The toys that I grew up with?

I can remember distinctly, being a little girl and playing out side. Oh the humanity! Now a days, kids just don't play outside anymore. They are stuck in front of the computer or the tv, playing video games. When I was growing up, although not really all that long ago, the Atari and Nintendo were very popular, and even though we had both in our house, we were restricted to play these games, and could only play for an hour a day, in total. We didn't mind though, because we knew how to entertain ourselves.

My favorite toy was my bicycle. The hours of riding my bike with the bigger kids, through the trails we created, up and down the street, racing and building high jumps. Yes, we got hurt, but who didn't. Nothing made you sleep better than coming home from an evening of bike riding, taking a bath, and going to bed, with thoughts of doing it all over again the next day.

As a girl, you probably expect me to say that I loved playing with my Barbie doll, or any other doll you can think of. Oh, how wrong you are. Dolls were not my thing, mostly because my brother and I played together very often, and his friends enjoyed my company as well. We would spend hours in the sand box, building roads for our Hot Wheels cars. Tonka trucks were a big thing for us, and we had fun, as this was our first driving experience.

The rubix cube. Timeless isn't it? This gadget has been around for years, and I spent so much time trying to figure that thing out. I finally just ripped off the colored stickers and put them back on, making it look like I figured it out. It was great to exercise the brain, as much as we exercised our bodies.

Then there was Monopoly. Oh the joy of being a child and owning your own property. Having your own money. Buying and selling. It was great. And it was a valuable lesson in money management (let's just say it was for the sake of argument). This game seemed to last forever, but no body ever complained.

Do you remember sledding in the wintertime? Then you must remember the GT snow racers. Winter was a favorite time of year for my friends and me. We would make plans on the school bus to meet right after school. Go home, get suited up, drag our racers to the big hill, and we would stay there until after it got dark out. The hill we used belonged to an older couple in the community, a huge hill but the problem was we stayed so long, and we had no light. That sweet old man put up lights all along that hill so that we could stay as long as we wanted. Cold meant nothing, wet mittens meant nothing. We loved to go sledding, and we didn't think of going home until we absolutely had to. That hill was like a second home to us, and we got a lot of exercise. It was great.

It almost hurts when I ask my brother and sister where their kids are, and they nonchalantly say, playing Xbox. To even speak of going outside to play ball, or go bike riding almost kills them. They cannot fathom the thought of making your own fun. So sad. I can only hope that when I have kids, I can help them go back to the old ways, showing them that biking, sledding and playing board games can be just as much fun, if not more fun, than the electronic games that today's kids seem to enjoy so much.

Learn more about this author, Pam Prowse.
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