It's not clear to me why, but bits of yesterday season my days with wonderful remembrance. Perhaps it's because I'm watching my grandchildren being raised with such different experiences than those with which I was raised. I'm not proclaiming that their ways are 'wrong'....not at all, but they are very different.
I watch them pleading to watch tv or dvd's, or to play computer games while the summer sun invites us outdoors. My mind flashes back to the days of my childhood, when those last weeks of school tortured us. The days were warm and there was nothing I wanted more than to be outside in it, spending every waking hour except mealtimes, playing with my friends. The moment school was out for the summer, we would spend hours outside on blankets, living our lives through Barbie dolls or paper dolls. As soon as there were three of us girls available to gather, we'd jump rope, learning all the newest rope-skipping rhymes. Games like Red Rover and Red Light,Green Light sounded through the neighborhood. At times it was Hopscotch, the rectangular type or the circular one. When there was a larger group, we played kick ball, baseball, touch football, dodge ball.
I don't remember growling that there was nothing to do. There were always trees to climb, forts to build, mud to play in. There were always a million ideas swirling through our minds, and a thousand lives to live in our imaginations. Grandma's front porch became a cruise ship, or a house boat, or a stage for our own productions. Appliance boxes were tiny cottages or served as wonderful items to roll inside of around the grass . When they flattened, they made fantastic magic carpets upon which to travel through the air to unknown countries. An old curtain became a bridal veil, or when wrapped around body, a movie star's gown. A simple blanket or sheet could easily become a tent.
It saddens this Grandma to see the lack of imagination being used by children today. They seem to feel that they must be entertained by screens or to be taken hither and yon. They seem not to know how to enjoy just being children at home. I loved my childhood days. Creative minds were at work back then, and parents had far more peace. Technology is fine, but for little people, it seems to me that fresh air and imagination is far more important.
