One man's trash...

My 7 yr. old niece asked me several weeks ago to "please sew my net back together." The net in question is a cute green butterfly net that lives at their lake cabin. The same lake cabin where she catches frogs, moths, worms, fish, and every other imaginable creature she can and then tries to keep them. Of course, being the good auntie that I am, I said I would fix it and bring it back to her next week. This was four weeks ago. She asked me again last week if I had fixed it yet. I had forgotten all about it. I forgot about it as soon as I got home again, too. I thought of it today only because hubby and I are going up to see our nieces and nephew tonight. I realized I better get cracking if I am to get this "sewn back together." So I pulled out my needle and thanked the lucky stars even though I don't embroider and I haven't cross stictched in years, I have embroidery floss. I pick green to match the net. (Although one of my other nieces (8 yr. old) would tell me that it doesn't match because it's not exactly the same shade of green.) So, I managed to get the net all sewn up over lunch break.

During these last few weeks, I thought about telling my niece I couldn't fix the net, and then buy her a new one. But I realized two things. First, that it wouldn't be the same to her. Second, that maybe it's good to teach kids that not everything needs to be thrown away the second it gets broken. That maybe things can be fixed or reused in a different purpose. It's never too early to teach "reduce, recycle, reuse." Especially if you're teaching it in a practical way that's easily understood by all ages.

Happy Crafting!