Will , Spencer & Candice The Long Way Down

1. Will, Spencer & CandiceThe Long Way Down Friday January 9, 2009 By Candice Hoyt

2. Will and his friend Spencer were in the kitchen getting ready. They said they were going to throw the deflated Spiderman punching bag out Will’s bedroom so they could go out to the back yard and get it. They carried it up the stairs together, and I followed with the video camera. Spencer said, “Okay, you throw it down, okay, Will? But make sure it doesn’t get stuck on the roof.” Will agreed to be careful. They waited for me to go to the yard to watch with the video camera.

3. They were about to drop it when Spencer said again, “it might get stuck on the roof.” When Will said, “No it wouldn’t,” Spencer agreed. “Oh it’s cause it, because it will roll down.” Will said excitedly, “Yeah! It will roll down!” Now they were sure. They put Spiderman out the window and yelled, “Watch it! Here it comes!” Then they dropped it… right on the roof!!!

4. At first, Will and Spencer were stunned silent. They dropped Spiderman, and it landed on the roof… just like it wasn’t supposed to. And even then, it didn’t roll off like they had guessed it would. They just didn’t know what to do next. Then they looked down at me and called, “Who’s gonna go get that? … Are you gonna get a ladder and climb up and get that?” I told them it’s not my job, and if they want it down, they’ll have to do it themselves… and not by climbing out the window.

5. After we all got back inside, they started looking for something to help me get it down. I said I wouldn’t do it for them, and Spencer said “that’s not nice.” I said I’d watch with the camera, and that I knew they wouldn’t need my help. Will rolled his eyes in exasperation, but then paused and scrunched up his face, thinking. Will said, “Hm…” and went off to find something. Spencer didn’t give up. “But you said we couldn’t climb down on the roof!” I said, “That’s correct. You’ll have to think of another way.”

6. Will took out the step ladder from the hall closet. He said he was going to put it on the porch and try to reach Spiderman from under the roof. Spencer suggested “you might crack your head open,” and continued, “I’m a good jumper. I can jump all the way down without cracking my head open.” Will considered this but said, “This is a more good idea.” Spencer seemed okay with that, and out we went. Right away, Spencer found a plastic snow shovel and said, “You can get it with this!” Will was excited and climbed up the ladder with the snow shovel, confessing, “I never did this before.” Spencer sounded concerned. “You think it’s going to be okay?” “Yeah,” Will said confidently. Spencer ran into the house to “do something fun.” Will asked, “Are you going to go get my rope?” Spencer considered it, then said, “Um, no.” He went upstairs to watch out the window. He yelled some silliness to us and asked if we could have popcorn when we were done. I said sure, when we’re done. He yelled down, “Did you get it yet? No, you didn’t get it yet.” Then he disappeared inside for a while.

7. Will’s next “more good idea” was to “climb over the fence.” Before I could say no, he stopped and said, “I need a bigger shovel… a taller shovel.” Spencer arrived outside again. He saw Will climbing the ladder, holding up the shovel and asked, “Are you going to break off the roof?” Will said “no” and started to lift the shovel around to the outside of the roof. Spencer kept playing around next to me while Will pushed the heavy shovel up and around the ceiling toward Spiderman. He was straining a lot and had to stop because it was too heavy. Will yelled that he almost fell, and Spencer helped Will pull the shovel down and get off the ladder safely. “I have a really good idea!” squeaked Will. He started to wrap the bungee around the shovel handle. “That’s what I was going to tell you,” said Spencer. “Hook it on there, then reel it up.” He paused and said, “That was what I was going to tell you, silly. Why—why didn’t you let me tell you that?” Will said, “Oh” and looked apologetic. They tried it again, but it didn’t work, so they went inside.

8. Inside, Will started searching for gloves in the coat closet, and Spencer pulled on the mail in the mail slot. Spencer walked off but then turned around and said, “Will—when you go out there, I’m gonna throw your rope down so you can climb up and get it.” Will said, “Oh, thanks…. Well, that’s not what I’m gonna do.” Spencer brought up another rope-climbing option. “Would that be a good idea?” Will said, “Yeah.” Spencer added, “Well, we have to be careful.” I reminded them there is no climbing allowed. Inside Will’s bedroom, Spencer showed me the rope and said, “I’m going to tie this to your leg, and we’re bad guys.” I said, “No, we’re working on a problem right now.” Will said it too.

