CAR!!! Yelled out at one point or another by every child on our street. Nothing is more exciting than forty kids playing. Having a blast on a sunny day with water balloons and squirt guns, basketballs and footballs, baseballs and soccer balls, trampolines, bicycles, roller blades and scooters… every toy you can imagine! It’s constant laughter and fun. Kids running through the yards… ringing door bells… calling on everyone to join in.
The biggest sport on our street is hockey. Nets come out… equipment is gathered… sticks thrown to the ground to pick teams. Kids of all ages join in to play the game. If it’s a big game it starts with the National Anthem being sung and ends with the losing team having to run three laps around the center median. It’s amazing to watch. Nothing is funnier than watching grown men do laps around the street while the kids cheer on!
The police had to act on a complaint last week to stop street hockey in a neighbourhood in Enfield! WOW! I can’t imagine that happening to our street. The children would be lost! I guess it helps that we live on a cul-de-sac… but to be honest… I’ve driven around kids on many streets playing a game of hockey and don’t have a problem with it. They’re not in front of the TV… not sitting in front of a computer… not hanging out in the mall or strolling the streets… they’re out playing, getting exercise and having a good time! What’s the big deal? Slow down, drive around… LET THEM PLAY!
The grass next to my house isn’t perfect. It’s worn away from the “bases” where the children play soccer baseball and when it rains it turns to mud. I bang on the dining room window from time to time when things get a little loud or rambunctious outside… but I’m good with them being there. They’re kids for goodness sake! People have to just let kids be kids.
HEADS UP!!! Yelled out as you enter the barn with a horse on a lead. We spent the morning at the horse show at Restless Pines. My daughter’s second show. The first show had her thrown from a horse but she got right back in the saddle. This morning… Walk/Trot… two second place, a first and a second overall. What a morning!
You shouldn’t stop a child from doing what they’re passionate about. I hated seeing my little one thrown from a horse… but was so damn proud when she got back on and continued. I’m not too thrilled about seeing my son hit the boards in a hockey game either… but let kids be kids! Keep them safe… protect them… but for goodness sake don’t stop them!
We dropped into a neighbour’s house when we got back for my daughter to show how proud she was in all her riding finest with her various ribbons. Her little friend yelled “we have a champion on our street!” Thing is… we have over forty little champions on our street! Each one in various sports, music and activities. Each proud of their accomplishments. Each passionate about what they are doing. Growing up together… encouraging each other… learning how to get along. Laughing and singing and playing together. Being kids.
SOCIABLE!! Yelled out in Durty Nelly’s on any number of nights. Folks raising their glasses to having a good time. Playing… laughing… singing… having fun.
I spend two nights a week watching riding, several days a week enjoying a street hockey game, and a few times a month at Durty Nelly’s. Every now and then… I do all three on the same day! Problem is… sometimes I get a little scattered after too many Sociables! Yelling CAR or HEADS UP in Nelly’s can prompt some odd behaviour for a pub! I hope no one complains or surely the police will show up. (Let’s hope he’s single! Kinda like a man in uniform!!!)