Kids Nowadays

On Monday Nicholas and I had a conversation in the car about how it’s hard to find things to do outside at his dad’s house when it’s only you and one other kid, and then today I was sharing the conversation with Tom and gained some more valuable insight into what Tom: The Early Years looked like.

me: He said all they really do is play basketball, because it’s not like you can play tag with just two kids.

Tom: You know what they could play? Dig a hole in the dirt. Or they could play crawl into the bushes and find cool stuff. That’s the kind of stuff my brother and I played. Or they can play throw dirt at each other or try to tip things over in the garage.

me: Try to tip things over in the garage?

Tom: Yea, I’m sure they have things in the garage over there. GET IN THERE AND TRY TO TIP THAT STUFF OVER!

me:  That sounds like a good way to ensure that no one tells you to go play outside anymore unsupervised.

Tom: No, they’ll just shut the garage door and lock it. Then you get to play try to kick the garage door open.

me: Continue…

Tom: You just keep kicking the garage door, trying to break that thing in. Then you go inside and complain about how your leg hurts, and they’re like why does your leg hurt? and you say from kicking that garage door open.

me: Then you run like hell when your dad stands up. And the best part? Now you have that third person for a game of tag.

Tom: Exactly.

me: Except Dad is “it.” And there’s going to be hell to pay if he catches you. It’s a high stakes game of tag.

Tom: See? We just came up with about 20 things that two kids can do outside together right here. They’re just not trying hard enough.

me: Kids nowadays. No imagination.