Slice of Life Story Day 23 -Childhood Should Not Be Beige!

Today I heard a group of teachers lamenting that the kids they teach have limited life experiences mainly because their lives are so controlled. They don’t connect readily with the outside world. The message that danger lurks everywhere results in their experiences being restricted, monitored, and sometimes timetabled. Helicopter parents smother a sense of independent spirit.   Many parents are time poor because they are working hard to provide necessities and sadly this diminishes the time and energy for family matters.Time for doing new and exciting things. Time for talking and discussing.  The discussion otuched on regret for opportunities lost.

Kids indulging in a variety of screen technologies gain questionable experiences with warped realities and so teachers find themselves working harder to compensate for an increasingly apparent lack of world knowledge. Kids seem to know an awful lot about trivial pop culture matters, but little about the immediate world outside their front door. Materially they possess, so much more, experientially they often appear impoverished. The difference, as I see it is that my generation grew up mainly in small houses with large backyards and many of the children of this current generation are growing up in big houses with small backyards. Backyards they rarely spend time playing in. The siren of technology constantly lures them inside. 'Try making yourself more interesting than an Ipad app today,' added one teacher.

As the discussion unfolded,  I began to reflect on my own childhood and how fortunate my generation has been, generally speaking…

I think I was a lucky kid. I grew up surrounded by so many wonderful experiences. Not much money, not many material possessions,  but a truck load of great experiences. Kids clearly had more freedom then, simply because the world was perceived as a safer place. My parents were around if I needed them -and I did.

For a start, It was okay to go to the park on your own, Apart from playing on the monkey bars or the swing, you could also play hide and seek in the park. Almost every neighbourhood had it own corner shop. Kids drew hopscotch squares on the footpath and played for hours on one leg. We frequently spent the day running until we were literally out of breath. We were never far a ball. Football, cricket ball, tennis ball. We always had a ball. We rode our bicycles everywhere, exploring new places; avoiding snarling dogs.  On other occasions we would laugh so hard that our stomachs hurt. We loved nothing better than pitching a tent in the back/front yard and imagining what it would be like to sleep overnight. We remained brave until nightfall.  Inside, we loved jumping on the bed or sharing ghosts stories with the next door neighbours, or when our cousins came to stay. Pillow fights, spinning round, getting dizzy and falling down was also cause for the giggles. Our days were filled with activity.

Decisions were made by going, ‘Tip Top Taxi, One Two Three, Tip Top Taxi, You’re Not He’ or ‘Dib, Dib, Dob.’  At other times, we used ‘Scissors, Paper, Rock.’ Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in Monopoly.

The word terrorism meant that the older kids were lurking at the end of your street waiting to ambush you.

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex were boy or girl germs, and the worst thing in your day was having to sit next to one. Asking a girl out meant, writing a 'polite' note and getting them to tick 'yes' or 'no'.  Writing 'I love....?' on your pencil case, really did mean it was true love. Games like Kiss Chasey were as  risky as things got because attempting to kiss the object of your desire could mean rejection and ultimately, depression.

One of your biggest dangers at school was accidentally walking through the middle of someone else’s game.  You could get throttled by a skipping rope, belted by a bat, or branded by a tennis ball- and if that wasn’t enough, you ran the risk of being monstered by the entire playing group.

Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better. -And at some stage we all ate dirt or made mud pies. Taking drugs meant scoffing orange-flavoured chewable vitamin C's, or swallowing a disgusting concoction called Hypol. It was meant to ward of colds and flu.

Abilities were discovered because someone would say ‘Okay, I double-dare you."  Our siblings were the worst tormentors, but also our fiercest protectors. Adults seemed to be mostly in the background.

These recollections bring forth those heady days. I remain grateful for a childhood spent mostly in a good place. There are kids out there right now who are just as fortunate to enjoy a wide range of experiences that brings with them enduring memories. However, there seems to be an increasing number of children who are growing up without opportunities to experience the wonder and joy that comes from discovery and challenge.  Childhood should not be beige! It should involve rainbows. Rainbows you can catch in a jar…