Been Awhile

It's been awhile since I've seen kids use their full imagination while playing. Usually the block is playing a game, or dancing, or riding bikes, or playing with water. But rarely do my children play imagination story lines when playing with their neighborhood gang. This afternoon their friends who are siblings came back to play and they are outside whooping up the fun with imaginative play. This is how I grew up and it is great to see them adding this spark to the front yard.

I remember tying ropes to our bikes to turn them into horses, or reenacting television shows like Love Boat or Emergency/Squad 51 (and for the record, my parents didn't let us watch Love Boat but only on an extreme occasion, but I knew who Julie McCoy was so I always tried to raise my hand the highest to be chosen to play her part). Every one was a character and it was imperative that you played your part well and didn't jump character into someone different. Once we started it was the thing for the rest of the day, and it was hard to convince others that you were tired of playing that imagination, or that you wanted to switch to a game like Hide and Seek. But it just worked, all day long, you were engrossed in reenactments and imagination.
My children play this well with each other inside or when we are camping or in our backyard. Although I am grateful for the dynamics of our neighborhood and wouldn't change the people, I have always noticed this element missing. But today they are playing with their friends from school that came over for a date and I am trying to follow along....from the snippets I've over heard so far: the boys have stolen money and the girls are the law enforcement agency trying to rally them up and put them away. Bikes are strewn about, coats have come off and are laying here and there, scooters are laying on the grass ... FUN is happening!