I’m admiring the conkers on my neighbour’s magnificent acorn tree, and it occurs to me that the local kids probably wouldn’t even know how to have a conker fight. Without a doubt, those of us who grew up before the 1980s were more connected to nature.
I realise technology and safety issues have changed life for the ‘modern child,’ but I’d wager that a day spent riding around the neighbourhood on your bicycle (a Dragstar if you were lucky), exploring the local creek, climbing forbidden trees, etc. gave us much more joy than a day spent playing Wii, or hanging at the mall. Certainly it kept us fitter.
You could get a physical and social workout by attending your local Youth Club. And almost every boy dabbled in scouting at some stage ... sadly, that’s no longer the case. Girls were Brownies, Guides, or in Girl's Brigade.
With family and/or friends, board games were lots of fun too. Apart from the age-old Monopoly and Scrabble, the most popular ones I recall were Hands Down, Mouse Trap, Tip It, Ker-plunk, Operation, Battleship and Cluedo..
There are several youtubes of “Mouse Trap” ads. This one was ‘before my time’ but gives the clearest demonstration of how it worked. WHEN it worked!
Variations on some of these games are now available online of course, and I guess the upside is that you can always find someone to play them with. Does that make them more fun? I’m not sure, but it certainly makes them easier to put away.
I imagine many kids now would “LOL” if I challenged them to a game of knucklebones or marbles. They were simple amusements, but I often wonder how quickly the new generations’ brains can evolve, to cope with the instant availability and rapid-fire action of online and video gaming ... Perhaps we’ll have the last laugh.
