The day had come. Rachel, my 8 year old daughter, was “upgrading” to a loft bed. Mainly because her tiny room would gain some much needed floor space for the various toys, stuffed animals, and whatnot that populate her room.
It seemed like it would be a good opportunity for a “Daddy & Daughter Project” to have Rachel help me put the bed together. Also, it would be an exercise in patience for me.
The box the bed came in had about forty assorted pieces plus all the hardware to bolt, screw, and clamp it all together. From past experiences, I’ve learned not to trust the little person with the little pieces just yet. She does make for a great holder of larger frame pieces, though. And she makes for a great censoring mechanism.
Example:
One of the pipes slips out of alignment before I can get the screw in place. “Sh!t.” (softly said under my breath.)
“Dad, did you say a bad word?” “Yes, dear.” “You know you shouldn’t, right?”
She’s good for gentle reminders to maintain proper behaviors and to set a good example. I say reminders, plural, because this occurred about 4 times over the 3 hours of construction.
After the shifting around of bookcases, dressers, and other objects, the bed frame was finally vertical and in its proper place in the room. It came with about 24 “slats” that will hold up the mattress. For each slat there are little, grey plastic clips that are supposed to pop in to keep the slats in place. Supposed to. Three things developed from those ridiculous clips:
1)My thumbs are killing me. 2) Rachel made up a new helping game of chasing and finding the little, grey plastic clips every time one of them would pop out and shoot across the room. And 3) A large pair of channel-lock pliers will save you thumbs in the end when you are dealing with ridiculous, little, grey plastic clips.
After the battle of the loft bed had ended, Rachel thanked me for the work and proclaimed her new bed frame was “beautiful” and that she loves it. In the end, that made it all worth it.
Even if I am typing this with sore thumbs.
Chris Duck lives in Washington state and is husband to Lisa and father of Rachel. He has been a registered nurse in various areas of the medical field for nearly 20 years. A confessed lifelong geek, he loves movies, American football, MMA, comics, and sci-fi. His family is enjoying rural living with a large garden and future plans for chickens and goats. Tips and tales of home schooling and rural life may appear in future guest posts if Henry has him back.
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