Sticks, Rocks, and Grass

Whatever happened to sticks, rocks, and grass? NOTHING! They are still everywhere. Only, children do not seem to notice them anymore. When I was growing up, I can remember every day, almost, playing with these three things. They were essential to mine and my siblings happiness. =) The things we could create! We created miniature little worlds for Roley Poly bugs, for snails, for every little bug-creature to cross our paths. As we got older. these three ingredients became massive forts for us. Obstacle courses. The possibilities were endless. Now the possibilities for a child not becoming bored do not seem to extend beyond the X-Box or the Wii, the DS, the PSP, or the computer. The possibilities definitely do not exceed the boundaries of the TV room. The concept that nature itself could provide hours of fun with the right sprinkling of imagination is a foreign one to today's children. The phrase "I am bored" is all too common of a phrase. I admit, even my children ply that phrase on me and I do not even have cable! My two oldest do have a DS but they use them only about once or twice a month as they are still a little young. Riding their bikes for more than 10 minutes at a time is redundant in their minds. Children today become so easily bored. It leads up to that the attention span of the average child today is not nearly what it was 20 years ago. Encourage reading and less gaming. Books are proven to expand imaginations! They are priceless and can show your child worlds they never dreamed about as well as force them to imagine their own characters as opposed to Hollywood fast food characters. Everything is fast food in America - even a child's mind.