Aug4

wilding.

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 back in time on a summer’s day

when your parents thought

you and your friends of all ages

were just pedaling around the block for hours

but in that time you really

explored abandoned houses and those still under construction

built your own underground fort

jumped in the mud to see if it was quicksand

left your socks behind

met a new kid

balanced on a a board going over the water to get to the other side

found a golf ball

explored the gravel pit

rolled down a hill backwards

shared snacks that fell in the dirt

had the best day ever

every single day.

—

“keep your children wild, don’t make them grow up too fast.”

– brooke hampton

98 responses »

  8. I remember.. it was fun. Now activities (for all ages) have to be organised, with no real freedom. The of course you heading ‘ Wilding’ has been melded into rewilding, a laudable cause but sadly used as an excuse to do nothing…but that’s another grouse 😃

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  21. Oh, the carefree days of our youth. My memories differ from yours in that I lived on a farm and had only my siblings as playmates. But none-the-less, those were wonderful summers filled with imaginative play. Wild, yes. That last quote is one every young parent today needs to read. Let kids be kids. They are growing up way too fast.

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  24. Sometimes I think “if my Mom had only known”. Growing up in the country had other memories and chief among them was playing Spin the Bottle under a bridge. Can a kiss really be called a first kiss when you are 12 years old and in the company of several others? At least I could say I kissed Kenny — the class heart throb!

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  27. We were free to become what we would. Solve our own problems, figure out the way the world worked and all unsupervised by adults who had their own way of thinking. We were the lucky generations. No phones, no tracking devices, just freedom. It was wonderful, like this post of memories.

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  31. Oh Beth! This is EXACTLY what I lament about today’s children. They are stuck with helicopter parents who are so afraid that they hold them back from discovering all these beautiful (and sometimes painful) things. I so would not want to be a child today. In our day, we had a freedom to learn and discover and oh my…

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  36. Here is the latecomer! Sounds like my childhood story, although I was older then your average kid of today. I had to work to buy my first 2nd (4th?) hand bike. But THEN I went off like a rocket. With my younger sister on her rollerskates holding on to the back of the bike, I went the several kilometers (some 18+) to our grandmother’s village, nearly falling over the rails crossing at impossible angles the road we took – but never actually going to see granny, because….. had ANYBODY known we would have gotten severely punished. One of my great kid’s memories awakened here!
    But also: How FREE we were! Nobody wanting to know too much as long as we were back and sound by dinner time…..

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  39. Yes, yes Beth, I did all that. Omg, there was that scary abandoned haunted house… across from my grandparents where I wasn’t allowed to go…… but I did.
    Do children do that now? Or only if it’s an adventure game on their phone or tablet?

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