|
| Author |
Message |
rootwad
Member
|
# Posted: 21 Jul 2013 11:26pm
Reply
Over in the off grid forum I asked for some good old-timey techniques for living with no power whatsoever, and that's just got me thinking back to times in my childhood when warm family memories were created as a result of "powering down". When the electricity would go out during a storm, dad would break out the kerosene lamps and we'd all play charades by lamp light. When the electricity came on, we almost always turned everything off so we could keep playing kerosene charades. There were a lot of meals by kerosene light as well.....food and conversation always seemed ten times better in the glow of lamp light.
Every year for lent, my parents would make us give up t.v. That alone would give us plenty of quality family time in the evenings. We always grumbled at first (What! No He-man!My life is OVER!!), but we quickly got in the swing of it. We'd turn on music and dance till the window panes shook, play board games, or just sprawl out in the living room and talk. Us kids would sometimes make up horrible plays to perform for mom and dad (who were probably counting down the days till lent was over). If mom happened to be hooked on a particular t.v. show when lent rolled around, she'd make dad take the t.v. out of the big wooden t.v. cabinet and put it in the basement so she wouldn't be tempted to turn it on. That left us kids a perfect stage for puppet shows inside the cabinet. Or we'd just climb inside and pretend to be on t.v. I don't know how many times I walked into the living room and there was a random sibling inside the t.v cabinet giving the weather report to nobody in particular.
Such silly little memories, but boy they sure warm my heart. What are some of your favorite family memories that were the result of powering down in some way (either by choice or by force)?
|
|
hattie
Member
|
# Posted: 21 Jul 2013 11:36pm
Reply
When the grandkids were here recently, Bob made them a tin can telephone and tin can stilts. The stilts were a big hit. I made them buckets of bubble soap. We put ping pong balls on golf tees and made a shooting range for them to shoot with cheap water pistols. Paper airplanes are always a huge hit around here!!! The sandbox always seems to have leprechaun coins (aka, quarters) hidden in it. 
|
|
cabingal3
Member
|
# Posted: 22 Jul 2013 12:12pm
Reply
Quoting: hattie When the grandkids were here recently, Bob made them a tin can telephone and tin can stilts.
hattie.i have been saving coffee cans and have alot of them.i am going to make these for my grandsons today.
my grandsons have potato guns.
i wanted to have paint guns with my grandsons and us run thru our woods but gar said no.hes the voice of reason cause granny will do anything for fun.
Quoting: hattie We put ping pong balls on golf tees and made a shooting range for them to shoot with cheap water pistols
oh my gosh.all kinds of ideas here for my boys
rootwad.love yur post.love reading of your fond memories of childhood.
me and the grandsons play board games.in fact i remember one time when i got this little tin of all kinds of games at a yard sale and we spent hours at the cabin laughing cause grandpa has some kind of crazy vision and when he would jump a peg.it would be 2 or 3 pegs over.and he would always win.it took us a bit to catch it.he swore he did not do this.we all laughed so much and had the best time.
i love taking the grandsons to the cabin.they are living with us now once again and i cant wait till we take them to the cabin in winter-they will have to haul stuff in with the tobaggan and give each other rides on it and get snow shoes on to hike in.it will be a wonderful time to be had by all.
there was the time we got them coon skin caps and canteens and play rifles to go to the woods.they had so much fun.we did too.
|
|
Montanan
Member
|
# Posted: 22 Jul 2013 08:03pm
Reply
We love that our cabin is in the "communications blackout zone." We have no TV, no video game system, no Internet, no phone (no cell service anywhere in the canyon.) The kids (ages 12, 9 and 7) tended to gripe at first but now they accept it without question.
Some of their favorite cabin activities:
-Fort building
-Zip-lining
-Fishing (trout filled creek on our property)
-Collecting flowers and making bouquets
-Bug catching
-Sledding/snow cave building in winter
-Dominoes
-Jigsaw puzzles
-Reading
-Chess
-Card games (they LOVE "There's a Moose in the House")
|
|
skootamattaschmidty
Member
|
# Posted: 23 Jul 2013 07:12am
Reply
We are lick Montanan but have some patchy cell service once in a while. That's the way we like it. My kids love fishing and hanging out at the water falls in the summer. When my younger nieces and nephews come up I send them on scavenger hunts. We have also spent hours playing with an old wooden hockey game where the players are on a spring. You pull the lever and all the men move. My kids love it. I enjoy just sitting back, relaxing and talking with the family.
|
|
tnky03
Member
|
# Posted: 23 Jul 2013 03:38pm
Reply
Rootwad, what great memories! It is sad that children these days miss out on so many simple pleasures. When I was a child we had a black and white tv with only three channels. My cousins and I used our imaginations and had so much fun on our hundred acre farm. We held rodeos in the barn and rode my dad's calves, skated on frozen ponds (in boots as we had no skates), built a raft out of old wood and sailed the big pond like Huck Finn, hiked every inch of woods and used grapevines as swings. We wore towels as capes and home made masks to play Batman, Robin and Cat Woman and used every mechanical gadget that had been discarded by our folks to set up spaceships and robots after Lost in Space aired. We had a makeshift band and once played for our neighbors down the road. We had one real guitar and homemade drums and tambourine. What I would give to see a video of that performance today. They probably laughed till they cried after we left. We played hide and seek and every kind of tag imaginable on Saturday nights in Grandma's yard. There were many Copperheads and Rattlesnakes in those Tennessee hills and it is a miracle we were never bitten. I did ride over a Copperhead once with my bike. Such wonderful memories! Thanks for your post which unlocked many. I am working on a book of such short stories to pass down to my grandchildren. I have pulled a few more chapter titles from the files way back in my mind.
|
|
hattie
Member
|
# Posted: 24 Jul 2013 01:12pm
Reply
tnky03 - Your childhood sounds like it was great fun!!! Lots of good ideas there. Love the spaceship building idea. *LOL* It's incredible what a little imagination can do.
I think it's up to us grandparents to make sure our grandkids learn how to use their imagination. With all the high tech stuff out there, it is easy to forget how to play and pretend.
Here's something we did with the grandsons this summer for a snack and they went nuts over it (and it tasted good too!):
Goin' Fishin'
Give each child a stack of celery sticks, a small container of cheez whiz and put out a plate of those goldfish crackers.
Each child dips the end of the celery into the cheez whiz and then goes fishin' for goldfish. The crackers will stick to the end of the celery and cheez whiz. The grandsons absolutely loved this snack and it was even healthy to boot!
|
|
cabingal3
Member
|
# Posted: 24 Jul 2013 05:02pm
Reply
goodness dearest Debbie.u could be laura ingals your self.what wonderful times.wow.
thanks hattie for some more fun tips.
|
|
|
tnky03
Member
|
# Posted: 24 Jul 2013 05:15pm
Reply
LOL, I guess I was quite the country girl/tomboy growing up. Life was just the best growing up on a farm. Now I am a "senior" country gal. I totally love the simple life.
|
|
|
