Imagination!

I don't think kids now know what they're kissing out on. : / Much like your "horse," my best friend and I would play "snow leopards" after I became enamored with them at the zoo at age 6. We even each had little matching stuffed animal snow leopards --Snowy J. and Snowy T.-- who once talked to each other on the phone when I was living overseas for a time. We played school with them and wrote itty bitty report cards. And we used to have a ball with Trolls, too, making whole households for them and making them go on outdoor adventures. When a bit older, I can remember racing around the baseball field on a hill near my house, playing "pegasus" with a friend (no normal animals for me, apparently!); and a separate time, but with this same friend, playing "wolves" at school and getting slapped (the one and only time that's happened, I think...and I was 8, haha) by a classmate who I was evidently bugging a little TOO much. And yes! Don't touch the floor or you'll die! Building couch cushion forts was pretty great, too. Reading is huge, I think it's so important for kids and if they're not exposed to it when they're young it can cause quite a bit of difficulty later on...I'm ever thankful my parents were big readers and instilled the joys of it in me.

It really was a lot of fun...the fact that I remember it so vividly even now speaks volumes about how much it meant to me, I think. Many of these were outdoor activities, too, and that's something that more kids don't get nearly enough of any more. Another downside of technology that was definitely starting to become apparent when we were kids; why go out and play when you can stay glued to a screen inside? At least sports are still going strong... I have a great-nephew who's going through that same struggle, and the sad thing is he really wants to be able to read well, but he's 14 now and I know he's not up to a 9th grade reading level. : / I'm glad you love to read, I definitely do as well. I can't imagine what I would be missing out on if I didn't enjoy.

Whenever I went swimming I played "Mermaid" and when I was on my bike I was "riding a horse." We seemed to have similar games that we made up and played! It was so much fun wasn't it? I wish kids today did that more often. For one thing it's way cheaper than video games! I mean sure ok when I hit my teen years I stopped playing make believe and moved on to more video games, internet and tv. But I'm glad I spent many of my younger years using my imagination to have fun. Maybe it's helped me still be creative today. I'm thankful my mom read to me every night when I was little. It helped me out so that I was the first kid in my class to learn how to read. And I quickly wound up reading years ahead of my grade level and kept it up all through school. Now I LOVE to read. My sister's kids on the other hand are 11, 12 and 13 and still struggling with reading because my sister just never exposed them to books enough. It's kind of sad...

I agree, parents really should play an active roll in how kids' minds develop. It sure can be a lot easier to let your kids be babysat by the tv or computer, but they NEED interaction with other people, and that's something parents should be thinking of...