Other families don’t seem to have this problem, but my household is hard on screen windows. About half of ours are missing. Some were damaged in the early days when I practiced fire drills with my kids, which meant everyone hurriedly pushing out screens to jump out windows. Screens have taken hard use in the name of science as well: I think every one of my kids has done the seventh grade project in which you need to design a parachute that will safely land an egg on the ground.
Part of the problem is that I’m careless with the screen windows. I’m always taking them out to take a photo or throw something out the window, and I end up dropping them. Mostly, though, the fault lies with the screen windows for being poorly made. If seventh graders can design a parachute that will land an egg safely, surely someone could design a screen window that would survive an occasional drop from a second-floor window.
I never think about the missing screen windows until our first heat wave, when the air inside the house resembles a sauna, but only half our windows can be opened to let in the cool night air. Well, we could just open the windows regardless if we wanted to be mauled by swarms of mosquitoes. The good part about all those missing screen windows is that it’s easy to climb in and out of the house.
That’s Shaggy Hair Boy in the photo.
