The words “Batteries not included” are found on many of the things we purchase these days. If we had to buy enough batteries at one time for everything we own, we might have to remortgage the farm! It seems that most everything we use or play these days either has to be plugged in or we plug in batteries. Almost everything our children or grandchildren play with is electronic. I’m not casting stones. I’m writing on one of those gadgets right now, but that certainly was not how my generation grew up. We had a few electronic toys or gadgets but most of them were what I like to call “people powered.” Instead of saying, “Batteries not included,” they may have said, “Batteries not needed.” As we old codgers often say, “Those were the good ole days.” I’m certainly not anti-electronic, but some of my fondest childhood memories were playing with things that didn’t have a cord or battery.
Have you ever seen an electric yo-yo? Well, actually, they do make some now that require batteries because they light up as they spin or they are high-speed responsive. I hope those things don’t come back up too fast or you might jam a finger or two! Just give me an old-fashioned wooden yo-yo. Then we got fancy and had plastic ones. Duncan came out with one called “The Butterfly,” but it still operated manually.
How about spinning tops? I’m talking about the kind of top that was pictured on your grandma’s dipping snuff cans. That was so long ago that I probably couldn’t spin one now. I’m not sure I even remember how, but I think I wrapped the string around the top, starting at the small end and going down toward the larger end. I either tied a loop on the end of the string or fastened a button to it. I held the top upside down, attached the loop to my middle finger and hurled the top out as hard as possible. If you were good at it, the top flipped over and spun across the floor. These worked best on a cement or tile floor.
My generation lived dangerously. We not only rode manually powered bikes and skateboards, but we did so without helmets. That may explain why we now have such a hard time remembering things. Our skateboards had steel wheels. When those unforgiving wheels hit the smallest pebble, we practiced our flying skills!
We also played with clackers. No, those were not ducks…those would be quackers. Clackers were two fiberglass balls attached to opposite ends of a string. We held the middle of the string between a thumb and finger, letting the balls hang evenly. The object was to make them clack against one another so hard and fast that they clacked when they were down and then again when they were up. We should have worn pads! The noise was louder than a pickleball game! Veteran clacker clackers displayed their bruises like a badge of honor! We didn’t get gold medals…just black and purple forearms. I’m not sure who thought that toy was a good idea, but it was definitely fun…until one of those balls flew off and blackened an eye or knocked out a tooth. Some kids even bragged of broken arms! I wonder if there is a video game of clackers. That might be safer, but probably not as much fun as the real thing.
Some of the best toys ever did not need batteries. Here’s an idea…how about having an unplugged family night, maybe gather around a Scrabble board or a friendly game of Monopoly?
Bill King can be reached at bkpreach@yahoo.com or 334-728-5514 (office).
