I remember being a little girl and trying for what seemed like hours to catch lizards, grasshoppers, frogs, and bugs of all sorts that I'd find in our backyard in a Mason jar. We'd (me and my siblings) take them inside, pokes holes in the lid, and sometimes drop different bugs inside to see if they would eat them or not. Ty has had quite an obsession lately with bugs and anything that crawls. He could stare at and chase a lizard, a grasshopper, a bird, a cat, a bug for hours on end.
So this morning we found a big grasshopper on our front porch, caught him in a jar, and kept him as our "pet" for the morning. Ty spent most of the morning holding the jar and shaking it around to watch the grasshopper jump all around. Poor grasshopper was probably scared out of its mind of Ty. Wherever Ty went, his jar went with him too. We eventually let the grasshopper go outside where we found him. The rest of the day Ty kept looking out the window and saying "Where's my gwass?"
In my opinion, it seems like kids nowadays don't spend enough time outside exploring the world around them. My older siblings and I practically LIVED outside when I was younger. We never had cable TV (weird, huh?), my parents never bought us a video gaming system, computers weren't a common household item back then, and watching cartoons for hours on end simply wasn't allowed. It wasn't because my parents couldn't afford it, it was because my mom thought that kids belong outside, not cooped up inside the house all day. Most of my favorite childhood memories are ones of taking family vacations camping on the beach, hiking the Grand Canyon, doing yard work at 6 am
every Saturday morning, trimming those darn bogenvia plants on the side of the house, and the endless arguing and fighting that would inevitably ensue between all 4 kids working together at the same time. I remember not liking it at times and complaining that all my friends had video games and they were allowed to watch cartoons all Saturday morning. So why couldn't I? My mom would just smile and say "Well, their moms must be nicer than I am, huh?"
Now that I am grown up and have a family of my own, I too realize that the outdoors are the BEST form of entertainment for my kids (thank you mom). Let's not discount the fact that I also LOVE the outdoors too. I'm not sitting here saying TV is bad or anything like that - because let's be honest, sometimes kids just need to chill on the couch and watch some TV or a movie while giving their mommies a break. In the Arizona summer heat it's hard to spend a lot of time outside (unless it is in a pool). Let's face it though, kids really
do belong outside. There is so much exploring, observing, learning, and fun that can be had. Dirty little hands and feet can always be washed off. Laundry and cleaning the house can always wait until later. Its wonderful to be outside, breathe the fresh air, and just
get out. The possibilities of fun are endless.
I loved that I got a little flashback of
my favorite
childhood memories through Ty today. Thank you Ty. I love you.
7 comments:
o my heck celeste i can't believe how the same our growing up years were.
i didn't have cable till i moved out and was in college, then when i saw super old music videos people were like 'you've never seen that?' like i was an alien or something. we were NEVER aloud to watch tv. my mom went through a small phase one summer of getting her nails done and we would watch tv the whole time until she came home. haha.
we too lived outside. forts, bikes, bike ramps, climbing trees, running around the orchards, playing aliens in the backyard... my list could go on.
my parents also would NOT let us have video games. to this day i do not like them because i suck at them so bad. haha.
AND we also had those NASTY bougenvilla's, freaking lining our sand/playground. who DOES that... do you know how many times i stepped on one of those nasty thorns?
i loved this post... brought me back to the good old 'outside' days.
too bad it's too bloody dangerous to let the kids roam the neighborhoods anymore. emmi will have to settle with me hanging around.
ok..... later in life Celeste did have video games.... that mario nintendo... that my kids would beg to go to the bentleys to play because we were too mean to buy them a game system....
Outdoor activity at our house today... Watching a HUGE vulture destroying a pigeon in the front yard! The thing was bigger than a cat and had the head the size of two baseballs!
Oh my goodness Sarah. Quite the outdoor activity today! So sorry to have missed that :)
And yes, you are right- when I was older my Aunt bought an old school nintendo for us kids- but that was definitely put under serious time constraints by my parents of course. Haha. Now that you mention it- I totally remember Mary and Ryan coming over and wanting to play Duck Hunt. And I remember loving when you guys went out of town because I'd get to come over and watch Abby and watch some cable TV on a big screen. Too many memories...
Okay I loved your post! My family and I were just talking about the same thing on Memorial Day. We were saying how we lived in the canal and ditches behind our house. We always came home each night covered head to toe is dirt! We loved playing outside! Its amazing I didn't get some odd disease from that NASTY water!! :)
i completely agree, playing outside is so fun! we had no cable and no video games at our house too, and i loved climbing trees, riding bikes and exploring outside. ava always gets too bored and begs to go inside... *sigh* who is this girl?
AMEN! I too agree that kids spend way too much time watching t.v. and sitting around. I remember being outside all the time with my cousins riding horses and making up games. What happened to using your imagination? Now kids just complain about being bored and want you to come up with something for them to do.....drives me crazy!!! Gavin is really big into bugs too! We need to have he and Ty go on a bug hunt somewhere!
I loved playing like I was stranded on an island all day long and remember riding my bike constantly BY MYSELF all around town. Now I cannot fathom letting my little ones even be out in the front by themselves. Sadly, chores have to get done sometime...although I push them to their limits, and kiddos have to entertain themselves inside. I wish my kids could experience the "good 'ol days".
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