Planet Encal's Dilemma

The top three benefits of a well stocked Junk Drawer:

- show and tell with an element of surprise
- prepared for anything
- sharing is caring

Young kids can laser focus on anything they set their mind to.  

The only problem is that they lack the skill to aim that focus.  The target can often be banal or tedium-inducing, but the real issue is that this immersive focus ability that all young minds possess (which often borders on fetish) ALWAYS contains the potential to destroy your day. 

To the unprepared caretaker, this constant threat would take a heavy toll on the psyche.  

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My son was fixated on this cheap, tiny Christmas coloring book his little sister got from daycare.  She hadn't paid any attention to it since she brought it home except to tell him flatly "No" whenever he asked if he could color in it. 

For about a day and half, he kept asking and she kept saying no.  It drove him nuts but for whatever reason he REALLY wanted to color in this coloring book. He must have surmised if he tried to take it by force, then there would be tears and he wouldn't get very far in his coloring.  But it was obvious he was nearing his breaking point...

At first I couldn't understand what he saw in this little booklet.  He had way cooler coloring books with plenty of pages left to color...

That was it!  This coloring book was still virgin.  Untouched by a single stray line of color.  

That was the power it held over my son and I understood it well.  

A few years ago I was spelunking around eBay and started looking at vintage coloring books.  You realize pretty quickly that the coveted ones are those that have no pages colored in them; eventually, I scored a few for a fair price.  

I paused before I shared the Junk Drawer's stash of pristine Whitmans.  Will he appreciate this sacrifice?  I thought. 

But then I realized my son had no prior experience with Star Trek.  Curiosity got the better of me - I wanted to know how he would take to this bold new frontier.  I also wanted  a nap and I thought this might buy me some time...

The needs of the father outweigh the needs of the son. 

Here are the some of the results.   I gotta say, my son picked up on the color aesthetic from the book's cover pretty quickly.  

The story in this coloring book is actually pretty rad. 

That's right, I said story because BACK IN MY DAY KIDS, COLORING BOOKS HAD STORIES!  

How did things work out on Planet Encal?  Well, this cheery little fella is giving us the sign that a celebration was in order.