What do you do when you can't afford the latest must-have toy? You improvise. That is, if you're the brothers whose homemade Pokémon cards will blow your mind.
“When I was little, my brother and I loved card games like Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh, but we were too poor to buy them,” wrote user ‘one23abc’ on Reddit. “So we made our own card game.”
When I was little, my brother and I loved card games like pokemon and yugi-oh, but we were too poor to buy them. So we made our own card game.
Even though this was a decade ago, Pokémon is still going strong with collectors and traders.
The cards themselves are incredible: highly detailed pictures and text featuring the names of imaginary creatures, like Cheese Boi, Bullengore the Minotaur and Dyson.
By the creator's estimation, he was around 10 years-old when he and his 12 year-old brother made the series of cards. And he admits that at least "half the fun" was the painstaking process of drawing and colouring each small card.
What a treasure! What a keepsake!
In my day, my cousin and I delighted in a similar project: a catalogue of fashions we designed. I remember a whole spring/summer spent creating, then circulating, J&J Fashions to family members, whom we badgered into placing fictitious orders for our wares. I still think fondly of collective entrepreneurial spirit, and how our poor relatives humoured us with their mock orders...
I encourage similar creativity in my son, and was super excited one day when he took to drafting and illustrating extra chapters to one of his favourite books.
Still, I fear that with all the apps and ready-made toys at their fingertips — not to mention with so many structured activities - today's kids may be less enterprising and resourceful than those of generations past.
These cards are an important reminder of just how talented kids can be when we give them the time and the freedom to create.
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Ever heard of a hair tourniquet? Neither had I. But it's a thing. A dad recently shared photos of his baby's feet after a hair became twisted around her toe, cutting off the circulation. All this from a strand of hair... Crazy but true.
Kansas parents, Scott and Jessica Walker couldn't understand why their 19 week-old daughter, Molly, had become inconsolable. The more she cried, the more she overheated. When they removed her socks to help cool her down, the Walkers discovered something surprising: a hair had twisted around her toe inside her sock, and was cutting off the circulation. Ouchie!
Fortunately the Walkers were able to carefully remove the hair wrapped around her second toe. And since the hair tourniquet concept wasn't on Mr. Walker's radar, he decided to share his ordeal on Facebook, to inform fellow parents.
Had a small scare this afternoon with Ms. Molly. What happened was new to me, but apparently not totally uncommon, so I...
Posted by Scott Walker on Thursday, January 21, 2016
"It was a pretty scary situation," he said. "It ended very well, but it was scary enough where I wouldn't want anyone else to deal with something like that, so I wrote about it."
Though most parents may be unaware of the phenomenon, paediatric interns are actually taught to check the inside of socks when an infant or toddler is upset.
"If you feel like your child is behaving in a way that's unusual, pay attention to it. You're usually right," said parenting and youth development expert, Dr. Debi Gilboa.
"A hair tourniquet is a great thing to check for and it's not hard to spot. There's not really any way to prevent it, but they're not that hard to remove. Use something like a bobby pin, so it's thin and not sharp, slide it between the hair and the skin and it pops right off. If you feel uncomfortable call your doctor."
Hair gets everywhere - at least mine does, anyway - so this is not something you can totally avoid as a parent. Still, a little awareness goes a long way.
If ever there was any doubt that women are thinking a million things at once, this viral drawing by the wife of a Redditor has laid it to rest.
While we moms may be able to juggle at least a dozen tasks simultaneously, our brains are busy firing many more thoughts.
“Asked my wife to draw me a picture of what is on her mind. This is her response,” posted user ‘bpwwhirl’ and I bet he was sorry he asked after seeing the brainstorm maelstrom she produced.
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Work, chores, student debt, kids, food, feminism... Like most of us, this mom is thinking it all. Yes, even a tiny pocket is reserved for sex. (Then again, so does the dust under the fridge, so let's maybe not read too deeply into that last point.)
Making a "brain map" looks daunting, but maybe it's a step above the To Do list in that it helps us address - then scratch out - nagging worries and stressors like aforementioned dust bunnies.
If you fancy a home experiment, have you and your partner doodle out a mental map tonight, then compare. I have a feeling his would read a lot simpler: WORK - EAT- SEX??? - KIDS - SLEEP. If I'm right, then I envy the simplicity and the clarity. We women are riddled with contradictions and at the mercy of conflicting thoughts - kids are awesome/evil, food is good/food is the devil, look pretty/feminist guilt, etc.
Don't know about you, but I could do with a giant eraser to clear a lot of the mental cobwebs on my own drawing.