As a mother, an aunt and a wife, I often find myself looking for something... anything.... to entertain or occupy the children around me. As my children have gotten older it has become much easier. I can now just get out some Lysol and a vacuum and everyone scatters. The sight of cleaning supplies brings cries of "I have homework! Off to clean the garage! I am going for a bike ride!" Little do they know once the house is empty I sit back, pour a nice cold beverage, and read a good book in peace and quiet. Whatever it takes. One man I know, Bobby Romspert, was the expert at occupying children... I learned a lot from him growing up and it helped with my parenting skills today.
I am not sure how you develop a talent for entertaining bored children, but Bobby Romspert had it. Perhaps it's growing up with brothers and sisters that annoy you, perhaps its just raw talent, perhaps just pure love of kids.... I am not really sure but he has proven that talent to entertain youth time and time again.
I remember one summer in Elkton, I was about 6, Matt, Sarah, Carolyn and Joey were not far behind me... Uncle Bob and my dad were in charge. The women had gone shopping and left this wayward bunch of misfits with them. It was a hot Eastern Shore summer. We had no pool, no central air, no IPods or Wii. We had noting to do but run around and annoy each other and the adults. We ran in and out, in and out, banging the doors and bringing in every black fly in the county. We whined about our boredom and wouldn't leave Uncle Bob alone....
In a stroke of pure genius he took command of our boredom and sent us out to the newly constructed porch with flyswatters. He gave us a mission.... Kill flies, all the flies you can, for 5 cents a piece. We all looked at each other and saw our chance! An opportunity to become independently wealthy in only a few hours! 5 cents in 1975 was a hefty price for the flies. We just had to kill them and bring him the body. We had plastic cups to do the collecting. It was a kids dream come true. Over the next hour each of us racked up a sizable fortune killing flies! I was well up to 2$ by the time my mom came home. My brother, not to be outdone, made it to $2.50. Sarah and Carolyn became disinterested in the game fairly quickly and went upstairs to play Barbies. For Matt and I it was heavenly.... We killed and killed. We racked up $ that afternoon. It was a blast and a memory we still talk about to this day... "remember the day we got paid to kill flies!" Of course, we never realized there was no screen on the porch, that half the flies came back to life to be killed again... It didn't matter, it entertained us in our moment of boredom and provided memories for our future. He showed us love that day in a funny way, with entertainment and excitement, with the thrill of the hunt! What a gift.
Uncle Bob is the expert at kid entertainment. He sees an opportunity and excites the kids around him. He is an amazing man and has provided many memories to all of us. As I watch him move forward in this journey I see this as our chance to provide for him, for all the times he paid us for flies and more.
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