Honest Fun!

The schools are out and summer holidays are here!

We have a little park/play area right behind our home and a lot of kids come in the evening to play there. The summer season sees a huge traffic till the schools re-open again!

This evening, my little one was playing with some of her buddies and I watched as she laughed and rolled in the grass while they tagged each other :-) And then I saw her walk away in a huff - little politics you see :-)

I just went there to see what was going on, and thought it was best to get them all together and start a new game.

So, I tried cajoling the bigger girls to come join - uh, uh. They didn't budge. Instead one of them told me that she had too many friends to play with! I loved it - the little attitude and everything:-) It is adorable! You must go to a park one of these days and watch them - you'll see the little games they play with each other, the teams and everything. Oh! it is a lot of fun!

Then I switched my strategy a little and collected all the older boys. We formed a large circle, at least 20 of us and played a very old game I used to play as a kid. That of a sheep and a fox. The sheep is in the middle of the circle and the fox is outside, trying to grab the sheep. The circle holds their hands very tightly and tries to save the little sheep from the fox! The game is really really fun in a large group!Not to mention everyone present there joined our fun eventually :-)

Then we played another game that I knew back in our school days - "Kho-Kho". The kids never knew about this game and they simply loved it when they got the hang of it!

After about 2 hours, they didn't want to go home and wanted more :-)

We parted with a promise to return every evening!

Will it happen every evening, I don't know. But, I know that my little friends will all be waiting for me! And I'll try to go back there for sure one of these days - why? because, I felt like a kid again too!

Simple, honest games - we seem to be losing them as we get caught up in this big tangle of the Wiis, PS3 and whatever else is out there that comes between those little legs itching to run, little arms ready for a little fist fight, that energy that cannot be contained in a chair - those little smiles bright and that turn even more beautiful on a shiny, face full of sweat! Smelly, sweaty, dirty and beaming!

Let them go....run, be wild, and be themselves - happy and innocent...