I spent them playing outside with my brother, and our friends. We would climb the tallest tree we could find and jump from the roof of the shed in our backyard.
We would take old cardboard boxes to a big grassy hill and "sled" down on them. (We even walked back UP the hill to do it all again). We would ride our bikes to the PX and buy french fries and melted cheese :)
We would save our allowance all month to buy a beanie baby and some pokemon cards. We did extra chores for extra money, and sold popsicles and lemonade.
We went rollerblading. We went bowling. We caught snakes and spiders. We had pet rocks. We drank water from a hose. We rode a wagon down the hill and hit the side of our house :) We came in when the street lights came on.
We didn't have cell phones. We checked in with Mom every now and again or had to call from the nearest friend's house. We played baseball in the yard, tried to catch turtles at the pond, and played night games. We played tag, chase, dead man walking, "town", jump rope.
We (at least Kam and I) even found a way to make yard work fun.
We didn't wear shoes if we didn't have to. We swam and played in the sprinkler. We hiked through the woods near our house, built forts, had wars with people who aligned themselves with different forts.
Even during the school year, we just wanted to be outside. We were outside when we waited for the bus. We wanted to play outside at recess. We came home and wanted to be outside until it was dark.
We even wanted to play in the rain. And sometimes...we did.
It makes me sad to watch how kids these days don't do any of that. They are inside all the time. There will be no memories of broken bones and cardboard box adventures. They won't look back and say "remember when we played freeze tag in our backyard?" There will be no taste of hose water lingering in their mouths, no memories of being muddy and dirty.
Instead, kids today live in a sterile and controlled environment. Hand sanitizer every 3 seconds. Filtered water. Cell phones and electronics that confine them in their rooms, basements, friends houses, cars.
It feels like summer has become a great and terrible stranger.
2 comments:
Love this post, Nikki! It is so true, as a little kid being outside was the best thing ever! We had so much fun outside the summer you came & stayed with us. It is SO sad that kids today don't have the same desire or opportunity to be outside. Sad.
remember making potions and riding our bikes down the hill to your house. we named them. mine was radar, yours was breezy. we played barbies and rescued birds :)
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