life is more fun if you play games

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I was pretty-fying my ugly mug and brushing my shiny hair this morning, sitting on the edge of the spare bed in the spare bedroom. Across from the bed is a bookcase on which I keep most of my vintage books. They are mostly books I loved from childhood when I was the most voracious reader in the whole wide world. Some of the books are even older than me {*gasp*}, hand-me-downs from older cousins raised in the 1960s. And one of those is a party games one which Mumma was just going to send to charity. I rescued it, and now it lives with me. And thus, we come back to me sitting on the bed. I spied the book, at which point it suddenly dawned on me that children don't seem to often play party games anymore. When I was little I would dress up in long dresses made by my nana, hair brushed and styled to perfection by my Mummy, with ribbons, no-less! Off we would trot to a play mate's birthday party, usually in their front room, for games and sandwiches. Maybe even some jelly and ice-cream. Never the whole class, just our friends, the children we played with. We would play games till we were exhausted, at which point we were probably told to go outside and run around with our imagination, whilst the Mummies drank Babycham, or something stronger for their nerves. If Mummy and Daddy were feeling a bit extravagant there may even have been a childrens entertainer, a musician or clown to enthuse wonder and magic. Pass the Parcel taught us to be patient, Musical Chairs taught us to be viciously competitive, and Musical Statues taught us that being still and silent is often a good thing. We learnt to take our turn, enjoy watching others make fools of themselves {Pin the Tail, Chinese Whispers, that blindfold game, whateveritwascalled} and follow instructions. Now it all seems to be about which parental unit can come up with the best event with the minimal amount of effort. My niece, aged just four, has never been to {what I would call} a proper birthday party. She knows how to play the games because we play them with her, as a family on special occasions. But all the birthday parties she's been to have been with the whole class {nobody gets left out}, unstructured {nobody needs to win, except the birthday child}, with the Mummies nattering in the corner as leisure centre {change as appropriate} staff entertain their munchkins. It makes me sad. And I know that times change and parents get busier, but working with young people gives ne the opportunity to really see how times changing is not always a Good Thing. So sadness prevails.