The joy of being a toymaker

One of the joys of being a toymaker is watching kids play with them! These boy's grandmother was my freshman year Psych 101 professor, and still a friend! Their grandfather is one of my two best friends! A great many years ago I made a toy car for their dad! He immediately drew all the details of the under side of a car on the bottom - muffler, shocks, springs, axles, everything! A while later he apologized for messing up the gift I had given him. I hope I adequately made him understand how very special it made me feel that he wanted to participate in the creation I had begun, but he finished! I'm not sure I succeeded because as I remember he carefully erased it all? I wasn't at all surprised that these two - third generation - immediately began spinning their tops upside-down! Grown-ups tend to hang our artwork on the wall - usually from the proper hanger we provide - pretty much aways right side up! Kids just try to figure out what else they can do with our work! If that includes upside-down, two tops battling with each other, or moments later dancing with each other, that is just the normal course of childhood! The electronic games our kids get these days seem to only work in one way, and to direct the kids down a narrow defined path to the a very specific goal. Give me the creativity of trying it upside-down every time! The camera stopped the action, but those tops really are spinning!