PARENTING | LIFE | LIFE LESSONS | HUMAN PARTS | SELF IMPROVEMENT
Never Tell Your Parents You Don’t Have Anything to Do
Every kid gets bored of ‘nothing to do.’ My mistake was telling my parents.
I am the second oldest of six children my parents had. I have a brother and four younger sisters. My brother, Billy, was born in 1946. My sisters’ names all start with the letter “D.” As for myself, I was born 20 months after my brother, in 1948.
The girls’ names are Debbie, Denise, Darlene, and Danette. Danette, being the youngest, was born in 1961. I used to think I had a fifth, invisible sister. Sometimes, when Mom would get confused hollering for one of the girls, invariably, she would call out the wrong one, then add, “Dammit, come here.”
I’ve never seen “Dammit,” I don’t know what she looks like, or how tall or old she is. I just know that Mom called her a lot! We’ve never had a birthday party for her, and she has never received any Christmas gifts either. I hope she isn’t too disappointed in us.
The Fifties and Sixties
That span of years was one of the greatest times our country has seen when it comes to raising children. Television was still in its infancy and most programming was geared toward adults more so than their kids.
We listened to the radio more than we watched TV. Elvis was extremely popular with his new brand of rock and roll, and new crooners were popping up more and more, capturing our minds and our hearts.
In those years, the ’50s and ’60s, football and basketball games weren’t as prolific on TV as they are today. That left us to listen to the play-by-play of football and basketball games on the radio.
When school was out, we were allowed to play outside until dark, when the streetlights came on. Games like red rover-red rover, and hide-and-seek were some of our favorite ways to keep ourselves entertained.
During the dogdays of the hot summer, when it was too hot to play, Mom would let us turn on the garden hose and sprinkle each other with cold water. Amusement parks were few and far between in those days, so we had to create our own…
