Childhood

  Do you remember as a child playing that game called jacks? The one with the rubber ball and those little x shaped metal pieces?  I played them when I was young.  They came as a set but we always switched out a golf or tennis ball for the rubber ball because they were bigger and easier to control.

I've seen lots of children from elementary, middle school, and high school who play jacks every time they can.  They play before school, after school, at lunch and recess.  They are very good at moving to the sides so no one fall over them.

It is amazing how these children will play jacks all day long if they can. The other thing I see many of them do is play with string to create things such as the broom or play a game with it.  The same game I played as a child half way across the world from here.  I've been known to play with the children sometimes.  I forgot how much fun that can be.  It makes me miss my childhood sometimes.  Kind of like that song of "I don't wanna grow up!"

Finally is the eskimo yo-yo, a creation made of leather and string.  It is very similar to the Maori poi balls and used much the same way.  You have a pair of the balls and you have one going counter clockwise and the other going clockwise at the same time.  Once you get them going and have the rhythm just right, they can go and go and go.  I enjoy playing with them but I am so out of practice. 

I hope everyone gets a chance to revisit their childhood occasionally.