“Families are about love overcoming emotional torture.”
The sun is shining. It has been gone a long while. I missed it.
In my town, this time of year, there wasn’t a whole lot of stuff to do so winters found us inside far more than we liked. The theater had one matinee on Saturday, and it was usually filled though the balcony remained empty by choice of the owner: too many opportunities for flying candy missiles. The bowling alley was another choice, but that was really expensive to a kid on a 50 cent allowance. You had to rent shoes then pay for alley time. Begging for a bit more money from my mother sometimes helped. It was candlepin bowling. You know, those little balls, because that’s what every bowling alley around here had. I was never a very good bowler. Beyond those, there was nothing outside the house for a kid to do on freezing winter weekends when it was too cold to be out for too long. On the warmer days, though that seems an oxymoron, we could skate for free at the town rink or at the swamp.
I think we drove my mother crazy when all of us were stuck inside the house. Teasing little sisters was fun, but they always screamed to my mother who yelled some threat back to us should we continue. Most times my father was mentioned in the threat. That was enough to make us stop. My father was usually the parent we wanted to avoid when it came to punishment. He’d whack us; my mother seldom did. She was more the screamer. Later when when we were older, she’d occasionally throw things but we always ducked and ran away laughing but not so she could hear us. That would escalated the situation which, for all intents and purposes, had ended with the toss.
When we were in our teens, my father grounded us, but it never lasted for long. He’d tell us we had to miss some important event, one which we’d circled on the calender or bought new clothes for or had been planning for months. We’d cry and stomp our feet but it was all for show. We knew he’d make us stay in our rooms until close to the event then he’d come upstairs and tell us we could go, but it better not happen again.
It my mouth which got me into trouble. A quick wit is not to be used on angry parents or anyone in authority. I was a slower learner. I just couldn’t help myself. I was thrilled when I got old enough to be funny without being sent to my room.
Explore posts in the same categories: MusingsTags: family, fathers, mothers, punishments, winter
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keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
February 4, 2011 at 2:20 pm
Days like that I usually was at my best friends home and there we very often played Canasta with his family. every now and again we had a break and drank tea and had a couple of sandwiches 🙂 That is something I really miss now days.
I have only seen candlepin bowling on photographs, but I guess it´s just as fun as real bowling.
My mouth have given me a lot of problems during the years, especially when I grew up 🙂 🙂 But to be honest, it was worth it 🙂
Have a great day now!
Christer.
February 5, 2011 at 12:09 pm
Christer,
We played board games to pass away the time. I would go to my room to read in peace if I could.
Candlepin is real bowling just with different size balls. It is pretty popular around here.
I wore braces for what seemed an eternity.
February 4, 2011 at 2:23 pm
The ice and snow has invaded Dallas for Super Bowl week and my kids have been home from school since Tuesday. I went into work yesterday but it snowed last night making the drive to work even more treacherous by hiding the ice patches below. My kids have been driving us crazy although I am getting some work done online. I don’t know how the kids can be bored. They have iPods, iPads, TV, DVDs, an Xbox and even books.
When I was a kid a snow day was a chance to go outside and throw snowballs. The only thing we had was a black and white TV with only four channels and books. My kids gave up after about five minutes outside claiming that it was too cold.
February 4, 2011 at 11:09 pm
I’m amazed at how few neighborhood kids I see out in the snow. And, how many parents are doing the shoveling rather than their kids. We played outside all day on snowdays, ’cause it was something fun and different . We shoveled the walks ’cause we damn well had better, or else.
Times really have changed.
February 5, 2011 at 12:07 pm
John,
I don’t ever see any either except at the sledding hills. Maybe they’re in their backyards.
I too played all day outside on snow days. That’s what they were for I thought.
I watched my neighbor shovel: his son is 13.
February 5, 2011 at 12:12 pm
Bob,
The news has had pictures of Dallas and the dome roof. I never thought of Dallas as snowy!
Even snow days can get boring I suppose, but they never were for us. Like you, it was outside all day until our lips were blue and our hands beet red.
Games kept us happy as we too had few television channels. I’m with you on wondering how kids can get bored.
February 5, 2011 at 12:37 pm
Me too. They called me “smart mouth” and some other names I’d rather not disclose. Kids can be mean especially when you make a joke of them in the midst of other teens. And I fell in love with corny jokes, somewhere in College. I never went through what you did but keeping kids in line is a feat that rests on being firm but fair. I don’t know what parents are doing today. So far so good in our little family.
February 5, 2011 at 8:30 pm
Z&Me,
Smart mouth-me too but usually aimed at my parents. My friends just thought me funny. I skirted the edge between funny and rude.