Making smores over an outdoor firepit adds to the memories

Our doorbell has rung a lot this summer. It’s always the group of kids from the block asking if Katelyn and Vanessa can play outside. YES, of course they can! So the girls would join in on the fun, usually a game of tag or hind-n-seek or riding bikes. They would play until they were exhausted and dirty, just in time for dinner, bath and bed.

You see, this is a big deal to me. Our street is made up of all boys, ranging in ages 5-12. Actually, there are two families with girls just around my children’s ages and a few years older, but they never come outside to play. I’m not sure what is up with that – maybe it’s the personality of the family, perhaps their children just don’t like hind-n-seek as much as mine do.

So the boys on the block play like…well, um, boys. And it’s usually very different than how girls play. However, we have been spending a lot of time outside this summer and the boys have gotten to know Katelyn and Vanessa better and know that these girls enjoy digging for worms as much as they do.

I am always nervous when the girls are outside playing, especially since all of the other children ride their bikes without helmets up and down the center of the street. That may be fine for their family, but it is not acceptable in ours – helmets must be on and you must be on the sidewalk (at least when you are as young as my children are). I am so mean, I know. Anyways, I am always more nervous than I probably ever need to be, but I always wonder how a group of boys is going to play with two younger girls. But amazingly, every time this group gets together, it is as if each one of these boys (the older ones particularly) come from a home with younger sisters and are familiar with “girl” play. But that is not true; each one comes from a family of all boys. In many ways, they’ve adopted Katelyn and Vanessa as their younger sisters and are always watching out for them. They know that playing “cops and robbers” with toy guns is not acceptable in our family, so they’ll switch the game just so Katelyn and Vanessa can be included.

I grew up on a cul-de-sac with approximately 30 children. We were always outside playing together and it did not matter if you were the oldest in the group or the youngest, a boy or a girl…everyone played together. Watching my girls play outside reminds me of many summer days as a child myself. And I know the memories that I have from my childhood and couldn’t be happier that my children get to experience similar, and make their own, fond memories.