MaggieD
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2010
- Messages
- 43,244
- Reaction score
- 44,664
- Location
- Chicago Area
- Gender
- Female
- Political Leaning
- Moderate
At 4 we moved to Arcola Virginia. Nothing but a wide spot in the road 30 miles or so from Fairfax.My mom worked, so every summer, my dad would drop me off early in the morning at my mom's friend's house where I'd spend the day -- probably up until I was 11 years old.
I'd go back to sleep when he dropped me off . . . and when I woke up, I'd have Cheerios for breakfast, and then "Aunt Winnie" would make me a thermos of Kool-Aid, a PB&J sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie and off to the park I'd go for the day.
The park was a block from the house. It had a kiddie pool, a huge sandbox, swings, teeter-totters, jungle gyms a pushy-thingie we called a merry-go-round . . .
And no perverts.
Clusters of untrimmed bushes became secret forts, jungle gyms became war zones, the merry-go-round took us to far-away places, kids made new friends every day, learned to get along, had active imaginations. I think times were better then.
Today, if moms have the time, their kids are organized into everything. Soccer, baseball, football, peewee ****. Where's playtime today? Where does a kid learn to use his imagination and entertain himself?
I think times were better then. What do you think?
I think you are right.I think times were better then. What do you think?
Once they were gone, I liked to explore the cave searching for bits of broken flint or discarded bits of hematite, ochre and charcoal.
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My mom worked, so every summer, my dad would drop me off early in the morning at my mom's friend's house where I'd spend the day -- probably up until I was 11 years old.
I'd go back to sleep when he dropped me off . . . and when I woke up, I'd have Cheerios for breakfast, and then "Aunt Winnie" would make me a thermos of Kool-Aid, a PB&J sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie and off to the park I'd go for the day.
The park was a block from the house. It had a kiddie pool, a huge sandbox, swings, teeter-totters, jungle gyms a pushy-thingie we called a merry-go-round . . .
And no perverts.
Clusters of untrimmed bushes became secret forts, jungle gyms became war zones, the merry-go-round took us to far-away places, kids made new friends every day, learned to get along, had active imaginations. I think times were better then.
Today, if moms have the time, their kids are organized into everything. Soccer, baseball, football, peewee ****. Where's playtime today? Where does a kid learn to use his imagination and entertain himself?
I think times were better then. What do you think?
My mom worked, so every summer, my dad would drop me off early in the morning at my mom's friend's house where I'd spend the day -- probably up until I was 11 years old.
I'd go back to sleep when he dropped me off . . . and when I woke up, I'd have Cheerios for breakfast, and then "Aunt Winnie" would make me a thermos of Kool-Aid, a PB&J sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie and off to the park I'd go for the day.
The park was a block from the house. It had a kiddie pool, a huge sandbox, swings, teeter-totters, jungle gyms a pushy-thingie we called a merry-go-round . . .
And no perverts.
Clusters of untrimmed bushes became secret forts, jungle gyms became war zones, the merry-go-round took us to far-away places, kids made new friends every day, learned to get along, had active imaginations. I think times were better then.
Today, if moms have the time, their kids are organized into everything. Soccer, baseball, football, peewee ****. Where's playtime today? Where does a kid learn to use his imagination and entertain himself?
I think times were better then. What do you think?
That sure takes me back.
I can still remember being a kid huddled around the fire as the men headed out for the hunt. Once they were gone, I liked to explore the cave searching for bits of broken flint or discarded bits of hematite, ochre and charcoal. I always knew when I was getting close to the magic places, then. I always felt safe, and nobody cared where I wandered unless I got too close to the places I shouldn't go -- not until I was of proper age and having apprenticed for it.
What seems most vivid to me are the smells. Maybe my senses were just greater, then, but the sour musk of the freshly skinned mammoth hide takes me back like no other........
I remember as a kid looking at skinned racoons, smelling them, asking my dad why he was taking their clothes off. That's not a joke.
My mom worked, so every summer, my dad would drop me off early in the morning at my mom's friend's house where I'd spend the day -- probably up until I was 11 years old.
I'd go back to sleep when he dropped me off . . . and when I woke up, I'd have Cheerios for breakfast, and then "Aunt Winnie" would make me a thermos of Kool-Aid, a PB&J sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie and off to the park I'd go for the day.
