FROM THE HOME FRONT
Susan Martin: So much for a 9-year-old to do
Perhaps you have grown a little weary of all those goal lists by now –“20 things to do before you turn 30”; “Seven ways to get rich before age 40”; “1,000 Places to See Before You Die” (the 2003 best seller and all its variation), and so many more.
There even are Web sites devoted to this stuff.
But I have to say that one list that ended up in my e-mail basket last week caught my eye. Its name: “30 Things to Do Before Age 10.”
Part of it, of course, is I have a 9-year-old daughter who turns 10 in March.
Still, after noting that “Make your bed!” and “Put your clean laundry away” were not on the list, I had to smile at the suggestions.
The list was created by the editors of KOL (AOL’s popular online kids’ Web site).
There’s a photo gallery, too. Check it all out: http://kids. aol.com/KOL/2/ Style/PhotoGallery/30-things-to-do-before- age-10-gallery.
So here’s the list:
1. Bake a cake.
2. Feed a farm animal.
3. Pick some strawberries.
4. Play Poohsticks (the simple game invented by Winnie the Pooh; see just-pooh. com for details).
5. Recognize five different bird species.
6. Find some worms.
7. Ride a bike through a puddle.
8. Make and fly a kite.
9. Plant a tree.
10. Build a nest out of grass and twigs.
11. Find 10 different leaves in the park.
12. Grow vegetables.
13. Make breakfast in bed for your parents.
14. Make a mini assault course (a course that combines running and exercising) in your garden.
15. Roll on your side down a grassy bank.
16. Make a mud pie.
17. Make your own modeling dough mixture.
18. Make perfume from flower petals.
19. Grow cress on a windowsill.
20. Make a papier-mache mask.
21. Build a sand castle.
22. Climb a tree.
23. Make a painting using your hands and feet.
24. Organize your own teddy bears picnic.
25. Have your face painted.
26. Bury a friend in the sand.
27. Make some bread.
28. Make snow angels.
29. Create a clay sculpture.
30. Camp out in the garden. I plan to show this list to our daughter some time this weekend –after she makes her bed, that is.
It will be interesting to see how many items she can cross off the list –and even if she remembers doing some of them.
Making modeling dough with me at age 5, for instance. Or searching for different types of leaves one beautiful afternoon with her dad.
And for those items she has not yet done –growing cress on a windowsill, for one –she still has a few months to go before her birthday.
But for the most part, I think we have them covered –plus a few more.
Talk Mom and Dad into getting another cat.
Talk Mom and Dad into getting a dog.
Talk Mom and Dad into getting a hamster.
For the record, she still is working on that last one.
And our answer still is No!
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