I thought they'd grow out of it by now. Thought they'd lose interest among all the rest of what fills up a middle-schooler's life.
I thought wrong.
Judging from the amount of activity over the weekend (and the amount of extra boys coming by to shoot) the mini-hoop, best home accessory ever in the minds of two out of three resident boys, has just as much appeal now as it did at its debut in the little house two winters ago.
Honestly, I wasn't sure if I was ready for the mini-hoop to come back into the house (every spring, the hoop comes down & is stored away until the snow falls). That's a lot of dribbling, a lot of swishing, a lot of energy swirling around. Picture this: Four or more boys (we've had up to nine), in a competetive, body-slamming, basket-shooting, made-up-game-within-the-game of basketball (it's called Splash City) inside your little house!
Can you imagine?
The near-constant thrum, thrum of the ball hitting the basket does take a bit of getting used to for some of us. The orange chair gets shoved to the side, the area rugs get skewed, the sofa pillows take to the floor (and Nellie doesn't know what to do).
But here's the thing: We want boys here. We want our boys here. We want other boys here. And we'd much rather have them here shooting baskets on a tiny hoop that hangs in our living room than sitting in front of a screen (or doing any manner of ill-advised things that can snatch at middle school boys). Yes, we do have a screen upstairs, with a PS3 attached, and a small library of their favorite video games, but screen play is tightly regulated (just ask them about the tightly part), and when game time has run out, it's analog options, boys.
Wholesome play, in a good environment, with (lots of) food nearby - that's our goal. During winter in the little house, that involves a mini-hoop.
I'm glad they haven't outgrown it yet.
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