If you help a boy build a fort in the woods
it won’t take too long to gather dead limbs from the ground
He will want to use the hatchet and hand saw to cut the limbs for the walls
Even though he is only five
You’ll have to decide for yourself whether you let him or not
If you let him
It’ll take a full day just to cut enough limbs to build the walls two feet high
It won’t have much square footage
But he will move a table in anyway
You will have to explain why he cannot have a woodstove or fire
AND Just when you think you it’s a good enough fort for a five year old boy
He will ask you to put a roof on it
And add a mailbox
And put down some gravel for his driveway
So the mail lady can get through
And install a flag pole so he can fly his star-spangled-banner
And once he has a fort, you will know where to find any missing item
Bowls, silverware, tools, nails and screws, lunch boxes, coats, shoes, sleeping bags, hedge trimmers and shovels, LOTS of missing shovels
But at least we know where to find them