I do believe I was born in the best generation era to have the best sort of childhood. This has nothing to do with Luana's idea for Monday Memories I have of my kids and/or grandkids. My kids could play outside within reasonable limits but were hooked on television programs to fill many hours. My grandkids can't play outdoors except under close supervision all because of the pervs and gangs and all the evil thereof. They just about have to have video games and television to occupy their free time. So imagination has pretty much gone down the drain. How many kids today can tip a coaster wagon upside down and turn it into a streetcar to take imaginary passengers to the shopping areas? And can any kid sit in a box in one spot but still be flying through space or from big city to big city? A writer whose name I've forgotten said that the only rule kids in my day and age had to abide by was to get home by suppertime. They didn't have to tell a parent where they were heading off to play or who they planned to play with. I didn't have quite that much freedom, and neither did my "gang." The folks had to know where we were and who we were with. We roamed several blocks of the neighborhood on our roller skates and scooters. We had a square block area for our evening hide 'n seek and Mother May I and run sheep run and sardine games. And at the ghostly twilight hour we played the game I made up--haunted house--that paved the way for the scary bumps in the night.
All of us many times walked home from each other's houses during the bedtime-get-home-now darkness, and made the trip alone. I have really great memories of after dark snowball fights
and of sitting in the summer darkness of a yard and telling ghost stories that made our blood run cold. And now I've come to a "memory." The first year I worked for Mary Kasai Grandma Read was the baby sitter here, and Sue drove her wild sometimes. Sue and Kris shared a room--Sue would call Kris to the doorway of their dark bedroom and tell her to "look in the corner over there and see that hand moving up and down--"all told in a spooky whisper. Sue would then cheerfully go to bed in that dark bedroom and Kris would cry because she was scared to go in there where hands could get her. Or other monsters Sue would tell her about. There's one other memory I'm thinking about, but it's one that Grandma Read told me about your dad/grandpa and his brother Bud. The two of them were about 4 and 3 years old when a friend of their mom came to visit for a short time and brought her very young baby girl. During the gab session it became necessary to change the baby's diaper and as the mama started the job, Grandma Read told her boys to go play in the other room. They had never been around a girl.Harold started to leave, but Bud planted himself firmly by the action going on. So Harold told him, "You better come with me, Buddy, or you see something make you eyes twinkle!" Grandma had no idea where his "knowledge" came from about little girls.
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Oh that Susie, she was a devil. Kris is a big cry baby to let a younger sister scare her like that. I remember playing outside quite a bit, walking home alone at night from friend's houses, and using alot of creativity in my play. I don't think your childhood was so much different than mine, other than having a tv. But you listened to radio programs so it is somewhat the same. I really don't think make believe is as long gone as you think. I play lots of make believe games with my granddaughters. It is true they have tv and now computer games. And it is true this is a different generation in that regard. But they really need the technical skills because they, unlike you are living in a completely technological society. Times change. That's the way of the world. I believe they are as happy in their world as you were in yours. Everything is relative, don't ya know.
Say what you will, Weiner. I had it best! It was stories my folks read to me that stimulated my imagination, not the radio. I was probably about 7 or 8 before we got a radio. It was a novelty for me for about two or three hours, and then I was back outside to play. And I was as content to play by myself as I was to play with a friend or a group. Only at Christmas did I need playmates more often. Had to share each other's new toys.
Grandma, I have to agree with you. I loved playing outside with friends and creating so many different worlds for us. My only child with that big immagingation is Nick and I love it. It excites me to the max. His love for history and the way he plays in his wheelchair or the cowboys and indians, I just love it and wish that he could roam more to make life more enjoyable and cheaper for me.
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