It appears as though spring has finally arrived. The sun is out, the windows are open, and the voices of children playing a few yards over carry through the lazy breeze. At first, the constant prattle of the kids irritated me- I’ve never been the biggest fan of children. But as the hours wore on, I found myself listening in on their games. Grand scenarios I can’t even imagine played out as they shouted for one another, one of them pretending to be a circus ringleader and the rest…I don’t even know. And it made me think to myself…what happened to my imagination?
I remember being a kid and all the games my friends and I used to play. Lion King was always a favorite- I relished playing a hyena and chasing the other kids around my daycare. We played with Barbies and had tea parties and made our Beanie Babies into Pokemon, making them battle one another. I also remember pretending to be Pokemon, having battles with each other (I liked to be Raichu or Vulpix). I would lay in bed for hours each night with little figurines I’d gotten from the zoo- tigers and leopards and lions- and acted out stories that today I can’t recall. So what happened?
Was it just age that took away my joy of giving inanimate figurines and stuffed animals personalities and storylines? When did I stop being so creative? Listening to the kids outside now, I can’t recall when exactly it all stopped, and it makes me a bit sad that someday their imaginations might run off too. Maybe it was school. The constant workload left little time for fun and games, much less time to hang out with my friends outside of class. Maybe it was the job I got sophomore year of high school. Maybe it was the stigma that stuff like that “wasn’t cool” once you hit middle school. Maybe it was any number of things that made me stop playing with figurines and my friends.
I can’t say I have the desire to go pretend to be a hyena or a Pokemon anymore, but I wonder if there’s a reason for that other than growing older and feeling like stuff like that is “for kids”, so I shouldn’t want to do it. I suppose as adults we have to let our imaginations out in other ways. Whether it’s playing air drums and pretending to be a rockstar, or driving with the windows down and the music loud and imagining that you’re in a music video. Some people write, some people paint, some people just suppress their imagination because they have “more important things to do”.
I still wonder where that 10-year old Kristen went sometimes, and how she turned into me. Part of me thinks it’s unfair that if I were to want to play with figurines or Beanie Babies again, that it would be socially unaccepted. That people would look at me strangely if I were to mention it and think I was immature or crazy. But why? When did it stop being okay to use your imagination the same way you did as a kid? What happened?
What games do you remember playing as a kid? Do you miss that time?
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The same thoughts have occured to me as I watch my 5 year old daughter be a princess, a dog, a pirate, a turtle, a doctor and a ballet dancer, all in one afternoon!
Even though I’m way past school-age, the only thing I still imagine is getting that letter from Hogwarts. I mean, who wouldn’t want that?
I can honestly say that I didn’t play those kinds of games for long as a kid. I played house and made “food” with my “kids”, but my life forced me to grow up at a young age. However, now, with Andrew, I play those games with him on a daily basis. As a parent to a young one, you have to make those games up for them, it’s the only way to teach them… his favorite is a “war” game. (of course, boys) he takes a nerf gun and runs around pointing it at everything in the house yelling “pew! pew! bang! bang!” If you’re unlucky enough to be targeted, you’d better darn well have a good death scene worked out, cuz he won’t stop shooting until you stop moving.
I have every intention of making sure that little boy gets the most years out of his imagination as possible.
I’m 26 and I played pokemon with my friends at a park just a few weeks ago.
And last summer my friends and I went to the park often to play with bubbles while we watched live plays.