair" realities he has to accept.

I replayed the latest event with other options he could have followed when dealing with people who are teasing or overreacting:

1. Tease back. Now, this could be fun if everybody has a good attitude (I still remember some fun teasing sessions from 20+ years ago in college), but this also has undesirable consequences if the other person gets angry or overreacts. Probably not worth the risk, but I do think that being able to stand your ground is a necessary skill (perhaps future dadly blog entry…). 
2. Don't react. If teaser gets no reaction, the person might get bored and go away, but the teaser might also get more aggressive. This will be too difficult for him. At lease he realizes this about himself at age 8. 
3. Communicate. Let the teaser know that what they are doing is not fun for you, not necessary, and will lead to bad consequences. Let them know it's not worth it. Seems like a good solution!
4. Get away. If the communication doesn't work, it's better to get away from the teaser before getting angry and losing control.

Monopoly Fun Math

My boys and I played Monopoly, The Star Wars Clone Wars Edition, for a couple of hours this weekend. I remember really enjoying the original Monopoly game as a kid, but my parents never played this with me. In fact, I don't think I've ever played this with an adult WHEN I was a child…

I really liked playing this game with my kids because I think Monopoly really helps kids with Math and Reading. I got a good feeling that my boys really know how to count and add. I think games like this one makes math and reading fun.

First, the math:
(1) I made my younger son (5 yrs. old) add the 2 numbers from the dice rolls; it's too easy for my older boy (8 yrs. old). Even by the end of the game, the little one was starting to recognize the common rolls of the numbers so that he didn't have to count with this fingers to sum the 2 numbers. When he got a number wrong, I would make him say it correctly 5 times: "Five plus seven is twelve. Five plus seven is twelve. Five plus seven is twelve. Five plus seven is twelve. Five plus seven is twelve."
(2) I made my older son take care of adding and subtracting currency when making rent payments with each other. "So, I owe you $28 for rent on your property. If I give you $50, how much money do you give back?" I would help the little one, but he was starting to figure these out himself.

Second, the reading:
It's not as much, but my 8 yr. old is reading the Jedi & Sith (Chance & Community Chest in original Monopoly) cards. Also, when something is not clear, I make him search and read from the rule book. I think it's also valuable to read the names of the properties with them.

We didn't play the game with the cities/settlements (Houses & Hotels in original Monopoly), but I think by the end of the summer, my older boy will be able to do the multiplication involved with the next level of Monopoly game play. When they see the real (or game) world value to math and reading, I think they get a bit more motivated to do homework to learn this well.

Here are a couple of suggestions based on my experience:
(1) As the adult, I had to keep the game fun and calm it down at times when the kids were getting too competitive.
(2) For my kids (5 & 8 yrs. old), 4 sessions of about 30 minutes of play time per session and more than 1 hour in between sessions worked beautifully. Playing for too long starts to bore little kids.

"Good Attitude, Good Day."

Few years ago, when I was so caught up in work that I didn't spend much time with my older son, he was acting up at school and just seemed to have a bad attitude. Without realizing that my absence was a big part of the problem, I taught him a phrase that really seemed to help, "Good attitude, good day."

I thought this little phase was what prevented a downward spiral, but in retrospect, I think the attention I spared to teach him this lesson mattered just as much... at that time. Every morning for a few weeks we said together, "Good attitude, good day."

He still remembers this phrase and the key points I made:
1. "Life isn't fair, but you can enjoy it anyway."
2. "You can't control a lot of things, but the one thing you have complete control over is your attitude."
3. "Good attitude, good day. Bad attitude, bad day."

I smiled when I heard this today: (M is 5 yrs. old; A just turned 8)
M: "That's just not fair!"
A: "Remember daddy said life isn't fair, but you can enjoy it anyway."
M: "But, I'm not enjoying this!"
A: "That's because you have a bad attitude. Good attitude, good day."
M: "I'm not having a good day, right now."
A: "You can control your attitude, M. You can just make it good and have a good day."
At this point M was really annoyed because A was actually teasing his little brother... Still, it was a cool dadly moment!

Rock skipping

An empty park with no ducks in range and a bunch of small rocks... perfect day to practice rock skipping! 


Here is a set of instructions from eHow.com on rock skipping: 
1. Select a rock that's round, flat and smooth. 
2. Stand at the edge of a large, placid body of water.
3. Hold the rock horizontally - flat side down - with your index finger curling around one edge.
4. Aim the rock. Envision a convex arc a few inches above the water.
5. Throw the rock low and parallel to the water's surface. Throw sidearm so that your hand travels past your waist and the rock travels horizontally across the water. 
6. Release the rock with a snap of the wrist to give it a horizontal spin. Your elbow will be next to your hip as the rock leaves your hand.
7. Count the number of times the rock skips. 

Also, an interesting nerdly ninja info: 

You can skip rocks on sand, but on sand, the stone will bounce twice between skips. On water, it only bounces once between skips. Why? 

A high school student, Kirston Koths, came up with a solution in 1967: "It turns out that when a spinning stone comes into contact with a surface, the trailing edge usually strikes first. If the surface is hard, like packed sand, the stone tilts forward, the leading edge strikes again, and the stone takes off on the next skip.

When a revolving stone hits a fluid surface, it behaves quite differently. When its trailing edge strikes, the stone doesn't tip forward. Instead, it tilts backward, causing a small wave to build up underneath it. After planing on this wave for a short distance, the stone then takes off again without the short hop that it takes on a dry surface." http://www2.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF7/731.html