On occasions when it was New Papa vs. the grandchildren, the grandchildren always presented in impenetrable front. When New Papa was not conspiring to complicate our lives we were quite accomplished at filling that void.
The youngest 10 of us fell into 2 categories: “Character” donors and “Character” recipients. The older 5 were donors and the youngest 5 were recipients, however to some extent all of the girls were recipients at least some of the time. The recipients were home schooled by the donors in a number of subjects including:
· Knot tying
· Tennis
· Gymnastics
· Brain teasers
· Marksmanship and conductivity
Jack: “As you can see, Chip and Stain, using a half hitch followed by a square knot makes escape virtually impossible.”
Penn: “However when working from branches above, nothing quite beats the hangman’s noose. Any questions Margaux? Don't forget to be at the car in 10 minutes for miniature golf”.
Preparing for kindergarten in the Fall, Little Sinner liked to play school. Older siblings and cousins were all to eager to oblige:
Looper: “Little Sinner, we believe you will learn much more if we use true stories to challenge you: The police made us take you when you were 1. They said they would come back to get you in 2000 days. If it takes one week to pack, when should you get started?”
Marksmanship
“To get a steady shot at the blackbird, rest the bb gun barrel on something firm, like that 1000 volt cattle wire”.
As one might surmise, the lure of hanging out with older cousins and our absence of cause and effect reasoning, contributed to endless opportunities for acquiring character. Of course we were always eager to learn when Nick and Toad rode into town.
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