Do Kids Still Have Sandpiles?
Brett is going through a change of life. His “aha” moment came during the move Up in the Air. The question was posed to the George Clooney character:
“How much does your life weigh?”
Brett decided his needed a weight reallocation and says he is going to give it a go.
I’m slowly starting to remove things from my life that take away from time I can spend with my children.
Since I’m old enough to be Brett’s dad – or much older brother – I recalled how when our kids were growing up, there was no internet and only 3 channels on the television.
As a result, when I got bored, I would snatch the kids and we would have an “adventure” as we called them. At times they would bring it up – and we were off.
Our adventures consisted of lots of planning. This is key. Not because I needed clock-work precision, but because the girls had to think and roam around the house or garage gathering the essential ingredients for the adventure.
If we decided to build a “fort” – a blanket thrown over a card-table – we had to make sure we had proper lighting and sustenance. Who we invited to join us was important too. Would a Cabbage Patch kid fit in? or would this be a Barbie adventure?
When I felt like wandering around the outdoors, our adventure was often to a nearby field. Since we were going to be gone for a “long time” I told the girls, we would always have to carry enough supplies to have a snack. Usually this was one hot-dog, a Bert ‘n’ Ernie jug of Kool-aid and some Fritoes in a baggie.
We would traipse just over a little rise to get out of sight of the houses, find a spot, clear the area of bugs, study a few ants and spiders, gather twigs and then build a tiny little fire to “cook” the hot dog.
But most often our adventure would be in the sandpile. I built a 12′ x 12′ sandpile under the deck to the second level so it was in the shade. I can’t to begin to recall all the projects that we planned and constructed and played with in the sandpile.
I do recall that in the end a monster or earthquake usually destroyed everything.
That was my idea.
I had been noticing over the past few years how few dads I see outside playing with their kids. You see them watching their kids at school ball games and carting them back and forth, but rarely actually playing with them. I’ll bet you were a “fun” dad! You would have enjoyed bombing the Barbie car and blowing Barbie’s head off with my daughter.
Funny how even with over 150 channels I don’t think life is any better than with 3. What’s a sandbox, I can hear my kids ask? Is that a Nintendo game? I miss the year we lived in St. George Utah. The sunny days meant our kids spent most days in the yard doodling on the sidewalk with chalk or climbing our tree. Life was good.
Now life feels hectic. We have a lot more crap around the house. More things and more debt. I’m going to change that this year. Thanks for the link and the mention.