Amusing-musings.blog

When you were growing up, did you play any backyard games? I remember playing some which stick in my mind. There was red light green light. Then there was hide and seek as well as jail break. We played jump rope and hopscotch with the other children in the neighborhood. There was also tag and some sort of bike chase game which for the life of me I can’t remember the name of.

There was spin the bottle and the I’m thinking of game. Children learned how to play together back when I was growing up. Children learned to take turns and how to include others, so they felt welcomed. Children would take turns pushing each other on backyard swings.

There was also the ever so popular game of Frisbee, or the boys would play touch football. We would cut holes in someone’s refrigerator box when they received a new refrigerator. That cardboard box would become our playhouse with windows and a door. We would make forts out sticks found in our backyard and freeze tag was a real game back then.

If only children knew how to play these games today. Neighborhood moms who stayed at home would also look after the children whose mothers were not at home. Children were allowed to play horseshoe and touch football. Those were the days when others looked out for each other and children had a sense of community. Violence in schools was nonexistent, and children felt included with other children. It definitely seemed like we had fewer social problems back then and more people knew how to be nice to each other. Maybe it still occurs I don’t know. When my children were growing up I tried to be that kind of mom and had other kids from the neighborhood come over.

I think if we all took our part in helping to raise children as a community instead of saying that’s not my kid, so it is not my problem. Some children come from broken families and don’t have too many adults around. It takes a village to raise a child why not pitch in and help. Maybe we would have a better world or at least community.