Pirates Teach Valuable Lessons

It was a pleasant enough afternoon. Perhaps a bit cloudy, but over all comfortable. The clouds, however, threatened to drop rain if we ventured too far from home on our bikes and scooters. So we didn't try it. Instead, we played on the swing set for a little while and then hunkered down in the house. Xander challenged me to a game of Sorry! I accepted and invited the girls to play with us. Not being interested, they wandered down to the bedroom.

I could hear them climbing into the top bunk, chatting, climbing down, and pulling the curtains shut. Nothing alarming. I concentrated on the game and lost track of time and the girls' voices. It wasn't until Xander and I finished the game that I went to check on the seemingly well-behaved children. What I found instead were two little pirates who were doing what pirates do: finding treasure and burying it.

At least, that was Eva's explanation when she told her daddy what she did that afternoon.

They had decided to be pirate girls. "And pirates find treasure," Eva told Jeff with all seriousness and that matter-of-fact manner only a 4 year old child can pull-off. What I saw was a pile of puzzles, games, books, stuffed animals, and shoes spilled over, across, and under the bed. The curtains were drawn shut and the pirates were rushing from shelf to make-shift treasure box with one item at a time as fast as their legs could carry them.

"Oh no! We are not doing this!" I said as soon as I saw the heaping treasure. "You two need to clean this all up, okay?"

"Okay, " they parroted back as they proceeded to close the door.

"And the door stays open so I can hear what is going on. Tell me when you are done." I waited for items to be picked up before leaving the room. Having walked into the hall, I couldn't help but smile. The smile provided me a tempting idea and against my better judgement, I went to get the camera. When I walked back in the room, the pirates had stopped cleaning and were playing with the treasure. "You guys are suppose to be cleaning," I reminded them. "Now stand up, put your arms around each other and say cheese."

Yep. If your pirates..... I mean kids..... are playing quietly, you better check on them.