I spent a lot of time “helping” my Mum take care of our house and I can remember how patient she was … up to a point and then I would be encouraged to find something else to do.
My favorite thing was sweeping up alongside her – my broom was little and hers was big. She always swept up the dust while I am pretty sure I just moved it around a bit but it did instill in me the idea that cleaning up was a good thing. That particular lesson stayed with me much longer than any math class ever did!
I also took it upon myself to visit a little old lady across the road and I suspect I might have been one of the bright moments in her otherwise lonely world.
A new house was being built across the road from my home and with it came workmen with hard hats and boots. They obviously needed a foreman and even though I had no prior experience on building sites I was willing to take on this unpaid role regardless.
I used to pop over there daily and I have a clear memory of getting stuck. I had stepped into wet cement before the workmen could warn me and I remember being lifted right up out of my gumboots which stayed stuck in the setting cement. I was then deposited back on my front door. Mama was horrified and apologized profusely on my behalf but was told that I was not a bother. He said that they looked forward to my daily site visits.
A couple of hours later there was a knock at the door, my gumboots arrived on the front doorstep minus the cement. Bless them.
Finally like all kids of that generation there were other children around my age nearby and we became instant best friends and played together either in the street or at each other’s homes and back gardens.
I find the way we make friends changes as time goes by and this fascinates me. The only pre requisite when you are very young is that you are about the same age, that’s it! We don’t care about any of things that become more important as time goes by - we just care that you might be able to entertain us for some period of time. We also hope that you have toys we don’t so that we can have a go playing with them.
I wish we could define the gene that would allow us to hold onto that simplicity. Imagine a world where we would all happily play with each other - it would be magical.
We would choose to play together regardless of age, sex, nationality, intelligence, beliefs, net worth and all the other things that slowly get added to the list of “suitable friends” as we get older.