The gift for an inquisitive young mind
My nephew, Robbie, recently turned nine years old. Children grow up so quickly these days and before you know it they can have transformed themselves from a bright and bubbly boy or girl into a sullen teenager whose preferred modus operandi is sitting in glorious isolation listening to their ipods, sending semi literate text messages to equally morose friends or playing lous and violent computer games loudly and violently.
I knew that I had to get to Robbie while he is still receptive and show him how beautiful simple, traditional, well crafted items can be. He is doing very well at school and excels both in the classroom and on the sports field (an arena that unfortunately eluded me when I was small). I was looking for something that could be intellectually stimulating and visually beautiful but that would appeal to his competitive nature. I was lucky enough to find an exact match: a hand crafted, artisan made chess set.
I live near to a wonderful place called the Elsecar Heritage Centre. It contains a number of small work shops where skilled practitioners carry out their crafts as their forefathers did. You can buy beautiful rocking chairs or beds made to exact dimensions and specifications. Local artists sell their paintings, water colours and oils that depict the stunning beauty of the Yorkshire countryside. But the shop that I had in mind for Robbie was a veritable Aladdin’s cave for an inquisiteive young mind: it specialised in making traditional wooden toys.After walking him wide eyed through the shop I showed him his prize: a beautiful chess set, both the chess boards and chess pieces had been given exquisite attention to detail – the manes stood up on the horses neck of the knights and their nostrils flared as if in mid gallop. It was a thing of beauty, and a practical gift too and this is what we should always strive for when we choose a present for a young mind. We are teaching them that there is more to life than loud noises and that gifts don’t alwayshave to run on batteries to be wonderful!
Robbie loved his present. In fact last week he challenged me to a game. I had been captain of my school chess team and so felt confident. I will go easy on him I thought, and let him win! Well, I didn’t get the chance to go easy on him – his nine year old mind was too quick for me, he wiped the floor with me and soon had me in check mate! I am happy that I chose him such a memorable and well crafted present but next year I might just get him something noisy instead!
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