Child's Play

(delayed post from 07.25.05)

I was at home sick (yes, yet again) and was just laying on our faux leather couch, absentmindedly scratching my tummy (gone itchy due to constant use of the freakin' tummy trimmer band), when my niece Jasmine semi-stampeded into the house with two of her cohorts: all three of them aged 5-6.

Now that I have been disturbed from my Me Talk Pretty One Day (David Sedaris) reading, I found myself lookin' at and observing their every move. Nina and Alyah (her playmates) helped Jasmine pull out her doll house, which, incidentally, I gave to her for her 5th birthday last January. It was a very sophisticated P1,750 doll house--replete with all possible contraptions and mechanisms that a REAL house could have. It had a fancy doorbell that, when you press it, produces a classic doorbell sound, a subsequent almost-realistic barking of a house dog, and a consequent lighting of a miniature Victorian doorstep lamp. Upon splitting open the house into two (you'd wish you could actually do that to your house), you'd see that the house is actually three levels from the inside: the ground floor, the mezzanine, and the attic. There's even make-believe Bermuda grass in the garden, a masterfully-crafted fireplace-and-chimney, a ceramic-looking bath tub (and shower that goes with it), miniature appliances (like a microwave oven, ironing board, vaccuum cleaner, and gas stove), and etched banisters on the staircase going to the second and third floor (which is actually the attic). Oh, and yes, the plastic people--all four of them--and their doggie are peacefully lodged on the easy chair by the viewing room. Boy, I'd want a house like that.

Although I never had a thing for playing with doll houses--not now or ever--I had an instant flashback of my childhood. No, not playing with dolls, smart ass. Just the idea of playing per se.

Back in those years--and I mean less than 30 years ago!--imagination, creativity, and inventiveness were of strong importance in every boy's or girl's playtime. Toys were much simpler, less ornate, absolutely cheaper, and somehow sturdy. And when kids weren't playing with these off-the-rack playthings, they were out on the streets playing some imaginative game either under the bright glow of the evening moon, or the scorching heat of the weekend sun.

Friday afternoons were the best. Right after the dismissal bell at school, every kid heads straight home to change into play clothes (or not even!) and cluster with their respective groups or "clans" to play some form of team competition game in the middle of the still-unbusy streets.

There was patintero or harangang-batis, where team A attempts to "cross the brook" from one end to another without being caught by team B members who are unyieldingly guarding every "lane". Think of it like the arcade game Frogger, with opponents trying to tag you, instead of trucks and cars attempting to flatten you. Speaking of Frogger, don't you miss those boxes and squares in the Atari-controlled television/screen threatening to turn Frogger into another blob in that very screen if you weren't careful making him cross the street?! Ditto Asteroids and Space Invaders. PS2s and X-Boxes were unheard of (or perhaps even unthought of!), and squares and dots and mazes and ghost-eating Pac-Man ruled the cybergaming world.

Sitting down, kids can play so many things as well. There's sungka, which was supposed to be played only during wakes and pre-necrological services, according to superstitions. There's Jackstone, and teks (I dare not spell it "text", lest be confused with SMS-ing), and rubberband hoops, and jolens (aka marble stones).

Standing up, there's even more choices.

There's the classic Chinese Garter, where you demonstrated your flexibility, agility, and gymnast-like dexterity. This was a classic back-of-the-classrooms or entire-width-of-the-street type of game boys and girls play. Thanks to this, I find yoga and pilates stretches like child's play.

And also Sia-to. With just two uneven length sticks/twigs, hours of fun can ensue. I sucked big time at this game that I was always balagoong. But thanks to that, I developed the air- and voice-reservoir of a seasoned singer.

Touch-base, Heaven-and-earth (aka "Langit-Lupa"), Pinoy-style football, 10-20..., sipa, Hide-and-seek, and Tumbang Preso. Who could forget all those???

During New Year's Eve, me and my cohorts would build cannons made of connected Pringles canisters and coarse weak gunpowder. Or, we would use bamboos for the cannons instead. And that was just in-between flinging pebbles using our slingshots (aka bantil or tirador), or propelling mongo beans using heavy duty straws lodged in our mouths.

Awakening from this reverie--the cute little imps now done with their doll house and decided to take their business of making noise outside--I looked at the teenie little storm they have left in Jasmine's play area. God, I miss the simplicity of child's play...where nothing is complicated, no big life-changing decisions needing to be made, no deadlines to be met, and no pretensions, no treachery, no immorality. Just plain childlike innocence.

I miss those.