Another assumption laid to rest

There's a strongly held belief among many parents that children... especially pre-teens... are incapable of planning and executing complex tasks.

We tell each other over coffee that the personal tools required to sustain endeavors involving multiple participants, external supply lines, logistical support, warehousing capabilities and a host of other long-range multi-tasking skills, are simply beyond the scope of the average pre-teen.

This isn't some unfair assumption... we have empirical data to support our claims. 

Earnest promises to clean rooms and pick up dirty laundry made just before dinner are long forgotten by the end of the meal.  Expeditions to procure staples such as milk and butter from the corner store are inexplicably diverted to friend's houses and basketball courts.

In short, we understand the demographic of which we speak.

However, in light of recent events, I feel that perhaps this hypothesis of pre-teen ineptitude and goldfish-like recall may have to be reconsidered.

All over Israel, for the past few weeks, well-organized groups of pre-teens have been planning and executing the local equivalent of the Manhattan Project... gathering (and in some cases stealing) and aggregating any combustible material within a 5 kilometer radius of their homes in preparation for the traditional L'ag B'Omer bonfires.

The advanced planning, organizational skills and long-range logistical coordination required to select a suitable site, organize and dispatch workers on daily foraging missions, assign a schedule of guards to safeguard the growing stockpile of wood, purchase foodstuffs and other consumables, and actually bring it all together weeks in the future, is simply a staggering accomplishment for a demographic that has consistently failed to put away clean folded clothes stacked inches from where they sleep!

Yet every day for the past two weeks as I leave Efrat in the morning... and when I return in the evening... everywhere I look I see evidence of these complex projects under way and approaching fruition.

Every empty lot has a growing pile of wood under careful guard.  Every street has dozens of youthful workers dragging and carrying fuel towards designated gathering points... and construction sites around town have been picked clean (translation: robbed) of any unsecured lumber and signage.

In the face of such overwhelming evidence I suppose we grown-ups may have to rethink our assumptions about our children's actual ability to multi-task and maintain focus. 

Or perhaps - as a friend suggests - it is simply the primal allure of standing around in tribal groups and burning stuff that has kept these easily distracted youngsters focused.

Hmmmm. We may be onto something here.  Maybe if I threaten to set fire to their rooms...