Toys

If you have a pulse, you're probably aware of the variety of toys out there: iPhones, iPods (and the iPod Touch), and now the ridiculously named iPad. (I like Henry's name for all of these--iPoofs.) And those are just the toys that Apple brings to us. My son still is often attached to his Nintendo DS, and when Katie's boyfriend is waiting for her to get ready (often the case), rather than making awkward conversation with the parents or just sitting around uncomfortably not knowing what to do, he pulls out his phone and starts playing games.

So whatever did we do back in the day--before joy was only a start button away? However did parents who had to wait with small children keep them quiet in those pre-pocket computer days?

Someday a children's history book in its section on culture and society will attempt to describe the toys children of the twentieth century played with, those poor, backward souls who knew nothing of pocket-sized electronics, those who thought that color television was an amazing development in entertainment technology and couldn't think of anything that could be better. Here's what it will say:

Children in the mid-twentieth century knew nothing of handheld electronic devices. In fact, none of them even had personal computers in their homes yet--they hadn't been invented! Most of the toys they played with back then cost less than ten dollars, but they didn't come with any apps. It was a challenge for them to find fun things to do because they had to do more than turn on a start button, and yet they managed, like children of any time, to play games and have fun.

Girls especially enjoyed playing a game called jacks, in which they tossed small metal objects on the ground and attempted to pick them up while bouncing a small rubber ball. Sometimes a group of them would get together and stretch out a long rope, and with one girl standing on each end, they would swing it while another player would stand in the middle and jump. Sometimes they would sing a song or recite a fun chant while they were jumping.

Children would play games like you do now, but they actually had boards that they would put on a table or floor. There would be cards they would hold in their hands and plastic pieces that they would move around the board, depending on the game they were playing. Games often involved small cube-shaped things called die that players would throw to find out how many spaces they could move on the board. Another game involved gathering a number of sticks together and then letting them randomly fall. Players would take turns attempting to pick one up at a time without touching any of the others.

There were small pocket toys that they could carry with them, but they weren't electronic at all. They had a cardboard back and a plastic cover on top. Inside were small holes and  small silver beads. Children would move the game around, trying to make the beads stay put in the holes.

And children of this era did have television. But they had only a few channels--two or three at the most. And cartoons were on only on Saturday mornings and for a short time after school.

Sometimes children during this era were expected just to sit quietly, with absolutely no entertainment at all. These were stringent times for children.

Despite these entertainment challenges, children of the mid-twentieth century managed to grow up and become productive members of society. In fact, some of them learned that life couldn't be constant, 24/7 entertainment. Sometimes they did chores, went to school, did homework, and, yes, sometimes they did sit quietly.

How great the technological advances since then! No children today ever have to be without amusement or entertainment--even for a few seconds--like the poor children of the mid-twentieth century.