In many ways our kids aren’t that much different from us. They enjoy doing some of the same silly stuff we did as kids. I realized this yesterday while I was washing my car. Tyler was standing on the sidewalk looking down the street intently. I wondered what he was doing but only for a split second because with Tyler you never know what he’s up to. My street is only one block long so there’s not a lot of traffic and even less since Katrina. When we’re at the house Tyler likes to run to the end of the block and back. I figured this was his plan and perhaps he was stretching. Then I noticed a black SUV headed down the street and then all of a sudden when it was in front of my house Tyler takes off running. I realized that he was “racing” the driver to the end of the block.
My suspicions were verified when he returned and told me what he had been doing and that the guy in the car was laughing at him when he also realized what Tyler was doing. When I was a kid we used to do the same thing. We didn’t have computers, video games and all of that jazz to entertain ourselves. We had to do it ourselves. If we were bored it was our own fault. Anyway, this was one of the games we used to play. The adults in our neighborhood used to get a kick out of it and sometimes they would play along by slowing down so that we could beat them.
One of the problems with not being back in my house is Tyler has very little to do. All of his toys are still in Mobile with the exception of a few action figures, his Vtech, a football and a small beach ball. This has actually forced him to learn to amuse himself more. And he’s doing remarkably well. He’ll go outside for instance and simply explore. Or he’ll find things to play with- an old rope, a stick, etc. Again, lots of the same high tech gadgets we had as kids.
As you buy gifts for your kids (or the kids in your life) realize that they don’t need a lot of “stuff” to be happy. Kids are happy just being kids. Take some of the money you would spend on toys and put it in a savings account instead. And then go outside and play with your kids.
See also:
The Fruit of our Parenting Labor