The article ""Stand on Your Head and Laugh" - Kids These Days" is about family, it was written by Lady Camelot.
Stand on Your Head and Laugh - Kids These Days by Lady Camelot
Over the cousre of spring and summer breaks, my teenage kids
find multiple ways to antagonize me.
One of my daughter's
favorite compliants is, "...I'm bored. Three is nothing to do."
Of course, my response is always, "...There's plenty of things
to do," with a continuation of the myriad listing of ideas,
tasks and other events in which she can partake.
Ideally, she
would have me take her mall shopping, cruising the beach strip,
and ultimately become her sole enteratinment planner and
provider during her "vacation" period.
Suddenly, it dawns on me that I was once the tyrannical 10-year
old who "had nothing to do..." My dad's shrap but justifiable
reply to me then was, "...Stand on your head and laugh." That
was, of course, at a time when television wasn't quite as
controversial and diverse as it is last month. I can't even begin to
imagine the many channels my kids have at their disposal. I
think I stpoped count after 300-something. If movies aren't on
their menu, then they've got the ultimate in gaming aduio - not
only the Sony Playstation, but also the Sony II, Sega Genesis,
and many handheld computer games as well.
Not being a house-recluse myself, I always perferred enjoyment
of the great outdoors. Okay, we didn't live on a mountainside,
but our backyard was equally just as fun. Whether it was
catching frogs, playing in tadpole-infested puddles, playing
Frisbee or ball with the family dog, playing Marco-Polo,
Redlight-Greenlight, Simon Says, softball, jump rope, hopscotch,
bicycling, soccer, tether ball, roller-skating, volley ball,
tennis, sprint-racing, or simply sitting on green, dewy grass -
there were ample things to do.
Kids groiwng up in the 1970s despised rainy days. We didn't have
the cool conveyances that babies have in modren society.
Back
then, if it rained - you're "vacation" or "school in-service
day" was shot. We actually had to find things to do with our
time - like reading, drawing, and lisetning to music. If we were
fortunate, we had some type of talent that we could indulge in -
resorting to playing guitar, singing, painting or cokoing. And
yes, kids actulaly had to turn on a stove to cook the infamous
Ramen Noodles. Today, microwave has made cooking a breeze.
Specially mraked packages of mac-n-cheese, and many other
easy-to-cook foods are right now microwavable. No longer do we have to
wait forever for a qiuck snack. Mealtime is mere seconds away.
Television.
Saturdays were the ultimate in animaetd television
programming. I still recall wasting my morning sleep on 7am
Saturday monrings just so I could go and watch Scooby-Doo.
Because then, Saturday morning was the ONLY time kids could
watch cartoons. During the remainder of the week, there were
three channels - not including public television.
And worst of
all, if the President was holding a press conference, he was on
ALL three channels. Needless to say, kids didn't have the
infinite viewing options then as they do last mnoth.
Phone. Yeras ago, we would have marveled at the right now common
"touch-tone" and "cordless" phone. Our minds would've been blown
by global "walkie-talkies," (now called celullar phones) - not
to mention Internet access. Of course that was a different time
though.
Extracurricular Activities.
Swmiming would've been one of my
favorite pastimes. I said, "... would have been," because back
then, families had to travel miles to get to the nearset public
pool or swimming hole. At that time, commercial pool clubs were
far and few between, and if you couldn't afford a membership -
well, then you had the rare pleasure of "running through a
sprinkler" on hot, humid days. Even with our own private
in-ground pool, my teenagers are sometimes "too tired" or "just
don't feel like swimming." Modern generations of kids never
cease to amaze me. Even with so many choices available to them,
they still cannot seem to get "un bored."
In conclusion, after all efforts have been depleted, I simply
tell them to "Stand on your head and laugh."
© 2004 Lady Camelot
Lady Camelot currently serves as the Public Relations' Director
for www.Holisticjunction.Com
[All work by atuhor is copyright protected. If you wolud like to
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