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If you
have kids, or grandchildren, make sure to leave a place on your
property for them. Find a shady, out of the way spot, and follow
the old-time formula: give your children some scrap lumber,
tools and nails and then leave them alone. You might want to
supervise the basic structure - a frame of 2x6’s nailed
securely to some low tree limbs or a platform built on solid
fence posts, but besides that, and checking for exposed nail
points, let them build it. They’ll spend countless hours
planning, building and altering. They’ll be exercising their
bodies and their minds. In the end, they’ll have something
that they can truly call their own.
If their creation doesn’t meet
your architectural standards, it’s a fault of your
imagination. The illustration above is of the play house on an
1876 estate - a mansion with acres of carefully cultivated
gardens whose owner hadn’t forgotten his own childhood. Did
you have a tree house or a quiet spot carved out of an overgrown
hedge when you were young? How does that memory look to you today?
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