The park was a block from the house. It had a kiddie pool, a huge sandbox, swings, teeter-totters, jungle gyms a pushy-thingie we called a merry-go-round . . .
And no perverts.
Clusters of untrimmed bushes became secret forts, jungle gyms became war zones, the merry-go-round took us to far-away places, kids made new friends every day, learned to get along, had active imaginations. I think times were better then.
Today, if moms have the time, their kids are organized into everything. Soccer, baseball, football, peewee ****. Where's playtime today? Where does a kid learn to use his imagination and entertain himself?
I think times were better then. What do you think?
Lol!!
I remember my dad taking the back off of the radio to explain to me how the voices got in there without people.
I have many good memories of my childhood. My favorites are probably from when I was age 6-13. We lived in this old rental house in a rural area, with gravel roads and only one other house that we could see from ours. My sisters and I used to have great fun riding our bicycles, looking for discarded soda bottles, and we could take them up to the corner gas station and trade them in for a nickel. We also lived in a low-lying area, and when the spring rains would come, part of the road would flood over, and we would take strings with little bits of bacon tied to them, and drop them down into the mud to catch crawdads. Oh, for the simple life with its simple pleasures. I miss it.
I used to think there were little people in the toll booth change things.Haha- that just sparked a great old memory of mine. I used to think the the TV had little people inside it. :lol:
That sure takes me back.
I can still remember being a kid huddled around the fire as the men headed out for the hunt. Once they were gone, I liked to explore the cave searching for bits of broken flint or discarded bits of hematite, ochre and charcoal. I always knew when I was getting close to the magic places, then. I always felt safe, and nobody cared where I wandered unless I got too close to the places I shouldn't go -- not until I was of proper age and having apprenticed for it.
What seems most vivid to me are the smells. Maybe my senses were just greater, then, but the sour musk of the freshly skinned mammoth hide takes me back like no other........
My mom worked, so every summer, my dad would drop me off early in the morning at my mom's friend's house where I'd spend the day -- probably up until I was 11 years old.
I'd go back to sleep when he dropped me off . . . and when I woke up, I'd have Cheerios for breakfast, and then "Aunt Winnie" would make me a thermos of Kool-Aid, a PB&J sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie and off to the park I'd go for the day.
The park was a block from the house. It had a kiddie pool, a huge sandbox, swings, teeter-totters, jungle gyms a pushy-thingie we called a merry-go-round . . .
And no perverts.
Clusters of untrimmed bushes became secret forts, jungle gyms became war zones, the merry-go-round took us to far-away places, kids made new friends every day, learned to get along, had active imaginations. I think times were better then.
Today, if moms have the time, their kids are organized into everything. Soccer, baseball, football, peewee ****. Where's playtime today? Where does a kid learn to use his imagination and entertain himself?
I think times were better then. What do you think?
My mom worked, so every summer, my dad would drop me off early in the morning at my mom's friend's house where I'd spend the day -- probably up until I was 11 years old.
I'd go back to sleep when he dropped me off . . . and when I woke up, I'd have Cheerios for breakfast, and then "Aunt Winnie" would make me a thermos of Kool-Aid, a PB&J sandwich and a chocolate chip cookie and off to the park I'd go for the day.
The park was a block from the house. It had a kiddie pool, a huge sandbox, swings, teeter-totters, jungle gyms a pushy-thingie we called a merry-go-round . . .
And no perverts.
Clusters of untrimmed bushes became secret forts, jungle gyms became war zones, the merry-go-round took us to far-away places, kids made new friends every day, learned to get along, had active imaginations. I think times were better then.
Today, if moms have the time, their kids are organized into everything. Soccer, baseball, football, peewee ****. Where's playtime today? Where does a kid learn to use his imagination and entertain himself?
I think times were better then. What do you think?
I remember spending all day in the foothills with my brother, climbing rocks without ropes, a "cave" high up on one we called our own fortress.
I remember spending days at the creek near our house, building dams, hunting crawfish, chasing snakes
I remember playing at night with all the neighborhood kids, hide-and-seek, "burp the baby" (mischievous game of knock on the door and run & hide)
I remember riding my bicycle to school alone, leaving it unlocked and never once stolen
I remember walking to grade school with my younger brother and sister, unescorted, unafraid
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