Leaf Houses not Tree Houses

We often hear kids say the statement “I’m bored” and I remember saying that when I was a kid too. When I would say that, my mother would often say something along the lines of, “Well then I guess you better find something to do, unless you want me to find something for you to do”. I’m pretty sure, in most of those cases, I found something to take care of my boredom because my mom’s idea of finding something would have been finding me something to clean or some kind of thing that I would not have thought of as fun.

I have fond memories of building houses when my brothers and I were younger. We had never been able to make the kind of tree house that most kids would envision when mentioning a tree house, but ours was just as good. It kept us busy, gave us something to do that used our imaginations, and now that I think back we were actually keeping the leaves in the yard raked. Our tree house, or maybe I should say leaf house, was more like a blueprint drawn out of leaves raked into the lines that formed the walls. We would leave a nice open spot in the middle of the line of walls that we all recognized as the door to the room. It wasn’t much to some people, but I remember having so much fun doing that simple little thing with my brothers.

I found out later it was kind of a tradition that was passed down. My mother said it was something she did when she was a little girl, and if I remember correctly I think she said her mother did it too. We had fun with it and while it wasn’t a house in a tree with real wood, floors, a roof and stairs it kept us busy and out of trouble and all these years later I still have those fond memories made with my brothers.

So just remember, if your tree houses take a little more imagination than others, it’s those precious memories you made that make the foundation strong.