New Kids, Old Tricks (p.32)

By Aimee Laine

The sun warms a little girl, her hair tucked within a wide-brimmed hat balanced precariously atop her tiny head. It covers one eye as it falls forward when she leans toward Mister Bear, propped with his friends Bunny, Turtle, and Dolly across the expanse of a knitted blanket. “Would you like a cracker?” Her voice infused with the sweetness that comes from age. She offers him a cup of invisible tea. The tiny ceramic teapot clenched between equally small but plump fingers pours and together they enjoy their springtime picnic.

She becomes a master chef.

He races along a dirt road, free to pass from one side to the other. The string spins off the stick held tight in his dusty hand, and the triangular shaped fabric begins its dance with the wind. “Run!” his comrades say. The purple tail spins wildly as the kite reaches the end of its tether. It dives with the breeze as he tugs, and it rises again. The smiles cannot be contained; the kite is alive.

He becomes an aerospace engineer.

We live in an age of baseball and bowling via the television, video games which leave nothing but smell to the imagination, and children who text friends seated to their immediate right or left rather than hold an audible conversation.

Technology has its place, but have our children gotten lost within it? What happened to the fun, friendships, and time-consuming activities that could only be found with hands-on shared activities, especially in the summer?

The school year’s end coincides with the start of the hot season – a time for play, no matter the age. Whether your children have a week or three months off, tuck those Wii remotes away for a day – summer is best suited for working outside the box, not within it.

Find a moment, reflect on your own memories, and share one of your favorite summertime stories with your kids. Watch how their minds interpret it into one of their own. Not only will the experience be a new twist on an age-old idea, it could be the spark that ignites your child’s curiosity and leads to her future.

You’ll even want to participate when they call out … “Hey Mom! Look what we did!”

“Lemonade! One dollar!” Voices ring out as laughter and giggles follow. You think to yourself ... that much for a paper cup’s worth of luke-warm, over-sweetened, sugar water from a box you bought yourself? Yet, your feet find themselves trotting over to the makeshift stand – a flipped-over box with “LEMON” written in scrawled penmanship on the front. “ADE” didn’t quite fit – it’s been squished onto the side. You’re handed a cup, unsure whether its been used before. “Thank you, ma’am.” Her smile beams at you with the pride of success.

She becomes a CEO.

Two three-foot long branches of your favorite cherry tree have been stripped bare. A nearly transparent thread extends from one of its ends down to the ground. Each “fishing pole” is perched on a shoulder. The pants of your little ones’ jeans have been rolled up to their ankles, and a bucket of dirt you assume holds hidden worms hangs at their fingertips.

“We’re going fishing!” Their eyes light up with determination and independence; you know the creek is safe and visible from your backyard. “Catch dinner!” you call out after them as they traipse barefoot across the soft grass.

They are the next reality show team to race around the world.

As your children sit, once again, lulled into submission by images that pass across a TV screen, pick a pastime and call it out. “Who wants to go strawberry picking?” Their faces will light up as the screen grows dark.

“Me!” they all say in unison.

Aimee Laine is a photographer, writer, and instructor based in Apex. Visit her website at www.aimeelaine.com.