Quick Rant

Anyone remember hama beads? Now, I don't remember calling them that when I was a kid (I'm pretty sure I referred to them as "those boring bead iron projects") but who could forget those tiny plastic beads that you put on the plastic grid and then take to your mom so she could iron them together for you? I didn't like them as a kid but let me just say that they are way way worse as an adult. First off, they take hours. Then, one tiny bump of the table and they're completely destroyed. The beads go everywhere, most of them never to be found again, and the kid is left nearly in tears. Even if the kid finishes it they still have to get it ironed. For my kids that involves a terrifying walk across our classroom to the iron. They walk super slowly and they never take their eyes off of their project. Unfortunately that means that they're never watching where they're going so usually they walk into chairs or desks or more often, a 5th grader. The tiny percentage of kids that make it through the gauntlet unscathed are rewarded with me as their iron-lady. Tough luck for them. I'm awful at ironing those damn beads together. My success rate is somewhere around 40%. Not great. Last week my little Dennis the Menace kid worked a solid hour making his hama bead star. He bravely made the classroom walk and what did I do? Destroyed his afternoons work. Those are the days I feel like I'm not making a positive difference in the world.

See, when I was a kid it never got to any of that. I usually gave up long before that point ever came. I would always start out trying to make a star or a heart. I had grand visions of starting a pattern in the center and following it all the way out. Usually I would make it about 3 layers before realizing that it wasn't going to work out layout-wise and I would jump ship. This left a bead filled table for my mom to clean up. Although, now I realize that she had it easy. At least she never had to iron any of them.

So last week, after I destroyed Dennis the Menace's artwork, I spent an hour rebuilding with him. When we finished I told him that it was the first hama bead project that I had ever finished. His response? "Wow, I have like, hundreds of these at home!" Awesome, kid. Really awesome.