games

On TV they were saying that children do not know how to play games as they all play the games on TV. I was thinking how much I enjoyed the games I played in childhood even though it was a long time ago. We played "Jacks", "Hop Scotch", and roller skated a lot. I still have the cracks on the sidewalk in front of our house memorized and lift my foot even when I'm walking. When you roller skated you learned things like that. The area I live in does not have concrete sidewalks which might explain why the children around me skate at rinks. Hopscotch is different as we do have concrete driveways to draw on. We played a lot of hide-and-seek. I think everyone having fenced in yards is why that is not played more. We rode our bikes all over and I think that is rather dangerous now. In the summer we played card games on the porch. Like "slam" and "Rook" and had many games of "Jacks." Hula Hoops are not that old and were not invented in my childhood. As an adult I was not good at that but had children who were. In the summer we all swam and that is still a popular summer sport. I was the youngest of four children and had a mother who liked to swim. With a small child that is a problem so at two she taught me to swim. At that time the city pool was 10 cents a day. My mother took me to the pool to watch the older three swim. At two she thought I was ready. She bought a Hershey bar and I got a square when ever I swam a few feet. I loved Hershey bars--still do. It helped keep my feet up as the city pool was only drained once a year so was mossy on the bottom and I did not like to put my feet down on that. As I got better I went with my family and we swam in the Kaw River (now known as the Kansas River). My cousin who was a lifeguard would sit in a row boat and watch us
The river floor is quite different from the pool and had lots of action in it. Also fish swam around you. Some of my grandchildren are lifeguards and good at it. They get to sit in a little stand and watch, I was 10 before I swam in the part of the pool that had lifeguards and by then I was taking lifeguarding class. I was generally the victim they rescued.