“Serving overseas as a small-town boy from America has been intense, stressful and humorous! Enjoy a light-hearted story with me from our last 20 years overseas!”
— Matt
Handle hurts worse than the head
I, like many, grew up with those classic toys like trikes, wagons and bikes. We had a garage and basement filled with sports equipment and yard toys. My favorite thing may have been the yard darts and a croquet set, because it carried a level of potential danger, which is a thrill for a young boy.
We’ve never had a yard living overseas in very urban apartment blocks, but have tried to give our kids some of the American experience. We moved a full-size Radio Flyer red wagon over in a big suitcase. We did kiddie hay rides in the wagon at fall parties with other American friends. We brought a bat, glove and t-ball stand over in a suitcase and played baseball in a dead-end street. We brought a Fisher-Price bowling set in our luggage, but the hard-plastic bowling ball was deafeningly loud rolling down our long tile hallway.
My parents had gotten our boys John Deere farm toys like a tractor, bailer and wagon to have overseas. I played with them more than they did. They also gave our oldest son, when a toddler, a rubber and plastic set of John Deere tools with a work belt. The head of the chubby hammer was soft and rubbery and quickly became his favorite toy. My son loved pounding everything in sight and couldn’t damage anything with it.
I was laying on the ground playing with him one morning, taking his toy hammer and pounding my head with the soft rubber head. He laughed and chuckled away. He then took the hammer and pounded my noggin and laughed even harder. In a split second, he switched his hold on the hammer and held it by the soft head and then swung full strength at my noggin with the handle. Crack went the hard-plastic handle on my head and left me with a headache and a welt. My son laughed uncontrollably and I wanted to know who the dumb toy designer was, who didn’t realize a kid would discover the handle pounded way better than the head of the tool.
Kids have a way of unwittingly outsmarting adults, even in cases where the handle hurts worse than the head.
Something similar ever happen to you? Contact me and let me hear your story!
mattsmishaps@gmail.com Matt’s Mishaps, PO BOX 114, Grabill, IN 46741
