Riding in on the coattails of friendship bracelets were slap-bracelets, rope bracelets, some I’m sure I am forgetting, then rubber silly bands and now rubber loom bracelets.
Who knew you could have so much fun with strings and rubber bands?
Our Godson was sporting one of these “loom bracelets” a few weeks ago. It was the first I had seen of this latest fad.
Then our older son came home from school wearing one a friend had given him. I’m not even sure if “loom bracelet” is the correct term, but apparently, you are the cat’s meow if someone shares one with you.
I am calling them loom bracelets because the kids weave them together on a plastic loom that comes with hundreds of tiny rubber bands the orthodontist charges $10 a piece for.
As soon as our younger son saw his big brother sporting a colorful loom bracelet, he had to have one, too. And within the same week, he did.
The boys were trading them with friends at school and requesting special ones from friends who can weave the little bands together.
But, that wasn’t enough. They wanted to make their own loom bracelets, too.
So, with their own money — because I’m saving our money for the orthodontic rubber bands — the boys bought a loom.
Immediately they started sorting the colorful little bands and trying to follow the vague directions for weaving them together.
I could hear the frustration mounting as the bracelets kept falling apart.
I went into the room where the boys were surrounded by piles of rubber bands: our younger son guarding a pile of pink-and-purple bands.
“Mom, we can’t figure this out,” he said. “And I really want to make one for Abigail. She’s in my class. She doesn’t have a bracelet. I want to give her the first one.”
My heart swelled and melted at the same time. This child, who has acute me!-me!-itis has latched onto the true “meaning” of rubber loom bracelets: sharing.
This boy was going to have a bracelet to share with his classmate if it took us (me, because it was a school night) all night to figure it out.
We never actually figured out the loom (a neighboring third-grader showed us the next day), but I did manage to sort-of weave the pink and purple rubber bands together so our son would have one to share with his classmate.
It wasn’t perfect, but my son was happy and more importantly, so was Abigail.
New friendships weaved together with little rubber bands; what else looms ahead?
About the Author