Sunday, November 05, 2006

When Is a Jackass Not A Jackass?

The so-called 'experts' are out again! Their complaint is that movies like "Jackass" should be banned because kids of today will go out and try to copy the antics!

Well, I've got news for you, 'experts', as a kid growing up, I never missed a Saturday afternoon matinee at the Olympia Theatre in Gympie. Then for the following week until the next Saturday, my friend and I acted out the movies we had seen the previous Saturday! We were trapeze artists, tightrope walkers, ballet dancers (yes, we were and still are females!), swashbuckling pirates, cowboys and indians, 'Robina' Hoods, cat woman...we even changed into Superman and Batman! We saved the world from many a tight situation! We were brave, adventurous, swung from ropes tied to branches of the backyard trees, while imitating the neighbourhood-shattering call of Tarzan. We tackled crocodiles and alligators long before Crocodile Dundee and Steve Irwin were ever heard of! We raced in the streets of Monaco and on the tracks of San Marino in our 'soapbox carts'.

And I'm still here to tell the tale!

On the one hand 'they' scream about childhood obesity...and on the other hand 'they' are trying to harness outdoor activity of children.

Stop 'molly-coddling' the kids of today, I say. Kids have to be kids, skinned knees and elbows, a few whacks on the head... all part of growing up.

6 comments:

  1. Ahhh...my memory gates have just swung fully open. We played Samurai with swords we made from fence palings, We were Shintaro and the secret Ninjas jumping from the garage roof, we made swings by the river from car tires and rope, we dared each other to jump from the twenty foot mud cliffs into the river just like tarzan, we made billy carts from the left over fence palings and wheels we found at the dump then race them down impossibly steep hills, we 'sailed' Dad's rowboat across the lake attacking marauding pirates...god we had FUN and still had time to play football, hide-n-seek and anything else that kept us outdoors until dark. Thanks Lee :)
    PS: Broke my arm twice and got enough iodine poured on me to make me alergic LOL

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  2. lol Scorpy...you're welcome to the good memories! God! I grew up in Gympie (born in Rockhampton, lived in Slade Point until I was four and then moved to Gympie)...and as you are probably well aware, Gympie is full of hills! Tearing up and down those in the billy carts was certainly, when I look back on it, taking our lives in our hands! lol We survived...somehow. My brother wouldn't allow me to use his 'grand prix' designs...the special ones with ball-bearing wheels attached! They were the creme d' creme! ;) Not for use by girls! I never broke any bones...but I know I had a few skinned knees! All part of the fun!

    Playing pirates was great fun...not when playing with my brother though...somehow I always was the one who had to walk the plank! lol He and his mates used to grab my dolls and hang them from the nearest citrus trees or whatever else they thought suitable, while I would stand by screaming at them as the boys fired arrows at my family of dolls! The joys of having an older brother! ;)

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  3. Gosh, that brought back a lot of memories for me too!! It's a shame that kids today don't seem to be enjoying the kind of fun we had as kids. I was the only girl with 4 brothers so it was hard to get them to play with me but every once in a while they feel sorry for me! lol

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  4. Hi Pea...my brother wouldn't play with me. His greatest enjoyment was teasing the hell out of me! And...he always got a reaction...which made him go for broke! :)

    Yes, I think we were lucky when we were kids as we had more freedom to play without the worries that haunt us today, not knowing who to trust...which is a damn shame, I reckon.

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  5. Anonymous1:04 AM

    I had lots of boy cousins and four brothers (girls were pretty scarce on the ground in our family then - I help to close the gap, I had two daughters!) Anyway, we made bows and arrows, they taught me to smoke (which I gave away years ago), and we would play my very, very favourite game - pirates! I loved (and still do love) pirates.

    I carry scars to this day from my childhood, but they remind me of the great times we had. Kids have no imagination today to make up their own games and computers, Gameboys and X-Boxes are responsible - along with parents who live by the tenet - anything for quiet! Crazy...

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  6. Yeah! Yeah! Bows and arrows were great. I was always an Indian maid or a female Robin Hood! lol

    We used to put 'monkey nuts' into our shuttlecocks to make them go faster and further. The nuts were off palm trees growing in our yard. It's a wonder if any of us kept our eyes!

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