Build it and they will come.

We have been in a dilemma, H and I, since we moved here, the local kids run wild, out and about until after dark, nobody checking on them and they are doing what unsupervised kids will do. We don't want our boys to do that, we think that boys, (the older they get the more they need it) need supervision, direction, to be kept busy and their attention held. They need to be occupied and feel as if they are doing something worthwhile and fun, get tired and hungry and their parents should be able to feel sure they aren't going to get a visit from the police any time soon!
The dilemma is this, if we keep the boys here then they will be known as the snobs, outcasts and there will be trouble for them in no time at all. If we let them be out and about the way other kids are then they will behave the way other kids behave. We live here, we have to belong and we need to be known and accepted. So we decided, my H and I that the way to go will be to make this a place the other kids want to be, make it so that they can look over the gate and really wish they were a part of it and then, well then we are in charge. We get to choose and say that good kids can come in whenever they like, they can have fun and snacks, they can laugh and be boys and they will be welcome but if they aren't nice, if they bully or swear, if they fight mean they leave and they can't come back until they know how to behave.
We knew that was a great plan but we weren't sure how to do it, or I wasn't, H knew of course.
H has been pruning and cutting back all the trees and bushses, I am watching from afar and so far it looks impressive and the hedges and trees look very bare and short and more than a little pathetic. What isn't pathetic however, is the growing mountain of sticks, twigs, branches, old rubbish, broken fencing, lattice, planks of wood. We have found an enormous iron garden roller ( he, listen to me saying "we", I am almost the queen) a trade sized tea urn and such treasure as you would never suspect could be hidden in an English country garden.
As well as the growing bonfire fodder there became the most fabulous little hidden space between some hedges and trees, a space that was screaming "DEN" at us, yesterday we bought some play bark and let the boys line the floor of the den and then we let them at it.
The plan is taking hold so beautifully we couldn't have dreamed of such success.
This morning, while I was having a lie in ( which seemed such a great idea at the time) the neighbourhood took over, when I got up I beheld a sight for scared eyes.
We have a bonfire pile ( or 3 ) that makes me shudder because it is going to take 3 weeks to burn this stuff, we have tables and chairs added to the pile, our neighbours must think the tip has come to our street because truly, I kid you not.
I looked out 30 minutes after I declared this bonfire was not my business and I was pretending I knew nought of it, to see the table and chairs ( all but 2) had disappeared and much excitement was coming from the Den.
Isaac had put the table back together again and put it in the Den.
 I had to take pictures because this was 'the plan' Oh it is such a marvellous thing to see, little boys all safe and happy, occupied in good activities and all feeling quite as though they have the world at their fingertips. I am sure that the novelty will wear off and then we may have to build on it somehow, come up with new ideas.
This afternoon we will have a bonfire and hot dogs, marshmallows and fizzy pop and the good kids will be here too, then they can run the streets tomorrow and tell their other friends what goes on in this house on the corner, where the new people live, the mum is a bit mean and she tells you off if you are rude, she makes you go home and tidy your bedroom before she lets you come back for the bonfire and hotdogs, the dad is quiet and lets you do stuff with hammers and drills and you don't get yelled at for smashing old furniture to bits with a hammer and put stuff on the pile for a bonfire. You can make stuff and break stuff, you get to climb the trees and kick stuff but you can't be mean, you can't swear and you can't fight else you have to go home and you can't come back til the next day or even the day after that.
I love it when a plan comes together.

This is the back door.

And the front door..

This is a mammoth task, is it not?

Grand Den.

And I am naively telling myself that this will all result in a beautiful garden, it is almost impossible to picture right now because oh my good grief this is an enormous pile of what the hell.