One day last week my fourteen-year-old TV-loving grandson asked me what my favorite TV show was when I was a kid. His jaw dropped open and he was stunned into silence when I told him that I didn’t have a TV when I was a kid. He finally asked, ”Then, what did you do?”
So I thought about it. What did I do for fun when I was a kid? I remember playing in the big field behind our house. It was covered in long grasses that were waist high on me. It was a great place to let my imagination lead me into far away worlds. I crawled through the tall grasses stalking lions or cowboys or hiding from desperate characters. Sometimes I just lay on my back and watched the clouds change shapes.
I loved to ride my bike. There was a long gentle slope on a street near us. I was able to go down that street standing on the seat on my bike. I felt like I was flying. It was wonderful until my mom saw me and made me quit. She said I might kill myself and if I ever did it again she would kill me. So I promised to ride my bike only in a seated position.
We had a dog named Bootsie. She was part Pekinese, part terrier. Bootsie and I were best friends. That dog knew all of my secrets. She never judged me, and she never told my secrets. We went for lots of long walk together.
I loved to read. I can remember reading all day until my eyes hurt from the reading. I would go to the library every week and get a new stack of books. I read all of the Oz books, all of the Nancy Drew books, and biographies of everybody. I loved to learn people’s stories. I think my favorite story was,”The Secret Garden.” I felt like was in that garden with Mary.
It was a great childhood full of wonderful memories. I was too busy playing to feel deprived, but I was thrilled when our family finally did buy a TV. I loved watching Hopalong Cassidy, The Lone Ranger, and Beanie &Cecil the seasick seaserpant.
What did you do for fun when you were a kid?
2 comments:
Those are perfect memories. A gentle childhood but full to the brim. Mine is similar.
I was so much younger than my sis and brother I ended up playing by myself much of the time. I developed an imagination because of it. I played with my dolls, Barbies, worked on art projects and drawings, climbed a special tree, and explored outside every little nook and cranny in the yard. We had a TV and some of my favorites were Giiligan's Island, HeeHaw(no kidding), The Wonderful World of Disney, and The Muppets. we were only allowed an hour of tv after school and then a couple in the eveing9 whatever my mom and dad were watching).
I had a nice childhood.
I certainly didn't stand on my bike going down a hill. My mother would have killed me!
We played runaways and war all up & down the neighborhood. We made Barbie cities with record covers. We snuck into my neighbors teenage sister's room and listened to her Beatles and Pink Floyd records and admired her photo of a POW. We played college and smoked crayons. We sang the entire soundtrack to Jesus Christ Superstar on a double album. We made up elaborate group dances to the soundtrack of Grease and Saturday Night Fever.
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