There is power in a box. I’m not talking about what arrives inside the box; I’m talking about the box itself. Doesn’t it just make your day when the UPS truck pulls in and the happy man in brown walks up to your door with a box? (OK, my guy isn’t always happy and sometimes he tosses the box on my porch with very little flourish while scanning the horizon for my dog who is on record for having bitten a UPS man – the only person she’s ever bitten in her 15 years – I swear!) Even if it’s just vacuum cleaner bags, I’m still happy to see a box arrive with my name on it.
Years ago I signed up to be a Mary Kay consultant mostly because I loved the little boxes that the products came in. Recently, I ordered jewelry from a friend who does home sales and adored the boxes that arrived - they were decorated on the inside!
But the best boxes, I mean the very best boxes, are the BIG boxes. The ones that come with the new refrigerator or other large appliance. Those boxes have real power.
When we first moved in to the house where we live now, the packers used enormous boxes. Boxes large enough for three children to fit inside. My children had an endless supply of “transmogrifiers.” What? You've never heard of a “transmogrifier?” Well, a transmogrifier can do anything – even change you in to a different species altogether, plus it has it's own weapons system and can travel through time and space.
A big box could grant my children hours of escape from the reality of gravity, time, and the normal disdain for a sibling. After we had settled in to our new house, we were blessed with big boxes once again as we had to replace each large appliance in the house one by one. More transmogrifiers, and eventually simple time machines that catapulted my kids back in time to before the dinosaur age. They would hide from us and then chatter on walkie-talkies about the strange beings on two legs and the even stranger ones with fur and claws.
I just love the power boxes have over children. So when my birthday present arrived on Saturday in the biggest box ever – I wondered if the magic still worked. We unloaded the beast, a treadmill which was thankfully in pieces, and left the monster box on the front porch. All of my children were happily ensconced in front of their respective favorite boxes (computers). So I casually approached the nine-year-old, figuring he would be most susceptible to the thrill of a big box. “There’s the biggest box I’ve ever seen on the front porch,” I said.
Without even looking up from his screen, he said, “Uh-huh. I’ll come at look at it when this is over.”
A few minutes later, I heard a loud whoop, followed by his cries for his siblings to come see this! His 13-year-old sister could not be bothered and when I told her it was a big box, she said, “So?” and went back to her personal box.
My 15-year-old was wandering around with his ear buds in and watched his little brother with growing interest. The 9-year-old retreated to the house for markers and his nerf weapons. He proceeded to draw all the necessary buttons and levers on the inside of the box, still yelling for his siblings to come and be amazed.
When my husband and I looked out a few minutes later, both boys were in the box. They were discussing the control panel. We overheard the oldest say happily, “I feel like I’m four years old.”
As expected, once there were two boys in the time machine, their sister had to crash the party. She wandered around saying how silly they looked for awhile, but in the end she joined the nerf battle that broke out and soon all three were running around the yard with nerf guns battling whatever creatures they had encountered in the next galaxy.
My husband came inside after sneaking a few pictures and said, “That’s the best Father’s Day present ever.”
I love boxes. They have the power to keep my kids, kids.
Do your kids play with boxes like this? Do you remember playing with them when you were a child?
image source
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Comments (12)
Oh my gosh, I was just talking about boxes the other day with my husband.
I actually remember specific boxes. There was the time we got a new refrigerator, and my brother and I played in it for a long time. Can't remember what it was we did with it, but I definitely remember drawing inside it. The best time was when we had A TON of boxes. I'm not sure why there were so many, but we made walls out of them- big walls, probably at least 6 feet high- and developed a fort in the garage. Oh, that was fun.This is so cute :)
I don't remeber being too enthralled with boxes, myself. There was a stage that my cousin and I would play with boxes, but we grew out of that when we figured out how to climb trees and claim the slide as our own. It wasn't until high school that I started liking boxes again, but I like artistic ones now. I particularly like boxes that don't look like boxes at all. Those are so cool. I think my cousin was making boxes a while back.... I don't know.
If/When I have kids, it'll be interesting to see what they do with boxes. For now, my cat loves them and my dog is scared of them. I have a menagerie of interesting boxes for my living space, and that's just fine with me.
I loved the story about your kids and the big box though. I think that was awesome!
This is so precious, I love it! My kids are still young enough (3 and 5) to love boxes. Even small boxes that arrive - my daughter tries to fit herself into it. And transmorgifier - the first time I heard that term was a Calvin and Hobbes comic!!
Somebody please link the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon with the Transmogrifier.
@Endrath@xanga - Hahaha! That is totally what I thought about. http://bestofcalvinandhobbes.com/2012/04/transmogrifier/
We got our Gateway computer back in the day, which came in a giant cow-spotted box. I liked that box. "What's a compooder?"
haha Yes! and love the image, it covered it all! :D
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - You, ma'am, are made of awesomeness and win. And Tigers are made of dragonflies and katydids, but mostly chewed up little kids.
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1987/06/26
When I was a kid, I lived for building forts, and tents, and crazy stuff out of whatever I got my hands on. And now I'm a theatre technician, and, well, whenever I move and can find a job in my chosen field, I will do that for a living.
4th one down. My Dad worked on electronics so he gave me all kinds of unrepairable bits of them with sharp poking pieces on the back that would just easily PUNCH right in that biggo cardboard box I had so I could make my super spaceship from them ! ≡
http://cdn.static.ovimg.com/episode/1364371.jpg
Also very well written recollection and article, CaraSue.
Recommended.
I actually just read in one of my parenting books, no, I'm not mom, I'm gramma, that a large box for a small child to play in, color, imagine, whatever, is better for the brain than all the electronic gadgets out there, baby einstein, DVD's, you name it. The child thinks up thing he/she can do crawling in and out of the box. You can cut windows in it, make a flapping back door, whatever, and I've seen my nieces and nephews over the years thrive with their own box. Like a t.v. box, or an appliance box, So all you wonderful gals out there who are on the cutting edge, and surpassing me in parenting knowledge, if you have a toddler or older, find a nice big box, and turn the boob tube off.