Anatomy of the "No Tackle" Sign



"No Tackle" Sign (Cal, 11/11/12)

On Sunday night as I sat at the computer desk in the “toy room” trying to solve some new iPod and computer issues, Cal and Ella started playing a game that seemed a little rough to me and that I was certain was going to end with Ella hurt, screaming and (within the realm of possibilities) bloodied.  The game was a game of tackle, and Ella may have been enjoying it even more than Cal.

Here’s how the game went: They’d stand with their backs up against the wall at the back of the “toy room.”  Cal would say something to the effect of, “GO!” and the two of them would take off running “full speed” toward the closet at the front of the room and dive head first with arms breaking their falls into the carpeted floor a few steps short of the closet.  Ella would typically dive first, followed immediately by Cal who would lunge on top of her as though he were tackling her.  They’d laugh, get up, head back to the back wall and start the process over again.

This went on only a couple of times before I finally wised up a little and uttered the phrase, “okay, Cal, not too rough, okay?”  He actually heard me and responded by changing the game up again so that it would be a game of “Soft Tackle” (so named by Cal).  It was the same game they had been playing; however, instead of falling on top of her, he’d lunge over or around her – Ella was doing all of her falling herself anyway, so this worked for me and kept them entertained.

A few rounds into “Soft Tackle,” Lion entered the picture.  Lion is a big stuffed animal that Santa brought Cal last year for Christmas.  Lion is longer than Cal and lays flat and floppy on the ground.  He’s like a big pillow, really, and the kids started diving into Lion instead of into the ground, which, unbeknownst to the kids, had the effect of extending their game a bit before I stepped in to put an end to it.

After a few more rounds of “Soft Tackle,” I decided to announce that “Soft Tackle” needed to end – no more tackling for the evening.  It was time to settle down a bit as “Jammie Time” was right around the corner.

To my surprise, the kids did not put up a fight – they stopped “Soft Tackle” and turned their attention to drawing.  We have a drawer full of scrap paper that I collect at work and bring home for the kids to draw on.  Ella, not yet showing much of an interest in drawing, initiated the transition to drawing by opening the drawer and pulling out a piece of paper.  Cal followed.  I gave them some random crayons we had sitting on the desk, and both headed to the kid-sized table across from the desk to draw.

With the kids content and not demanding my attention, I got back to trying to solve my iPod and computer issues.  What seemed like a long time before being interrupted was probably only five minutes.  The interruption was Cal asking me how to spell some words he was looking to write on his piece of paper.  I glanced at him as he asked and wrote; but I didn’t look closely at what he was doing until he was finished.  While I do like to watch him draw and write, this time I enjoyed seeing the end product – what I’m calling the “No Tackle” sign – for the first time, piecing together how it came to be from the series of questions he had asked me.

Here's the anatomy of the "No Tackle" sign:

1. “NO”… Cal wrote this himself without assistance from me how to spell it
2. “TACKLE”… Cal asked, “Mommy, how do you spell ‘tackle?’” to which I responded slowly spelling the word “tackle” as he wrote each letter I said
3. “CANNOT”… Cal asked, “Mommy, how do you spell ‘cannot?’” to which I responded slowly spelling the word “cannot” as he wrote each letter I said
4. “ELLA”… Cal wrote this himself without assistance from me how to spell it
5. “LOUVL”… Cal wrote this himself, saying each letter out loud as he wrote it (which, by the way, I’m not sure what this means)
6. “HIT”… Cal asked, “Mommy, how do you spell ‘hit?’” to which I responded slowly spelling the word “hit” as he wrote each letter I said (and then proceeded to add a few additional letters, for what reason, I don’t know)
7. Sad face and happy face… I wasn’t sure about this one, so I asked Cal about these.  He told me that the sad face was the person getting tackled and the happy face was the person doing the tackling (but of course)

And that is the anatomy of the “No Tackle” sign (or the progression of how it came to be).  I may frame it and hang it on the wall in the “toy room” as a rule to enforce going forward.  I think it’s a good rule, really, one that may be more enforceable since Cal participated in instituting the rule on Sunday night.