Do you remember that childhood game?
I do!
When I was twelve my brother counted up all the kids on our street. In one block, on just our side, there were fifty three of us from birth to eighteen years old. Back then there were no fences and the backyard ran from the top to the bottom of the block. We had a six house stretch of lawn in which to play red light green light, red rover, kick ball, dodge ball or anything else we could dream up with fifteen to twenty players per game. The best games were hide and go seek at twilight. With porches on the fronts and backs of all the houses, alley ways in between, the car lot on the corner and a huge ten foot high bushy hedge running three quarters of the block at the back of the yards there were hundreds of places to hide. We only had three restrictions; you could not cross the street, you could not go around the corners and you could not go inside the houses. What a way to grow up. I can still hear my mother’s solution for sibling squabbles ringing in my ears “Go outside and play! You are driving me crazy!” We were more often than not outside.
Wow what dredged up these forty year old memories? Becca did. I picked her up today to take her to FTEA for her equine therapy session. Two blocks down the road she pipes up with “Nancy, the green light means go”. So of course I ask about red lights. Then remembering that she had mentioned playing red light /green light the night before my brain fires and catches on to the thought “ohhh teachable moment”. So off goes my mom/chauffeur hat and I plunk on my mom/speech therapist hat. I have a twenty minute drive ahead of me with stop lights every five blocks a topic initiated by my daughter (unheard of) and of such interest to her that she did not clam up the minute I tried to engage her in conversation. Trust me I got all the mileage I possibly could including the concepts of top middle bottom, left center right, continuity of where the red and green lights are placed (you see we are not sure that Becca is not color blind) even engine revving tire squealing and brake noises. It actually was a fun drive.
FTEA helped us out by ending today’s session with a game of “Whoa” & “Walk on” to red and green cards. Before coming home we stopped at Costco. The second time I stopped the cart Becca pipes up again with “red light” and again with “green light” as I started to move again. Then came the request to play red light /green light. So I took off the mom/therapist hat and pulled out my plain old mom hat, true I had to dust it off (it was thick with dust because I haven’t used it in so long) but I plopped it on my head and began to play and laugh. We had a good time stopping and going while calling out red light /green light all through Costco to the amusement of many of the customers and sample ladies. Two women we know caught us playing. I think they were more than just amused they actually enjoyed seeing our game. My heart was thrilled to be interacting with my daughter and having fun doing so.
