A kid at the county fair made me see my work in a new way

I was doing a demo at the Clark County Fair last fall, just making some simple hooks. This boy, maybe 10, watched me for a full 20 minutes without moving. When I finished, he looked up and said, 'You made a useful thing from a piece of fire.' His dad laughed, but the kid was totally serious. It stuck with me because I get so caught up in technique or selling pieces that I forget the basic magic of it. That raw change from one thing to another. Has a simple comment from someone watching ever reframed how you see your own craft?

3 comments

3 Comments

sarahhart2mo ago

Totally. It's like we get blinded by our own expertise. I was fixing a neighbor's wobbly chair once, just some basic glue and clamps, and her little girl called it "chair medicine." Now I catch myself using that term. Or how my nephew says the vacuum "eats the floor crumbs." Kids cut through all the grown-up noise and point at the plain wonder of a process, which we've totally boxed in with jargon and to-do lists.

the_gavin2mo ago

Love that, @sarahhart. My niece says the dishwasher is giving the plates a bath.

anna_hill5d agoTop Commenter

Right? Kids really do have this way of seeing the magic in everyday stuff we've turned into chores. I love how "chair medicine" puts a whole new spin on fixing something, it makes it feel kinder somehow. It's like they remind us not to take the simple, helpful parts of life for granted.