What did you used to do for fun?

[Daisy Buchanan]

I totally agree, kids now-a-days watch way too much TV, play video games, or sit on the computer for hours at a time. Gosh, there vitamin B must be completely depleted from lack of sunlight! And it's no wonder that the prevelance of Type 1 (non-insulin dependant) diabetes is on the rise in teens, as well as obesity. I worry so much about my 18 month old nephew. He's quite big, and although he goes to gymboree and a baby dance class, my sister still plops him down in front of a Baby Einstein video for hours a day. Which some studies suggest might actually do more harm than good under the age of 2. He just stares at the screen, he doesn't have any idea of what he's watching, so how can he possibly understand/learn from that. Although, they do play classical music in the background, and he does hum along with the tunes. He even remembers the songs after they are over, and when put to bed, you can hear him humming mozart or beethoven before he falls asleep. I guess that's something positive, but humming isn't communication, and he only knows a few words thus far, so obviously the videos aren't doing him much justice.

As for me, when I was a kid, I was only allowed 1 hour of TV during the school week. After school, and on the weekends I either had a dance class or a piano lesson. Or I played with friends in the neighborhood, kickball, street hockey, bike riding, so many things, most of which were outdoors. It's so sad to me that kids don't do these sort of things anymore. I remember them so vivdly and fondly as some of the best childhood memories. Now all kids will remember is who got the highest score in Donkey Kong. (Now I've dated myself, do kids even play donkey kong anymore?)

 

[Dixon Cannon]

Used to be's don't count anymore...

Ah.... Neil Diamond!... (You Don't Bring Me Flowers.)

When I was a kid, all we did was play war - not on video or computer - outside with authentic looking toy guns and helmets and surplus uniform pieces. We never, ever tired of it. Then we got a little older and saw Vietnam played out on Huntley-Brinkley every night and all of a sudden war was a little too real. The prospect of dying in some stinking jungle on the other side of the world at age 18 or 19 just didn't seem as glamourous as French villages and captured Lugers.

By teen age I was totally absorbed in two things FUN- airplanes and Beatles! I flew every weekend of my fifteenth year and soloed on my 16th birthday!...fly... fly... fly....fun.. fun.. fun...!!

I played drums in a Rock & Roll band and dreamed of being a Beatle! We listened to records and picked out every nuance and subtlety of every song. Play...play... play.... fun.. fun.. fun...!! Beatles.. Beatles.. Beatles.

Then. Then. It was time to get a job and earn a living. It is amazing once one gets a job and earns a living how expensive the FUN things become! Thank God for the internet and cable T.V...... and fedoras and reenactors!! Fun... fun... fun.... -dixon cannon

 

[Viola]

Gardening is my cheap-and-fun hobby. I'm 22 but I've been fascinated by plants since I was about 5. I remember learning all kinds of stuff, including "school" topics, gardening.

My mom didn't go in for lawns so I had lots of places to dig/play/run around/pick berries, and she let me pick out plants for the front yard. Most of the things I learned stuck pretty well, though I no longer feed dolls flower petals.

Hiking/walking was something I started early and still love. I can't run for beans, but a good 10 mile walk is just fun to me, if there's historic buildings (and gardens!) to look at.

Both are cheap as heck, reasonably healthy, and I get some sunshine.

 

[Caledonia]

I can't remember what we called them, but two games come to mind that took up a huge amount of playground and recreation time:

1 You stand in front of a wall with 2 or more tennis/bouncy balls and throw them at the wall in a kind of juggling thing, throwing them then spinning round and catching them, throwing them under your legs and catching them, etc.

2 You tied a whole load of elastic bands together into a big circle then two of you stood with legs apart and the bands round you, and another person did all sorts of weird jumping in and out - ah! Chinese ropes that's what it was called.

And roller skating, and putting on silly plays for your pals in the back yard, and pretending you really knew how to climb trees, and then spending 6 weeks in plaster.

Then I grew up a bit and started taking the dog for long walks, cycling (that one never took, I kept falling off), and I read everything I could get my hands on. And I grew up a bit more and got into youth clubs and discos, and, well it goes from there really.

Oh, but I almost forgot - 16-17 I was such a total pub space invaders freak! No really, I know it's hard to believe, but I was really good!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Fortunately, not all kids today fall into the lethargic video-game playing, ipod-plugged, web-surfing inert lump stereotype. I can look out my kitchen window any day in the summer and see half a dozen neighborhood kids in the street playing boxball or foursquare or riding bikes, or beating out music on an ad-hoc drumkit made out of garbage cans, or just running up and down the street playing who-knows-what kind of game.

I don't know if these kids have video games at home, or not, but I'd tend to doubt that a lot of them do -- this is a working-class, lower-income neighborhood, and the kids here have learned to make do without a lot of the shiny junk that well-off kids get handed. And maybe that's the key to a lot of it -- if kids are forced to think for themselves, forced to make their own fun, they'll do it.

 

[Caledonia]

-- if kids are forced to think for themselves, forced to make their own fun, they'll do it.

And that's the key. We have friends who have 4 kids and they live in the back of beyond. The eldest is 16 and just about to leave for college. They only put in TV about 3 years ago, mainly under huge kid pressure. Up till then, and even now, these kids have woods, rivers, hills, raise their own sheep and chickens, (their parents have used those and pigs for food too), and generally had nothing except the outdoors and school to amuse them. These 4 kids have their faults, but by golly they are 4 of the most active, energetic and curious kids I've known, even if their parents (and us as friends) have to eventually concede that they're growing up and are pushing for all the stuff the other kids have (they only got mobile/cell phones about 18 months ago!) We have got to get a grip of child raising very soon.

