$tudie,
Yes, I remember well the old clothes pin and playiing card trick back when clothes pins could be found in most back yards and all laundry rooms :-)
The one bright side that may come out of this recession is that families may not be able to afford so many extra curricular activities and may eat dinner together a few nights a week – cheaper and healthier than fast food. Also the reappearance of “Family Game Night” hopefully without electronic games. My sister tried to do that at least one night a week with her son. He loved the Game of Life, and Monotony.
Oprah once did a show where she took all TVs, Video games, computers etc away from about 3 or 4 volunteer families for a month (i think) The first week the kids didn’t know what to do with themselves, By the second week the families were eating all meals together and having family game night, Then the kids started getting interested in reading. They would go on long walks together and just talk. The kids panicked at first but by the end of the month a couple of families said they would do it all over again. They rediscovered each other, started doing things together and slept better. The kids grades went up as there were no distractions.
Did you ever play conkers with Horsechestnuts in the fall?
Ever Build a tree fort?
Was there a vacant lot in the neighborhood where all the kids used to gather?
Remember Penny candy?
Remember when you could make yourself sick on 25 cents worth of candy, soda and ice-cream
Did you catch fireflies in the summer or grasshoppers in the fall?
Maple tree helecopters?
Willow whistles?
When I was maybe 6, I used to love getting up on a freezing saturday morning and going out at 7am, walking around the block and being the first to break the ice on all the mud puddles. I remember how silent and calm everything was at that hour, then coming in for hot chocolate.
My niece and nephews get up and go to McDonalds on Saturday morning – even though there is plenty of food in the house.
Of course Saturday morning TV back then was good too. First there were cartoons, then the cowboy shows, Roy Rogers, Sky King etc, Then Soupy Sales. Once Soupy Sales came on you’d better be getting a move on. After that was usually sports shows, but the grown ups were too busy to watch most of the time.
