Then - and now!

When our children were young, not a one of them ever wanted to play soccer.  I asked and they said no.  Bonny said, "the coaches only yell at you!"  I was not raised in a sports-like environment, and Harry figured any kid who wanted to play a sport would make it happen on their own.  So we did a few seasons of little league and swim team, but other than that we didn't do much in the way or organized sports.

 

Our kids didn't play with Legos either.  I bought a box of them one Christmas - and we still have the box - the grandchildren at least have played with it. One year I even bought "girl" Legos - they were pink and lavender - but there wasn't much interest in them either.   My grandsons, however, LOVE Legos.  I'm thinking I might have gone nuts, however, if our kids had loved them, because I'm a little ocd about keeping track of parts of games!  Maybe it's a blessing in disguise that my kids didn't like puzzles or Legos!

 

There was an interest in all things "tiny" - which has certainly reached gigantic proportions nowadays - but the girls mostly just collected tiny things that they found - you really couldn't go buy them!

 

We definitely did not raise our kids with the aid of cell phones - although we were the first on our block to sport a "car phone!"  Remember those??

So with Porter and Harry here this weekend, I had cause to reflect on the very different play choices that our kids made and that our grandkids make.  Much of it has to do with "Madison Avenue" and what gets promoted. But I think that some children like puzzles, and Legos, and toy cars, and paper dolls, and crafts - and some do not.

I thought our kids ought to do puzzles - all the literature touted the benefits - so I was not going to deny my children those benefits!  I don't like puzzles - never did - and my kids didn't either.  I would buy puzzles and sit down and do them with them - and they would do them - if I sat down with them.  On their own, there was little or no interest.  

Harry especially didn't enjoy them - which is why it is such fun to see him slaving away each year at the family puzzle he sets up at Christmas time!  Most of the grandchildren enjoy them.  Maybe it's a cyclical thing.

I loved dolls - and my girls loved - and still do - love dolls. But even though I bought them paper dolls, they never caught on the way they did with my sister and my friends - we lived for our paper doll world - it's difficult to explain even - but that love has not been replicated.  Paper dolls are still sold, however, so there must be someone who plays with them still!

I went with Eve and Isla to Harry's soccer game - I think it's the 4th soccer game I've ever attended!!  And it was nice to see him run around, but it wasn't particularly fascinating - and it was hot too - so maybe I didn't miss all that much by not having kids who played soccer!

But I grabbed what I thought was my folding umbrella chair - I knew enough to know that if you are going to a kids' soccer game, you need to bring your own chair - and it turned out that I had brought Harry's telescope!!

I'm truly deficient, I guess!

(and lest you think our children were somehow deprived, there were plenty of other things to play with besides puzzles, toy cars, and Legos - and our kids played with them quite happily.)