I was born in 42 (19) and in my house the rule was if it isn’t raining than mom said, “get out of the house, go play” and play we did. If we weren’t digging holes to cover with plywood to make a secret cave, we were digging up dirt to plant a small garden (and this was in northern NJ) or we went to the school yard depending on the season and plaid ball, either stick, base, basket or soft.
In the summer when school was done, each morning a guy from the rec dept showed up at every single public field an d school and brought bats, softballs, basketballs etc and he sat there all day while we chose up sides and played ball, or plaid that game where you whack the ball and try and wrap it around the poll while your opponent does the same but the opposite way.
Most every driveway had a hoop and we would get together sometimes and play one on one basketball, or at the school we’d play stick ball, one on one and we’d play all day with a break for lunch and dinner a nd if there was any light left we;d play after dinner. WE climbed trees and lived through it, we road bikes all over the place, nobody ever drove us, unless it was pouring rain. I had a paper route and had to turn that money over and get a small part back for myself PLUS I had work around the house I had to do.
Fat, LOL we had no time to get fat and in fact my mother used to force feed me to keep my weight up. She said she was embarrassed I was so thin and though everyone would blame her for not feeding me.
Up through the 6th grade, every morning before school started a bunch of us would show up and we’d have races over a predetermined distance, or we’d play punch ball. In short we were always moving.
Today kids go home and plant their butts in front of a computer. They can’t any longer just go outside and meet up with their friends, now you have to make a freakin’ “play date”, WTF is that all about.
Feel bad for today’s kids, they may believe they have it good and they certainly have more and fancier toys but I wouldn’t trade the way I grew up for anything.
OK, I gotta go home, the street lights just came on and thems the rules.
A do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do column about a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do First Lady.
1. They eat too much junk. The stores are full of it, and it’s darn near irresistible to the palate of young kids. But if Mom and Dad don’t buy it, they can only eat it occasionally at their friends’ houses.
2. They don’t get outside to exercise. When I was growing up we covered many miles every day because (a) my mom would have laughed at the idea that I might be driven to friends’ houses, even in the winter; (b) before suburban sprawl, friends’ homes were close enough to walk or bike to, perhaps a mile or two; (c) mom wasn’t worried about me getting raped and strangled by a psycho who had spent his day downloading kid porn. We biked to the lake and spent the day swimming unsupervised; we ran around in the woods and fields; we rode our horses and cleaned up after them. Today, young kids are kept inside due to fear.
3. The sad fact is that even when parents think they’re giving their kids good food, that food is full of chemicals and hormones. There’s a reason so many of our kids are going into puberty at 7 or 8.
4. Pursuant to #2, above, kids seldom do exhausting chores anymore. No more push mowers!
When I was a kid we lived next to a forest. We’d go running around in there during the summer, and sledding down the straighter trails in the winter. My first taste of “wild” edibles was a patch of chives I found out there (I think someone dropped their seeds, but at 8 years old that was like finding treasure).
Then the city came and cut it all down. Someone decided that there was a chance drug dealers could hide in the forest.
Now I bought my own land, and I’m planting my own forest. And stumbling across a patch of wild edibles still brings that same excitement as that little patch of chives did.
Kids aren't allowed to just have fun anymore. Left to their own devices they play and run off that energy. Moms used to watch out the window and if anyone got too rough or didn't play fair, the kids was marched home and a full report was given.
On trash day take a look at all the pizza boxes out there.
Add in the breadsticks, gooey cheese, and those icing covered thingys.
People do this on a regular basis.
If they don’t do this they are buying frozen prepared stuff and loads of bakery goods.
Things that used to be an occasional treat have become a steady diet.
Kids got fat when mom’s started working.
Kid will always sit on their fannies and eat junk if they can get away with it.
Why would they try to achieve anything...there is no such thing as first place anymore...they are all just a bunch of kids under the UN!!!
Everyone gets a trophy