Red Rover, Red Rover. . . Butch Says Come Over!

Hey, you parents out there . . . how many times have your kids told you they’re bored? They just can’t think of anything to do, can they? Well, my generation (the “baby boomers”) were never bored because we could think of plenty of fun things to do, none of which involved electronic games, TV, or phones . . . and most of these didn’t cost a dime.

   There was always something to do in Dad’s toolshed. I built several miniature boats with scrap lumber to float in the horse tanks and rubber band powered cars to race against friends. One time I built a go-cart, using an old lawn mower engine, but unfortunately its top speed was about 3 miles per hour . . . if it was headed downhill! We built tunnels and hideouts in the haymow and swung on the hay rope, landing in big piles of straw. I fished at nearby gravel pits hundreds of times, rode my bike for miles around and of course played all of the sports back in the day. I hunted for arrowheads, fossils and colorful rocks in the fields, and I collected all types of bird feathers. My best friend and I once built a treehouse, and on another occasion built a clubhouse in the barn for the members of “the Captain Hook Club,” our secret society!

   Some kids today complain that they are bored during recess. I never had that problem either. The two most common games were “tag” and “hide and seek.” There was also “Annie Over” and “Red Rover,” in which we had to break through the line of boys and girls who had formed a chain by holding their hands together. Another fun game with others was “Crack the Whip,” in which the person on the very end had to run faster and faster to keep up and not let go. Many of the girls played hopscotch on the concrete basketball court, while others enjoyed playing jacks. Almost everyone jumped rope, sometimes using two ropes at a time. While someone was jumping, the others sang a funny song . . . “Down in the valley where the green grass grows, there sits Susie as sweet as a rose, she jumps so high, she sings so sweet, and then comes Billy to kiss her on the cheek!” Then they would begin counting until the person missed a jump.

   A favorite game inside the gym was dodgeball. To make it more interesting, sometimes one team had all of the dodgeballs to begin with, and the other side was bombarded with a dozen balls. A few of the other simple games were “keep away,” “leapfrog,” “blind man’s bluff,” “Simon says,” “follow the leader” and “Mother may I?” . . . just to name a few. Girls used string to make “Cats in the cradle,” “crow’s feet” and other crazy designs. They also fashioned paper into four sections, with writing on each one (sometimes the names of classmates), moving the sections back and forth, and counting out as they revealed the final answer of what boy liked a certain girl . . . a true predictor of grade school love! Racing each other in relays was also fun, especially when done piggyback style. And I guess everyone knows that many boys practiced their football skills in the fall, basketball skills in the winter and softball in the spring!

   Many of you can think of other games that you played for hours at a time back in those days, using just your imagination. We had none of the games and toys that kids have today. We played many of the games that our parents had played when they were youngsters, or we created our own games. Were we bored? . . . Heck no!

John “Butch” Dale is a retired teacher and County Sheriff. He has also been the librarian at Darlington the past 37 years, and is a well-known artist and author of local history.