Writing the post on Atari Games brought back memories of a time before computers, cell phones, Ipods and that new technology has brought us since the days before computers were a common item in our homes.
As a child, I was happy with my dolls, board games, playing cards, dominoes . . . and playing outdoors getting exercise. We entertained ourselves by riding our bikes around the neighborhood, having hula hoop contests, jumping rope, playing badmitton, catch the ball, dodge ball.
It is sad that mothers in present time have to be afraid to let the kids play even in the front yard with all the weirdos out there grabbing children in plain sight . . . daylight.
The days gone by were so innocent . . . we didn't have to worry about that kind of weirdness . . . what has happened to our society?
Anyway, I digressed . . . I wanted to talk about how babyboomers entertained themselves without all the fancy stuff the kids of today have. I'm jealous, although I didn't miss what I didn't know I didn't have :)
As a younger child I loved Cootie and Potato Head . . . I would spend hours on the floor playing jacks, pick up sticks or building odd objects with my Tinker Toys.
How about the Slinky? It fascinated me . . . so did the Etch-A-Sketch.
My nana played cards with us all the time. My favorite card game was Old Maid, although I really took it serious and get really mad if I got stuck with the Old Maid card. I am still a sore loser! She taught us how to play all types of rummy, poker and I loved to play war . . . I still do.
When I think back at my favorite board games, my number one would have to be Monopoly . . . the game that never seems to end . . . and we loved it that way. There was a board game we played that I'm not even sure was popular, but my brother and I sure loved it . . . it was called Careers . . . cool game, I still have it.
Even as a child I loved music. I still have my nana's collection of 78's . . . Perry Como and Rosemary Clooney were her favorites. My collection of 45's are still in those funky colored 45 holders that hold stacked records and have the handle on the top. I thought about selling them on eBay, but I couldn't part with them even though I haven't played them in years. Yes, I'm a pack rat!
I still have my quadrophonic stereo that was my prized possession of later days . . . I really thought I was something with a speaker in every corner of my room . . . although my parents hated how I HAD to play it so loud. It just didn't sound right unless it was super loud :)
One of my favorite pastimes was playing my guitar and making up songs . . . something I continued to do through my adult life. Some things don't change with age and I guess we all have that inner child within us. Don't we?
The games we played and those things we did to entertain ourselves were pretty cool, in my opinion. Although I am jealous that we didn't have computers, in a way I am glad we didn't . . . don't know if that makes sense to anyone. We had interaction and activity with friends and family . . . the computer tends to isolate.
What do you think?
What are some of your recollections
of your childhood and the games you played?
of your childhood and the games you played?
