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It's the summer holidays, where did all the children go?

Posted by: Emily   August 13th 2009

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I took my children out to ride their bicycles in the park and was surprised by the deadly silence I encountered when I stepped out of my front door.

There were no children out in the street and scarcely any children in the park.

Where did they all go?

I know it’s summer and some families have gone on holiday but I’d still expect to see some children out and about. A fellow mum suggested they were all at home on their play stations.

This is in stark contrast to how we spent our summer holidays or should I say misspent them!

We’d be off grasshopper catching and apple scrumping in some deserted wasteland. This usually involved a neighbour’s overgrown garden. A garden so overgrown the neighbour had no idea we were there. If children did this today they’d get an ASBO!

We weren’t always in neighbours gardens though. We’d sometimes find a large muddy puddle and pretend it was a swamp and we’d use bits of dumped rubbish (crates and things) to make bridges to cross the deadly toxic waters. Our imaginations knew no boundaries.

Of course we also played cricket, rode our bikes and enjoyed lazy days lying in long grass with a sketch pad. We’d be bare footed and fancy free, enjoying the great outdoors.

Winter holidays were just as much fun as we’d have a foot of snowfall most years. I built an igloo one year. It wasn’t finished until after dark and I ran across the road to invite a pal to come and look. I didn’t tell  my mum, who thought the whole thing must’ve collapsed on top of me as I didn’t come in for supper when she called me.

I got a roasting for causing her to traipse through the deep snow in her slippers to rescue me!

Floods were also particularly popular. My street had quite high kerbs and when the drains were blocked we’d have a decent patch of water to paddle in.

We really did enjoy being outdoors in all weather and when I took my children to the park recently we were caught out in heavy rainfall. We were soaked through to the skin. It was great. We cycled home in wet clothes, changed into dry ones and enjoyed sugary snacks. It was the first time my children properly experienced being out in the rain. No umbrellas, no rain coats, no shelter. Just warm rain.

They didn’t complain about the weather once.

How very UN British!



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