Geodes shadowbox frame

I thought he'd have the boy do something artistic. What thought went into this arrangement of stones?

They spaced out opening the package of stones over several days. I thought they'd spend ten minutes bashing open geodes, done, then that's it for the next thing, but no, they paced themselves like stoics.

Two boys with a large heavy mallet that could smash each geode to bits if the boys didn't control it and both with attitudes that they had been opening geodes all their lives.  

On one of the days, the older boy lined up the opened geodes in a splendidly interesting way. I wanted him to do something similar for the shadow box frame. Apparently it became more important to show all the stones. 

I sent them the stones. Seeing the box of geodes is more than box of stones, later I sent them the shadow box frame. I figured they could save the best. Apparently they're saving everything. 

I searched Amazon, found them, ordered them, that was it. 

Later I went back to read reviews. 

Always read worst first. They say some are duds. One says all of them were duds. Some say they are all blue. Some say all are the same uninteresting thing. 

Then the 5-star ratings. 

They love absolutely everything about them; booklet, little display stands, great variation in colors, white, red, blue, clear, green. Great fun. Girls love it. 

I researched a lot.

A video of a young woman shows her attempting to open a geode with a hammer at her dining room table. Her nails are painted bright red. You sort of see the geode behind two hands with fingers tipped in bright red. Then you see only red. The mesmerizing movement of ten red dots massaging a rock unnecessarily is calculated to draw your attention off the rock and onto her sensual hands. Her hands pause and pose with the rock repeatedly such to maximize red fingertip exposure and not to show the rock. It's boring. 

And you're sitting at home watching and thinking, "Goddamnit woman, smack the thing with the hammer already." And the whole time the constantly moving red dots get nowhere with the geode. I turned it off. I have no idea if she gets it opened or not. 

See what I mean? 

I couldn't watch it.

I don't know how it ends.

Then I saw another video of a boy with his father. Dad was watching without interfering. The boy had a better hammer than the girl but he was hopeless. He had no frame of reference, no way of knowing how hard to hit the hammer. He did okay but it took a very long while. 

The boys did much better than any of the other videos. With their daddy's guidance (my brother), they got such aplomb. 

They both know the mallet can smash the rocks to bits so the trick is controlling the impact. It's the opposite problem that the girl has. It's a series of decreasing control. My brother picked the right tool.

He is extremely involved with the boys. He watches them and he gives them a few directions. The boys treat him as another of the boys, the best one, the one that guides them and provides them. It's very Lord of the Flies. They both want his attention so badly. They both want his respect. 

I saw these, went to Amazon, bought them.

After that I realized there are a lot of other sources right there on Amazon. They don't have to be from National Geographic. Actually, there are tons of these geodes. I read the reviews for all of them. I enjoyed reading about their experiences. I learned that very many are duds. To expect that. I learned that sometimes people are not happy. I worried about the boys being disappointed. I tried to prepare them. Turns out National Geographic is a fine kit, a very good choice. The whole family loved it. As we see you get a lot of crystals. The Ukrainian wife liked reading the book and identifying the stones. She liked having the vocabulary for the rocks. Even the dog! They crack open a geode and the dog rushes in and grabs a geode and runs off with it. He doesn't know why the rock is interesting he just knows the humans think it's spectacular so he took the center of attention.