838 Ways to Amuse a Child

My dad found this book called 838 Ways to Amuse a Child at a used bookstore and got it for me awhile back. A few months ago I checked it out and found it pretty amusing. It was published in like 1960, so its really different from modern books about children's activities. For example, it gives ideas like if you want to hike with your child, write a letter to the National Hiking and Camping Association and ask for information. Its all about "correspondence", how to entertain your "convalescent child" while they are "convalescing" and things like that. You know what I mean...these were the days that hobbies listed include "indian lore" and "animal tracking" and things like that. It includes craft ideas on how to make a variety of ugly things, like paper mache fruit that you glue into a wooden bowl to hang on your wall. You know, how to macrame. It also has ideas like how to make a "hobo stove" for camping (take a large, restaurant-sized, tin can, soak corrugated cardboard in paraffin wax, light wax on fire and cook your beans-n-weenies or whatever).


The book got me thinking though, about a simpler time for children. I know, I know, there never was any "good ol' days" and its not like the post-war 50's were all sunshine for people. I'm not saying we should go back to pioneer days when you could expect half your children to die of cholera and a bacterial infection was fatal. But there was a time when childhood obesity was not a problem. I mean like, how on earth can a child get obese? They have insane amounts of energy and love to burn it. But its now an "epidemic" in our country, along with childhood diabetes, ADHD, etc. 838 Ways talks about games to play in the car, games to play at the hotel with your kids while traveling, craft ideas for a kid stuck in bed sick (or convalescing as she loves to say). What do kids in cars do now? They watch the car's DVD player of course. What do they do at home when sick? Watch TV. What do they do in a hotel room? Watch TV. A friend recently related to me a scene she saw at a local restaurant. A child, no older than 3, watching a hand-held DVD player at the restaurant, totally zombified. Our kids are so plugged-in, its scary.

I suggest that plenty of free-play outdoors would eliminate the "epidemic" of childhood obesity. Children revel in simple pleasures and are experts at the art of noticing the small--living in the moment. A child, left to her own devices, will watch an ant-hole for an hour. Even if there was never a time when life was easy and simple, the happy Cleaver family with 2.5 kids, there was a time when children didn't watch TV. Children's programming, including 24 hour "preschool TV" like Sprout is a new phenomenon, only around since I was a kid and Sesame Street came out.

A recent study said that forty percent of infants by THREE MONTHS are "regularly" watching TV or videos. How in the HELL does a 3 month old watch TV? Its sickening. Never mind that the American Academy of Pediatrics says that watching any TV before the age of 2 YEARS is damaging to a child's brain development. Other studies point out alarming facts such as 66% of kids age 8 or older have a TV in their room. More than 80% of American kids watch MORE than 2 hours per day.

If you have kids, try to simplify their lives, too. Less exposure to commercials means they won't develop the desire to mindlessly consume. My mother's friend told me that her friend's children who are TV-free asked for matching umbrellas and rain boots for christmas, instead of the latest toy fad. They simply weren't aware of the latest toy fads. I think that is so precious. Kids need to experience nature. They need to experience the world. Limit their TV time by A LOT. Or just get rid of it. You'd be surprised at the ways they come up with to entertain themselves.