Fire for the Mind and Body

(A house is not a home unless it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body. Benjamin Franklin) Do you ever have those mornings when you just can't get the stove to start? You've done everything imaginable to get the fire going. Lighter, Crumpled paper, little sticks of wood, bigger sticks of wood, split stick of wood, more air, less air,nothing is working. The kids are snuggled up in blankets moaning I'm cold. How can it be so hard to build a fire? Cave Dwellers can do it with sticks, Mountain men can do it with rocks. So in this moment I have decided that my children need to know how to build a fire. They need to know how to build it with sticks and rocks and magnifying glasses. How did we as human beings get so far removed that we don't even know how to build a good fire (without lighter fluid)? There are lots of things I think little boys should know, and building a fire is now going on that list. Good thing we have a fireman around! P.S. I did get the fire going finally. I just had to throw on another log. The children did not freeze to death.