Play 1 - Fall Edition

Play took differing forms, some were  all year around and while others were very much seasonal which is where we'll begin I think.

 One I well remember from Junior school only lasted for a few weeks but was at the forefront of our minds was playing conkers which as a boy I looked forward too.
The conker was basically a Horse Chestnut of which a god number came down during the fall to which we'd eagerly gather up splitting open the thorny encasement to remove the horse chestnut from it and then we'd soak them in vinegar to harden them before putting a hole in.
We normally used strong string tightly fastened at the conker end.
What you'd do is one of you would hold theirs straight while you strike it with your own until one of the two broke and the winning one would play against another until we had a winner amongst Junior Boys.
Today it is much frowned on in case any debris lands in a boys eye but this as with many related things just wasn't on the horizon back then.

Playing soccer

Play is a big thing when you're young and it happened in many places some of which I'll talk about later but there's one form I feel like talking about now.

We didn't have a playground where we lived never mind one set in open countryside so with the exception of the school playing field which was small by modern standards, we played on waste ground or one a tree lined recess between the road and our houses.
The usual game for us boys was soccer for which we improvised goals from coats which worked well as at that time traffic was small and we know everyone and when their fathers would come in from work in their cars as our mothers didn't.
The nearest park was a good mile and half walk along a dangerous road with no sidewalk so the only proper soccer we played was at school during recess or for games where we'd have one sesson a week and the girls had one of their own usually borrowing the same pitch.
With my co-ordination I was put in as 'defence' or as goalie not really being trusted to take a ball and score goals with it and if it wasn't so busy I'd get frozen in the winter with just a fleecy red and white soccer jersey, white shorts and socks on.
 From memory I'm sure I had proper soccer shoes that had studs and had to be tied up which was something I couldn't and still can't do and the ball was a big heavy one.

Grandfather and boy

"Being" is a concept I feel defies logical explanation so much it is something you move and feel emotionally in as one and so I think it's sensible to just talk about it.

 My Grandfather was a very keen gardener although he lived in fairly small house aided by the garden at the rear being quite long so either side of the area used for sitting out in and play, he often had various plants and flowers planted such as honeysuckles and roses grown from cuttings or seeds.
It was a passion he shared with me, taking me to see various parks to see the municipal  displays, walking me down the the market stall sellers where we'd buy them to plant very much man and boy.
In his world being masculine didn't preclude nurturing something tenderly helping to raise it nor did it mean you couldn't appreciate beauty. I was always proud to be his favourite boy.

Boyhood spanking

Some aspects of childhood have changed in part over the years and do carry controversy both as they pertain to current attitudes and ideas around child raising and also the extent to which some feel  adults can comment upon them. These are mine.

In the period I experienced boyhood, it was accepted by everyone that whoever you were with had the right to discipline you in the absence of your parents and  in accordance with their own principals because as a boy you were in their care and your parents were not asked by anyone for their approval. If you were with a friend, if your friend was spanked for some offence and you did the same then so were you.
This was as much true of being at the home of a boy your were friends with playing as it was at church, cubs as it was in school except your school had policies that were communicated to your parents because they chose to send you to it.
As a boy therefore you knew as I did whenever you broke a rule whoever you were with was going to discipline you for it and that was that.
Like many boys spanking did feature in my childhood not least at school because unlike some of the issues around how my own parents were conflicted around disciplining me, the school system treated every boy the same for breaking the same rules.
My teachers and especially my head teacher believed very strongly in treating every boy the same including disabled boys like me exactly the same and so they spanked me either by hand or with the plimsole across my shorts sometimes in class at othertimes in the headteachers office but with my class knowing I was going to be spanked.
He understood if you treated disabled boys differently allowing them more leeway to use their disabilities as an excuse to not try to learn and follow the rules not only do you undermine group cohesion you fail to instil the self discipline you need to make the most of being a disabled child with all the struggles you face. Being soft wasn't ultimately kind dealing with the at times unfair world.
Several years back I met my former headteacher before he died and after talking about the life I had made for myself and he showed how proud he was was that I had found my place as an adult in society we talked about those time he spanked me and actually I thanked him for treating me the same as any other boy and for caring to correct some of my attitudes and silly behaviours.
My own view on reflection remains that he was right to spank me and that this did work better than the other ways my parents tried miserably at in changing them.