Category Archives: Special topics
Well it looks to me watching…
Well it looks to me watching both my son and my daughter do poorly in organized sports that whatever natural ability was possible to acquire from my husband rather than me in this area my kids sadly did not acquire. I was always terrible, last pick and was lucky to have an athletic friend or I would have been shunned altogether. It was not fun. It was actually more fun when I did not join and ruin the team’s possiblities. Maybe with the sports activities being more organized, rather than just whoever was there points out the inequality more. It does seem like the boys do seem to be better than the girls as a general statement, although plenty of the girls get good hits, make decent catches and fine throws, more boys do those things in a more exceptional way.
It all depends on what you…
It all depends on what you are exposed to, what is done and if you can derive satisfaction. It is very hard to be satisfied playing an outdoor game, like ball if you are not good at it. It is hard to become good at something which is difficult to practice. Unlike in the past our lives with our children are spent with many more restraints. We don’t generally let our children hang out outside on the street to play with one another. Also, in many neighborhoods there are not so many children just hanging out there to be played with. Most of our children’s activities are scheduled events. Then maybe some impromptu playing occurs on the sidelines, but most things are organized. With video games there is the safety factor which appeals to parents. Our children don’t have lots of video games, and we actually let our kids hang out on the street in front of our house, ride their bikes around the block without constant supervision, but it is unusual. If kids are outside essentially unattended, then they are usually in backyards in the neighborhoods of myself and my peers. I think fun comes in many forms and although we may feel our kids don’t have enough opportunity to just play and create their own games. I watch my own children and they make time to do all sorts of playing and creation even though they have these ridiculous schedules. The other day at baseball an eight year old said to me she wished it were Friday and that the next day would be Saturday and that she would be able to just sleep and eat breakfast lunch and dinner in bed. I felt for the kid. I often feel the same way. Although there were things I was not happy about at eight, I don’t think having to wake up early seven days a week was one of those things. She chose to be in her activities, but even so not sleeping enough is certainly a drag.
Well there were a few good…
Well there were a few good places to fool around. The favorite during school hours was in one of the back rooms behind the stage at our school. Actually below the stage at school. It is particularly funny for me, because in my children’s school they have a room just like this under the stage, and because there are bathrooms and sinks in this room some of the mothers wanted to set these rooms up for the children’s use. Then it was pointed out that it would be a fire hazzard because there are no windows and the only way out is up one narrow staircase and through the auditorium. When not on school time basements were always a handy hiding place.
Remember pez dispensers?…
Phoney phone calls, thumb…
we use to have some steel…
we use to have some steel bars on the corner of w. 174th street and nelson avenue. we use to sit on the bars at night. About 10 feet from the bars was a rather large triangle shaped intersection where during the day on weekends and in the summer we played “off the curb.” Bring back any memories for anyone? E-mail me at FOlshan [at] Tribune [dot] com
Saw the movie too. It was…
My boyfriend and I couldn’t…
My boyfriend and I couldn’t go to each other’s houses to “fool around”. We used to fool around in the stairwell of my building. It doesn’t sound very romantic….but when I was 16, it was the best place to be! There was a separate entrance from the front of my building, with it’s own tiny foyer area, and then the door to the stairwell. It seemed like our own private little getaway!
My first kiss took place…
My first kiss took place while hanging out in a parking lot with friends. We must have been in 7th grade, and I had a crush on the boy (since he had kissed me on the cheek in kindergarten). We were playing “truth or dare”…and that’s how it happened! (Nothing else ever happened between us after “the kiss”.)