Ahhhh, stickball played with a Spaulding. Kids could be kids without the hovering parent wannabe coaches interfering every 45 seconds. That my friend, was an early taste of freedom.
Oh how you all taking me back.
We lived at the head of a cul-de-sac.
It seems that every single summer day, my alarm clock was the sound of a wooden bat dropping on the man hole cover that served as homeplate.
God I loved that sound.
You have no idea how right you are.
Informal, unplanned games organized and played by children teach life lessons that no teacher, administrator, social worker or bureaucrat could ever properly impart.
When I was a kid, these were almost a daily event (weather permitting). And what did we gain? Both independence and a sense of community. Organizational skills. Responsibility for obeying one's one rules and learned fairness in their administration. Everything our present leaders seek to crush, and replace with central control.