9. I reminded Spencer that he had had another idea about the rope, not about climbing on it. At one point earlier he had said maybe they could put the rope out the window. He remembered and said to us, “Maybe we could throw it up there; then it could get behind and push it down?” • Will suggested another climbing out the window idea, but Spencer stuck with his idea. He said, “But I had a very good idea. … But it might be hard to do it.” Then he lit up, “Yeah I know! We could loop it out the window.” I told him that would be okay, but that they could figure out how to do it. • Will was still trying on different pairs of gloves. Spencer explained his idea to Will again. Will said yes but wanted to do it himself, and Spencer said, “It was my idea, so I get to do it.” Then he said, excitedly, “I know, how about we do it together!” Will said okay, but first he needed to get gloves on. Spencer waited patiently. “Okay,” he said, “but then we get to play bad guys again.”

10. Reminding them to keep their bellies and everything below them inside the window, I headed outside, and they dropped the rope out the window, both holding a piece. Will swung the end of the rope onto Spider Man and tried to swing the rope off to take Spider Man with it. But it wasn’t working, and Spencer started asking questions about the stairs down to the basement, below them. He wanted to know where the stairs went, and why there was a “dead pumpkin” down there. • They decided the rope was “not strong enough,” and Spencer said they should try putting the rope down to the ground to get the “dead pumpkin.” I couldn’t see the dead pumpkin, but I saw that the rope made it just about to the ground. “We did it!” they both said, and they pulled the rope back in. Will said, “I still can’t figure out how to get that down.” Then Spencer wanted to be “rescue heroes” with the rope. They went back in the window, but came out a few seconds later with the rope out the window. They wanted to tie a book on and throw it out, but I said a book is not for throwing out a window.

11. We agreed to go inside to the kitchen and chat about some other options. I went to the kitchen to sit down, but Will went straight to the coat closet. Then he and Spencer started tromping up the stairs, so I knew they must have found something and had a plan. I ran upstairs and saw that they had the Swiffer mop. I helped them open the sticky window again, then I ran outside to see what would happen. They both held the Swiffer handle together and in one woosh!they pushed it off the roof… and into the bush below. “We did it!” they yelled from the window. They ran inside yelling, “Come on, let’s get it from the bush!”

12. Will ran right down stairs and out the door, but it took Spencer longer to get his shoes on. Will waited patiently on the porch, within an arm’s reach of Spider Man, until Spencer came out. Spencer was calling out, “Will? Wait for me!” While he was waiting, he asked me, “Is that an awesome thing, that we got it?” I said, “It worked!” Will said, “Yeah, it was awesome!” and did an Awesome Dance. • Finally Spencer was ready, and they both grabbed Spider Man together. “We got it!” yelled Spencer. “We got it with team work!”

13. Popcorn!!! Then we all had some ...

14. What It Means: Will Your curiosity, initiative, reflection and persistence were hard at work. You were curious and took initiative to solve a new problem with many new ideas. You reflected on what happened and chose carefully what to try next. You persisted and did all this over and over until… SUCCESS! I could see it on your face, in your shining eyes and huge grin, and in your Awesome Dance. You were so proud of yourself, and proud of Spencer, too. You two have grown so much and are working so well together. You listened carefully to Spencer’s ideas, and even when you disagreed on what to do, you still tried Spencer’s ideas along with yours. At the end, you showed how much you cared for Spencer, and how it really was about team work for you. You were right next to Spiderman, but you didn’t touch it while you waited for Spencer to come out. It took him a long time, but you were patient and dancing happily waiting for your friend and teammate to come and share the victory with you.

15. Opportunities & Possibilities Will has the strengths and skills he needs to move ahead on his own initiative, with enough reflection and persistence to solve complicated problems. But the adventure in this story was only possible because solving the problem was his responsibility. It would have been very easy to tell him to get the Swiffer and knock it down, or for me to use the Swiffer myself. Standing outside in the cold for twenty minutes, it was hard to be patient, but it was fascinating to listen to their theories and watch them work. My persistence paid off; it was so rewarding for me to see what he came up with on his own and to witness his own pride at having worked through the problem, and his pride in his friend for what they did together. What Will needs most are simply the conditions for getting into situations and trying to get out of them. He needs an environment and activities that include plenty of opportunities to try something new. Introducing unfamiliar books and materials could serve as springboards for Will, his peers or adults to get inspiration for a new adventure. We need to allow a certain kind of “risk” for him, allowing for opportunities to try things that are unfamiliar and to fail at what he tries. When we say “no” to us helping him too much but also “no” to unsafe risks, we are offering him safe, secure support in finding his own challenges and solving them.