Milk River Elementary. My home away from home. |
The Milk River Elementary School, house
of learning to some two hundred children, was on the north-east
corner of the town.
On the north and east, it was bordered
by farmland.
On the south, by houses.
And on the west, by the field that
stretched between it and the high school two blocks away.
The only playground equipment was a set
of teeter-totters (see-saws) at the east end of the school building,
and a monkey-bar on the west.
Oh and sometime between grades three
and four, near the garbage, they installed a tether-ball pole.
The very latest in school-ground play
equipment.
Let’s face it, dependance on toys
and/or playing apparatus for entertainment wasn't expected.
Or necessary, as it turned out.
Because we made up our own games.
And two hundred-plus kids pooling their
collective imaginations can come up with a lot of 'entertainment'.
We held impromptu races.
Which Kathy 'The Jet' Angyal always
won.
Flag football games.
I should probably mention, here, that I
never saw the use in just grabbing the flag when you can grab the
whole kid.
And Lloyd Eagleson has the scars to
prove it.
Climbing 'the rock'.
But that was only for the older, cooler
kids.
Hide and seek.
Fun, but limiting when you had nothing
but an open field in which to hide. (Or the neighbour's barley crop,
which stood some feet over our heads. Just FYI.)
Tag. In its many incarnations.
Regular.
Frozen.
Poison.
Kick the can.
And King of the Castle.
Games of hopscotch.
There was one time we tried to get
really creative and have some fun 'off site'.
And had an early brush with the law.
But that is another post . . .
Several of the girls played jump rope
games.
Very popular and truly amazing to
watch.
I, who had a hard time walking and
breathing at the same time, was astounded at what many of those girls
could do.
And while chanting/singing, too.
I never saw the use for it, though I
did try.
But after getting my feet knocked out
from beneath me for the 40th time, I gave it up as
hopeless.
And put the jump ropes to better use.
I should remind you that we were mostly
farm kids.
And I and many others, like me, were
completely infatuated with horses.
Thus, skipping ropes immediately
brought to mind – harnesses.
Because.
We would pass the rope around the
middle (waist) of our chosen horse, hang onto the ends, give the
accepted 'start' command in a firm voice.
Giddyap! or something similarly
creative.
And we were off.
Horse pulling.
'Driver' . . . umm . . . driving.
Around, over and through the other kids
on the playground.
It was fun.
When we tired of running, we would nip
into the aforementioned barley crop across the road and pull up
armloads of green, sweet-smelling 'hay'.
As feed.
And to build little nests for our
steeds.
You know, now that I think of it, I
wonder what the farmer thought when he saw the ragged south-east
corner of his crop.
As Milk River still went on to produce
three 'Barley Kings', I guess our armloads of stolen barley stalks
didn't make too much of a difference.
Back to my story . . .
I was there recently.
At Milk River Elementary, I mean.
The school now has extensive and
obviously expensive playground equipment.
And trees.
And tall fences.
The monkey bars are gone.
As are the teeter-totters and tether
ball.
There are still farmer's fields to the
east.
But a large ball-diamond had been
constructed on the west side, between it and the high school.
And houses and development on the
north, completely eliminating our old barley field.
I stared at the 'developed' space and
pictured us kids playing and laughing at recess and noon hour.
Do these modern children, with their
modern conveniences, have as much fun as we did?
Somehow, I doubt it.
Diane, no doubt about it. These children are not having as much fun as we did! Have I ever told you I was tether-ball champion in fifth grade? I acquired the title by beating the reigning champion one hot afternoon. When my children were little, I found a portable tether-ball at Kmart and promptly purchased it. My kids never bothered to take it out of the box and sadly, I ended up returning it. That's why I know children nowadays don't know what real play is about. I remember playing "jacks," pick up sticks, hopscotch, and tag. For hours! This post served to trigger so many beautiful memories. I was able to clearly see that tether-ball swing around the pole and hear someone say, "We have a new champion!" :)
ReplyDeleteAnd you say you're not an athlete!!! I've never been champion at anything! Congratulations!!! I forgot jacks! I loved jacks! I always screwed up on sixies. I could do fine up to then. Sigh. The memories!
DeleteKids at recess now are heavily supervised and controlled, young kids separated from older etc, everyones eagle eye out for bullies. In my day the teeter totters already looked like they came out of Noah's Ark, the swings were just holding in there and that was all we had. We had strict orders to keep out of the old driving shed out back but we didn't (of course). No one kept an eye on us and tattle tales and whiners were not tolerated. Ah, those were the days.
ReplyDeleteHave the kids now been 'supervised' right out of using their imaginations? I was doing a school presentation a few months ago, trying to encourage the kids to start writing their own stories and I talked to them about what THEIR make-belief world could be like. I was amazed at the sparkle that came to their eyes. Their teachers said that, afterwards, they couldn't get the kids to STOP writing. They just need to be encouraged to use that imagination out on the playground!
DeleteYou know, I give the little guys all the credit in the world. They don't know what they're missing, so they make their own fun.
ReplyDeleteI'm just happy when they make their own fun WITHOUT electronics! :)
DeleteI remember carrying our books from the old school down the hill to the new school up the hill a couple of months before the school year ended. I was in 2nd grade then... Can you believe that was over ----- a long time ago? I remember my 3rd grade teacher. What a ----- I think I'll tell that story another time...
ReplyDeleteYep. Third grade is where I remember you when I started. So I was the in the first grade one class to start the year in that building? I had no idea! I knew it was fairly new, but not THAT new! And I'd love to hear about your third grade teacher . . .
DeleteI doubt they have as much fun either... I loved skipping and hop scotch. We used our brains and played game after game, many that we made up. We were never bored that I remember :)
ReplyDeleteAha! So you're one of those amazing kids who could skip. I'm so envious . . .
DeleteI think kids today miss out on a LOT having their entertainment designed for them... you're right. We had to invent our own - and I believe we're better off for having done so!
ReplyDeleteI loved our made-up games. I saw a series of cartoons in Calvin and Hobbes once when they were playing 'Calvinball'. It sounded a lot like what we used to come up with . . .
DeleteAhh. Sounds so much like my own elementary years in Northern Minnesota.
ReplyDeleteWe were just kids, and that's all we needed to be.
Pearl