Went a bit off topic there, sorry. So I used to put tadpoles in a bucket and couldn't work out where they went to......

 

[SinatraStyle]

Interesting trend in the news

I heard this story on the radio this afternoon.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-06-26-recess-bans_x.htm

Apparently, many elementary schools are banning "tag" on the playgrounds, as it is too violent. Other offenders: soccer and flag football.

In an effort to (overly?) protect children, there are now bans on tag! TAG! Am I the only one that feels we are focusing on the wrong things here? You'd think we would be encouraging today's youth to become more physically active.

I remember playing tag, soccer, and many other games at recess and sure, there were some minor injuries, but I think that is just part of growing up. Humans are surprisingly resilient creatures. Let the kids be kids.

 

[Caledonia]

Growing up, heck being alive, is risky, and we should keep it that way. It's a natural way of being and what makes us stronger.

 

[Viola]

Of course we don't know what was going on at that school. I did know boys who would basically slap each other in the face and run like hell, which while it did burn many calories, led very quickly to other athletic pursuits, such as boxing and choking the hell out of each other.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Kid plays tag, falls, breaks arm -- tells parents -- parents go to ambulance-chasing shyster lawyer, sue school district for negligence, collect big payout -- school board convenes, agrees banning tag is in everyone's best interest.

A hypothetical scenario, of course. Nothing in the *real* world could ever be so cheap and venal.

 

[dr greg]

dummy

Apart from playing footy in the park, or hanging around the railroad tracks, when we were about 12 me and a couple of mates got an old pair of overalls, filled them with rags, sewed a sort of rough head on with a hat, and JOE was born, we would take him down to a street corner and kick hell out of him at a bus stop until someone stopped to rescue the 'poor kid', or throw him off a balcony onto the footpath, horrifying passers by, or stab him with a bread knife as trains went past..macabre I suppose, but basically harmless as I look back now At least we weren't stealing cars or vandalising phone boxes like every other idiot.

 

[Caledonia]

Health & Safety regulations. In future decades this will be seen to be the catalyst for the downfall of civilisation. Hmmmm, actually that's not a bad idea. Anyone for chaos theory? fftopic: I know.

 

[ArrowCollarMan]

Take up an instrument and form or join a rock and roll band. It is a blast and good for getting chicks. It is especially good for those of us who stink at sports.

Don't I know it! What is it about girls being in love with guys in bands? But I'm really no good when it comes to playing instruments and I don't really have much of an interest either. Sports, I gave that up after I found out that the older you get the more time and effort you have to put into it and the more abnoxious the kids playing with you are..."Dude, you suck", "OFFSIDES *******IT", "If you didn't suck so much I could have made a goal". Yeah, those were soccer-nazis. As for art? Yes, I always draw alot but it doesn't seem to consume enough time and as any artist would know you don't always feel up to it. Writing is always a toughie, I gave up writing stories because I've never fiished any. As for writing to my cousin I do that alot. I am job-hunting. I've applied for 4 different places as it is and I'm going to apply for more.
By the way, as a little kid hell yeah I was having fun! I used to live atop a hill and below it was a huge forest of oak trees. I'd hop on my bike with my friends (and sometimes by younger brother) and we'd be out exploring or messing around for the entire day until my mom whistled for us to come inside. But what I really want is something to do as a teenager. I have some fantasy of dressing to the nines and "tearing up the town" with a gang of friends also dressed to the nines. But sadly, where would we go and what would we do?

 

[green papaya]

gi joes

playing by the river by my house

walking downtown and going to the FIVE & DIME store

going to the ARMY / NAVY surplus looking for combat gear to use for playing army or for collecting

old war movies

long bike rides

hiking with friends along the river trails, pretending we were on a secret mission, we would wear our surplus military web gear, canteens, packs, helmets, rations , etc playing soldier

we would put our money together and buy a bunch of penny candies, ice cream bars, popsickles, etc, then divide it all up and have little parties

 

[ArrowCollarMan]

But what about when you all were TEENAGERS?

 

[Big Man]

But what about when you all were TEENAGERS?

Rock climbing, camping/backpacking, hunting, fishing ...

 

[Baron Kurtz]

But what about when you all were TEENAGERS?

See earlier post. Reading, fishing, birdwatching, walking in countryside.

bk

 

[Jack Scorpion]

I got a job.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Ditto. Started babysitting when I was 13, and then when I was 14 I started helping out in the office of my grandfather's gas station/heating oil business. By the time I was 17, I was keeping all the books, handling the money, and doing the billing, while still keeping up with school. There wasn't much time for much of anything else.

My sister had it even worse -- she spent her summers from 13 up raking blueberries. Now *that's* work. But we didn't get allowances, and we were expected to buy our own clothes and such, so we had no choice but to work for what we wanted. Leisure time was for rich kids.

If I had kids -- which I don't -- they'd be expected to go to work. There's no better cure for teenage boredom.

 

[green papaya]

teen years

at age 15 I started doing lots of exersize

by age 20, I had the body of a proffessional athelete

staying in good shape was my hobby as a teen