[madrasahs]

Originally Posted by Frdxplorer

...All this should give you plenty of time to peacefully continue reading up on the causes of Attention Deficit Disorder while sitting on the dock.

To summarize:
TV
DVD
VCR
Instant Messenger
Grand Theft Auto
Videogames
Sega
X-Box
Game Boy
Video rental store
E-mail
Message boards
Surfing the Net
Funspot
Daytona Fun Parks
Karts
Miniature Golf
Ice cream
Magazines
Puzzles
Cards
Board games
Computer games
Badmitten
Horse shoes
Volleyball
Catch
Indoor Bowling
Lazer Tag
Library
Movies
People watching
Water slides
Driving around
Anchoring
Paddle games
Hula Hoops
Jump ropes

I agree with Frdxplorer, but feel compelled to add that all of these responses, as well as solitaire, novel-reading, and crossword puzzles, can be experienced in New Jersey!

If we kids even had a TV at Winnipesaukee -- I don't remember it.

I recall a bunch of kids being highly amused by reading from a "Mr. Answer Man" book. The answers were in the back of the book, but we found it extremely funny to read the wrong responses from the wrong answer page. Question Example: How long is a furlong? Answer: Five liters!

At night, we'd play board games, mostly "Keyword" -- a Scrabble knock-off that encouraged long words -- not the two-dozen tiny ones that Scrabble encourages. (But Scrabble will do).

We took the dark night sky around the Lakes Region for granted: sometimes walking home from the neighbor's on moonless nights by the light from the stars, ("Starshine" -- no light pollution back then). There were few satellites in the night sky anyway.

Today I find star-watching (and astronomy in general) cold and boring. My folks never introduced me to the night sky -- there's a lesson there.

Today, while around Winnipesaukee, I'd take kids to check out all the Natural attractions, and find a collection of "Golden Science Guide Books" to all the mammals, shorelines, fossils, trees, bugs, rocks and minerals, butterflies, stars, zoology, moths, pond life, reptiles, amphibians, flowers, birds, spiders, fishes, snakes, WEATHER, etc. We still have a collection from the fifties and sixties, and all are dog-eared. All the Lake folks I know hoard these books.

(I only mention spiders because it is said that there are about 100,000 spiders per acre -- and I manage to find every web as I walk through my acre).


You won't get this New Hampshire opportunity with your kids but for "too-short" periods every year. Many a doctor, scientist, or other promising career, starts out with a childhood rich in Mother Nature.


Teach your kids (or yourself) how to tie knots at the dock: clove hitch, half-hitch, surgeon's knot, fisherman's knot, and the most versatile and important knot of all...the bowline.

Plus, kids are like sponges for information, and most of what we use every day -- as adults -- are learned as kids. Try learning a foreign language -- or even English grammar -- as an adult! It's all uphill as an adult.

Just because they're out of school, doesn't mean they should be put "on hold".

[/lecture]