A Boy and His Mouse
A lesson in destructive creativity
My grandson likes to break things apart. The other day, an idea came to my mind.
"Son, instead of breaking stuff up, why not learn to take them apart β disassemble and reassemble them β¦ ?"
He nodded in agreement.
He immediately went to work on the dead mouse and (with his bigger brother's help) shortly pried out its top cover.
He was soon back. But now, with a lingering inquisitive grin, "Grandpa, I can't see the screws."
I showed him the three tiny screws. "Let's keep the mouse until I get you some Philips screwdrivers."
"I have small screwdrivers at home," he proudly declared.
"OK, you go home with it then."
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Once again, the dead mouse was back in his outstretched, ready hands.
Without a doubt, he'll be picking up where he left off on his pet project when he gets back home.
As I muse over it all, it dawned on me, that this lively, inquisitive, and energetic grandkid of mine will make a better engineer or technician than me and his dad combined.
The old mouse is bad and now nonserviceable. The project goal was, "Take the mouse apart and reassemble it again."
The old mouse cost me a princely N7,000 about five years ago. Yesterday, I picked up two new and better mice for N6,000 at the Mobile Gadgets Village popularly known as MTN Road in Port Harcourt.
My young man is charting his course. My present continuous goal is to edge and cheer him on.
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
(Proverbs 22:6 - Holy Bible)
Amen.
Thanks for your reading time.
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