Go Play:

My how those words "Go Play" come back to memory, as I think back to the days when I was in grade school and also Junior High. I can remember shortly after getting out of school for the summer, when I could not find my cousin or anyone in the neighbor to play with. I would come into the house and say to my mother; "I'm Board or I have nothing to do." You had to be careful about saying that you had nothing to do, or mom would find some unwanted chores for you to do. You know; the kink of things like, clean the yard, clean the cellar or attic or help her paint or wall paper a room in the house.

At the very thought of being assigned one of those things to do; I would retreat to the outside and keep myself occupied rather than face the alternative.

So; why am I blogging about this? Well; I know that we are really into the Summer and I understand that the kids will be heading back to school in the next 2-3 weeks, depending on where you live. But; during the course of this summer, I have heard the same words that I announced to my mother some 50 +/- years ago; "I'm Board" coming from my grand children, as well as other children that I know.

So I began to think about this issue as to why children of today become board so quickly. When we were young, and mom told us to "Go Play" we would go and play outside with the kids in the neighborhood and start playing the games that we knew, like...

• Kick the Can
• Hide and Go Seek
• Capture the Flag
• Cowboys and Indians
• Build a Fort or Tree House
• King of the Hill
• Chinese Checkers
• Checkers
• Monopoly 
• And the list goes on......

Sometimes, mom would tell us to go to the Library and get a book to read. I can remember looking at the books and wonder about the places that I would read about.

Today it is so very different; the kids of today do not have to read about a particular place on planet earth, they can just Google it and read, see or hear about any place that they want.

The games that the kids have today are like something that we thought would have to be light years into the future; games like.......

• Video games to numerous to count
• Play Station 1,2,3, to a Zillion
• X-Box
• iPad, 1,2, and 3 on the way
• iPod  1,2,3rd Generation
• iPod Shuttle (the only Shuttle I played with; looked like a space ship made out of plastic)
• iPhone; 8 Megapixel Camera or Video Recorder; (All I had was a Brownie Camera or Polaroid, THAT YOU HAD TO GET THE FILM DEVELOPED) Sorry for shouting, got carried away
• Cable TV or Sat. TV; (we had 3 channels)
• And this list can go on for ever......

I seems that even with all the toys, gadgets, and do-dads of today, young people want to be either on the go or entertained for every moment of the day. I think that they just need to STOP for a moment and enjoy and explore what they have available to them. All of the electronics of today have made our world a lot smaller, so they can reach out and take hold of it like never before. We can even go to the final frontier.

Board or Nothing to Do; Nooooooooo Waaaaaaaaaay:

Just my thoughts: