Catnip for kids

My little bro (henceforth referred to as “Uncle Bubba”) is like catnip for kids.  No exaggeration–if he is visiting and there are any little kids around, they magnetically gravitate towards him and start besieging him.  They think he is just about the funnest person to play with in the whole world.   They climb on him, poke him, chase him, use his air mattress as a trampoline  (while he is still trying to sleep), play elaborate pretend games, coerce him into tea parties, get piggy back rides, and much much more. 

Not to imply that he is immature by any means, as he is almost 21 and a very responsible person, but (after contemplating the matter for some time) I think the kids groove so well with him because he plays with them on their level, without trying to mold them to adult preconceptions of play.   Uncle Bubba never tells them it makes no sense to build an elaborate (yet shakey) slide out of couch cushions, even though it is plainly obvious that cushions + pants = not so much sliding but more like falling down and wrecking.   Uncle Bubba is always up for a game of “hunt the monsters with flashlights” even after the thousandth time.   Furthermore, he is a Play-Doh artist. 

He plays games like ‘hungry hungry hippos’ with preschoolers, which is pretty much my version of torture.   I’m rigidly linear and I want them to follow the ‘rules’ and the ‘right way’ of playing.  But Uncle Bubba knows it is just good fun to toss marbles all over the place, whether that means using the hippos or not, or making a mess, or whatever.  All I can think about is the marbles getting lost.

Anyway, no matter how absurd the game, or how repetitive, or how potentially annoying, Uncle Bubba is always up for giving it a try.  He’s never impatient with them, or displays boredom with their games, or tries to put them off. Or agrees to have a tea party in the living room and then strategically faces the TV with food network on in the background (cough like me cough). Thus they swarm to him whenever he is in proximity. 

And he cooks darn fine mac ‘n cheese.