Creating a 1950's- like Childhood

When I was a child, we spent most of our time playing outdoors. We would head over to a neighbor's house, walk to the corner store, or head down to our small, private beach at the end of the road. Often children would gather in our yard and we would play games like:

1. Red Rover.
2. Freeze Tag.
3. Kickball (we had four trees in the yard, conveniently set up to make a square- which was perfect for bases.)
4. Dodge Ball.
5. Races

We would also ride our bikes and roller skate in the street. We could all walk to the elementary school and use the playground, tennis court, basketball court and baseball field.

One of my favorite things to do was take a blow-up raft (boat) and use that at our private beach. We also enjoyed skipping rocks in the water and running in the sand.

Summer time would mean outdoor picnics, and the neighbors would sometimes stop by to talk to our parents and share a little food and drink.  There was always homemade ice cream. We loved watching Dad make it. He would use dry ice and a hand crank on some kind of bucket. It would produce sweet, cold vanilla ice cream!

Dad would buy a large watermelon and store it in the downstairs fridge. We would wait for days, excited for when we could eat it. "Dad got a watermelon!" We would say with delight! Then on the day of our fun, we would sit outside at the picnic table and enjoy our delicious treat on paper plates, after having hot dogs and hamburgers.

Sometimes, Dad would surprise us all by saying, "Let's go!  Everyone in the truck!" We children would climb in the back and hang on. In those days, it was okay to sit in the back of a truck without a seat belt.  He would take us to the next town and buy us each a soft serve ice cream with jimmies!  We were carefree and happy!

In the winter, many children would gather in our yard to go sledding down our hill. We had the best time in the snow and we also enjoyed making snow angels and playing until it got dark. Then we would be so cold, we would head inside to warm up by the fire to drink hot chocolate and have our supper.

Mother made supper every night around 5 p.m. That's when everything quieted down. We were healthy and happy and worn out from our playing.

This was a 1950's style childhood and I want to create it for my own children. When I was growing up, we did not have computers, cell phones, or any other contraption that kept us occupied in the house. We wanted to go outside and create our fun. In this current society, we have to help create this for our children. We need to get outside and teach them how to play red rover. We need to work on making our yards the fun place for the neighborhood children to enjoy.  We need to make home a safe and happy place to be.

Blessings
Mrs. White

Suppertime with Precious Helpers - includes a vintage photograph of my children when they were young.

A Daily Battle - Fighting the Money Seeking Mentality.

How to - Keeping House with Small Children.



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