I recently took my three year old bowling for the first time. Did you know they make little tiny bowling shoes in his size? Just the cutest darn things I ever did see, and they looked even cuter on him. Anyway, we got the obligatory bumpers and I found a nice 6 pound ball for him. He rolled the ball down the lane (sloooooowly) and got 1 pin. On his second ball (sloooooowly) he got about 7 more. Then he decided that the ball return was evil. He was very concerned that it was going to eat the balls. I tried to reassure him that it would only spit out the balls, not eat them, but I don't think he bought it. He kept telling me to take the balls off the ball return rack.

After a while he grew tired of rolling the ball down the lane (very, very sloooooowly) and decided he would rather watch me bowl. I finished his game for him, giving him a hearty score of 141. My own game clocked in at 173. Oh, and my hook was back. Sweet.

And now, may I present to you, LAURA'S NEVER-FAIL METHOD FOR PICKING UP THE TEN PIN:

Use the bumpers.

:-)