When I was in grade school as a kid, I always hated doing school projects!  I thought they were stupid, and often time, I’d wait until the last moment to do them.  I always pulled it together in time, but with a lot of stress and the paint still dripping on the project… 

Now my son is at the age where he needs to do the school projects, but this time it’s different.  Instead of him doing it alone, both my wife and I help too.  He still had to do the writing part, but we all brainstormed the creative part.  The creative element was that we need to create a “Creature in a can“, which basically is a container made to look like the animal my son got stuck with, which was an amazon tree frog. 

Amazingly, we all came up with ideas that built on each others.  The end result was an amazing looking piece of art!  While it might be overkill for a 4th grade project, it’s something that our family will remember as a great team building experience!  I may even keep the project after he is done with it at school and put it in my office as a reminder of a great family time! 

So what I lesson I learned from this school project was: 

• Doing a project with people you love can be fun!
• With a team of like-minded people, it’s possible to create an end result that is better than any individual idea.
• Amazingly attractive results can be accomplished with basically trash, and a little bit of wire and glue!
• When working with a good team, cleverly innovative ideas can spring to life!

Since my 4th grader is my oldest, this is all new for me.  I’m kind of excited for the next experience with either my son or daughter! 

Have you ever learned something from doing something that you though would be a negative experience?  Not only was it positive for me, but I also think as a family we built some great family confidence! 

If you have young kids, I hope you experience as much fun! 

Best wishes, 

– MR