Back in the day, kids in the South, like kids everywhere else, loved to play outside. Give them a ball, they batted, kicked, threw, or ran with it from sunup to sundown. Unlike today with video games and such, the action was outside. Girls shot marbles as well as the boys. Boys played hopscotched as well as the girls.
We had a ball!
If Mom said to take the Jacks outside, that’s what we did. The player threw the ball up, gathered the jacks, and caught the ball along with the sand.
We got plenty of vitamin D and physical activity playing outside.
I had fun playing with my siblings, and I remember pouting when I didn’t win the game.
It didn’t take much money to have fun when we were children. And sometimes we made our own toys.
What do you get when you stuff two inches of a six-inch rope or corn silk in the neck of a Coke bottle?
You create a doll! And you get to name, dress, and play with her.
When I took my doll, Betsy Coke, to town, I Made sure I had enough money to pay for milk, diapers, and a bag of Sugar Babies. I had enough green leaves in my pocketbook to buyout the store.
And people say that money didn’t grow on trees. In our case, money grew on shrubberies. Ten dollars were 10 leaves. We didn’t need coins: pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters
We were some rambunctious and daring kids.
Why, an old tin drum rolling down the hill, with one of us in it, was a blast! We hand-paddled the drum up the hill and rolled down in it.
Remember when fun was simple? You just needed a playmate and an imagination. And I had plenty of both.
We made ice cream when it snowed. We scooped up some clean snow, poured a little milk, mixed in some sugar and a little vanilla flavor.
Voila! The snow cream was cold, sweet, and good!
But I wouldn’t suggest you do this now because of all of the pollutants in the air.
During this pandemic, we have an opportunity to reintroduce outside activities to our families. Imagine the possibilities in your own front or backyards.
Stay safe.