It must have been Super Bowl XXII, January 31, 1988. Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos. In my mind's eye I see a picture of our little family huddled around the stereo speakers, listening to the big game on the radio. Yes, the radio. We didn't own a TV.
Our boys were Redskin fans and I'm trying to remember why and how they even knew about the team. It was probably because of where we lived; in Virginia all the stores were stocked with Redskins fan stuff year-round. Partly it was because of Brett, the little boy who stayed with us before and after school. Brett's dad was a huge football fan and so, quite naturally, was Brett. When he'd come to our house on Monday mornings during football season, football was his favorite topic and our boys loved to hear all about it. Brett's excitement was contagious.
Since we didn't have a TV, our boys used their imaginations and our dress-up closet to create all sorts of costumes and scenarios, including football helmets and great game plays. They read prolifically and library books contributed unlimited fuel for the imagination bonfire. I love to look back through our photo albums to see some of the costumes they came up with. (The face guards on the football "helmets" in the picture were made from taped-on drinking straws.)
Living in Virginia Beach gave us lots of opportunities for short family field trips to historical sites, places rich with wonderful stories that the kids would continue to study and read about and act upon when we were back home. (It helped that we home-schooled.) Visits to places such as Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown were just the beginning of both our sons' lifelong interest in history. Visits to coastal North Carolina, home of Blackbeard the Pirate, led to our older son writing and acting out stories about his own pirate characters. (When he dressed up, we called him Pirate Frecklebeard.)
Maybe if we had had television back then our sons still would have done well in school and grown up to be fine young men, but I can't help believing that allowing their young brains to fill first with pictures from their own imaginations gave them an excellent start in building their thinking and problem-solving skills, as well as their character. If I had it to do over, I'd do it the same way with lots of books and field trips, a big dress-up closet, some great radio shows, and lots of time for their little brains to mix it all together.
By the way, the Redskins won that Super Bowl game, 42 -10. I'm sure the Lone Ranger and Tonto thought up a great way to celebrate!
(Read more about nurturing imagination.)
Our boys were Redskin fans and I'm trying to remember why and how they even knew about the team. It was probably because of where we lived; in Virginia all the stores were stocked with Redskins fan stuff year-round. Partly it was because of Brett, the little boy who stayed with us before and after school. Brett's dad was a huge football fan and so, quite naturally, was Brett. When he'd come to our house on Monday mornings during football season, football was his favorite topic and our boys loved to hear all about it. Brett's excitement was contagious.
Since we didn't have a TV, our boys used their imaginations and our dress-up closet to create all sorts of costumes and scenarios, including football helmets and great game plays. They read prolifically and library books contributed unlimited fuel for the imagination bonfire. I love to look back through our photo albums to see some of the costumes they came up with. (The face guards on the football "helmets" in the picture were made from taped-on drinking straws.)
Living in Virginia Beach gave us lots of opportunities for short family field trips to historical sites, places rich with wonderful stories that the kids would continue to study and read about and act upon when we were back home. (It helped that we home-schooled.) Visits to places such as Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown were just the beginning of both our sons' lifelong interest in history. Visits to coastal North Carolina, home of Blackbeard the Pirate, led to our older son writing and acting out stories about his own pirate characters. (When he dressed up, we called him Pirate Frecklebeard.)
Maybe if we had had television back then our sons still would have done well in school and grown up to be fine young men, but I can't help believing that allowing their young brains to fill first with pictures from their own imaginations gave them an excellent start in building their thinking and problem-solving skills, as well as their character. If I had it to do over, I'd do it the same way with lots of books and field trips, a big dress-up closet, some great radio shows, and lots of time for their little brains to mix it all together.
By the way, the Redskins won that Super Bowl game, 42 -10. I'm sure the Lone Ranger and Tonto thought up a great way to celebrate!
(Read more about nurturing imagination.)
2 comments:
Great to hear of another family in the same quest... we are doing an experiment - no TV for a year. So far its been two months and the transformation has been priceless!
That is really neat. I've been listening to old radio mystery stories lately and it is so much better than TV! The suspense is more exciting and I think radio personalities have to be much more entertaining to get the listeners attention. I'm glad their team won!
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