Reflections on Childhood

 If I have any longtime readers (and I hardly have any so I doubt it), they might recall that something like two years ago my wife and I gave birth to our firstborn son.

Lately, I've been spending lots and lots of time playing with him.  I mean, I've always tried to spend time with him and play with him, but he's finally in that toddler stage where play actually is starting to have some structure and meaning and not just "peek-a-boo" and the like.  He loves being outside, which is wonderful because I do, too, and we've been spending a ton of time outdoors together.

When I was a kid, I grew up on College Hill in Beaver Falls.  The house was fairly sized, if a little small for a family of six, but the yard was the real problem.  The lot was mostly taken up by the house, and the spit of yard we had was only about ten feet across and not really any longer than the house.  There wasn't really room for things like a swing set; in fact, the baby pool we had was about as wide as the yard.  Even though our yard was terribly small, all of my fondest memories from childhood were formed in that yard.

I've written about that yard many times, but I haven't thought about it for years.  Yesterday, I saw my son running around our backyard and wished that he had more space to enjoy himself.  Then, completely unexpectedly, images of my own childhood flashed before my mind's eye and I knew that he could enjoy himself in his yard so long as we let him.  I mean, he's got way more space than I ever had.

Then my mind wandered down memory lane, and melded those memories with dreams and images I have in my mind about what I hope my son's childhood will be like.  I saw myself running around playing with sticks, slaying monsters and battling off hoards of enemies.  That slipped into images of my son running around with a sword in his hand beating back the tides of evil now that I've grown too old to do so myself.  I saw images of my sisters and I pushing each other around in our Little Tykes car as I pushed him around in his own, and dreamed of the day when he'd have siblings of his own to push around in that car.

Then I started to think about all the things he has that I never had, and wondered how that would make him different.  He's already got a swing and a slide and a power wheels tractor.  I never had any of those things growing up.  He's got a couple of dogs to run around with him and keep him company, which was another thing I never had as a kid.  My wife and I have plans to make our backyard a fun play area, and already are looking for the next thing to add out there.

Sometimes I'm concerned I'm spoiling him.  I mean, I did buy him a slide, and though I didn't buy the swing or the power wheels, I did put them together and let him use them whenever he wants.  I do plan on adding to the fun area out back to keep him playing outdoors as much as possible.  My wife's concern is more that she worries over the idea that someone might snatch him up.

What does childhood look like these days?  I guess we'll work on figuring that out together.