Pogo Sticks & Roller Skates

Every morning I hear "co-chonk, co-chonk, co-chonk"!  It's the neighbor's little boy riding his pogo stick as he is waiting for his mom to come out of the house and take him to school.  I think he has excessive energy and needs to work some things out before he goes to school.  Or, he just really loves his pogo stick. 

I never had a pogo stick when I was a child.  It was probably for the best, as I would have probably cracked my head open trying to finagle the ways in which to achieve proper pogo-sticking. 

It always makes me smile hearing him "co-chonking" in the mornings.  It assures me that he is still around and is healthy and happy. 

His sister prefers her roller skates.  She has been practicing her roller skating skills for the past couple of days.  I had a pair of roller skates and I would skate all around the neighborhood.  I would even do the trick of holding a friend's hands while they were on their skates and swirling around in a circle.  Great fun!  I feel bad for pogo stick boy's sister because she doesn't exactly have the smoothest of sidewalks to skate down.  We technically live in swamp land and that makes the sidewalks shift, creating bumps in her road to exhilaration.  She is getting better each day she practices and it's fun to watch her figure out how to stop, turn around, and speed away down the street.

Oh the joys of being little.  You don't have a care in the world except for waiting for the next time you get to play with your new toy.  It is comforting to see these children playing with these "archaic" toys, rather than staying inside on the couch playing video games.  Not that playing video games is a bad thing. 

I just think that Calico Jack and I grew up in a simpler time where our moms made us go outside and play.  When the sun was going down, our moms would yell for us: "Come home!  Time for dinner!", and we would have worked out most of our super-child energy so that we would come home, eat, take a bath, and be ready for bed.  Plus you got your major workout in for the day since you ran around and played for most of the evening. 

When I see and hear the kids in the neighborhood playing, it kind of feels like I'm living in a 1960s neighborhood.  It's nice to see that parents haven't forgotten the joys of a stick with a spring or shoes with wheels.  Try jumping around for a little bit and see if you don't have a smile on your face.  I dare ya'!

Playing is fun.  Don't forget to play, no matter if you are 6 or 60.  It keeps you young.

xo