Way back in the 1950’s, when I was growing up, life was a
lot different, in fact it was so different that I cant understand today’s
parents and how they raise their kids.
When I was born my mother dumped me in a crib in her bedroom
and I either slept or played in the miniature prison, with no worry on her part
that I would climb out. There was no worry about lead paint, or my escaping. As
I grew older and was able to stand by myself, there was no worry about lead
paint.
My parents sent me off to kindergarten and 1st
grade. When school let out at 3:00 pm, I did my homework and ran down the steps
to play with my friends. It was a very liberating moment as we gathered and
planned the rest of the afternoon. No one arranged a playtime; no one met with
the parents of my friends and made the arrangements. If there was a kid that
found that necessary, no one played with him for sure.
We used to drink soda, eat cake and plenty of pasta and
potatoes, along with cold cuts and every thing that was banned for kids today.
Why didn’t we get fat, because we ran down the stairs after homework and
played, actively, running, and jumping and expending energy? We fell off our
bikes, roller skates and fences, broke an arm or a toe, but went right back out
again.
There was marathon roller-skating around the block for hours
on end. We raced up and down the block, jumped rope and went to the local parks
and used the see-saw and swings, we played stoop ball and baseball and stick
ball and punch ball, we were occupied for hours, scraping our knees and because
we got dirty and learned how to take a hit, we survived to this day.
When the day was done, Dad came home and we all went home to
eat with the family. And in the summer, we went out after dinner and tried to
squeeze even more time from our parents as they called us up for the night.
Mamma and Poppa NEVER got involved, we were on our own, we
played to win, learned that what we did or said had a consequence, whether it
was good or bad, and our parents NEVER got involved.
2 comments:
It was a different time, and I think we were lucky to spend our childhood there and then. Look how good we turned out! :)
can't argue with you Jim
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