50 things to do before you're 11 ¾

[sl8]

I imagine this post will prove awfully controversial, but so be it.

From The National Trust (UK), 50 things to do before you're 11 ¾:

1. Climb a tree
2. Roll down a really big hill
3. Camp out in the wild
4. Build a den
5. Skim a stone
6. Run around in the rain
7. Fly a kite
8. Catch a fish with a net
9. Eat an apple straight from
a tree
10. Play conkers

{...}

https://www.50things.org.uk/

[MineralMan]

1. Had to look up "conkers."

I never did that, but all the others I had accomplished by that age, certainly. Substitute mumblety-peg for "conkers" and I'll have done them all.

[sl8]

3. So sorry, I can only award you a "1" for controversy.

You'd get a 9.7 on the "accomplished child" scale, but I'm afraid we're not rating that today.

I hadn't heard of conkers until very recently, on Top Gear. Apparently, some schools or school districts had banned it for safety reasons.

[MineralMan]

4. LOL. Mumblety-peg was always banned at school as

far as I know. We ignored that rule, as we ignored so many others.

[sl8]

18. Mumblety-peg banned? What fascists these principals be.

Tossing knives around teaches a very valuable lesson in, um, learning, um, degrees of caution. That's it, that's exactly it.

Actually, school was instrumental in my learning that there are rules, and there are RULES, if you catch my meaning.

[loli phabay]

16. soak your conkers in vinegar or pee and always use jute for your sword and you will a champion

At least at conkers, i remember throwing sticks to knock them of the trees as if it touched the ground for too long it would be jinxed.

[sl8]

21. I understand the conker's soaking, makes sense.

Don't understand the "jute for a sword". Elaborate, please?

[loli phabay]

22. sorry the cord sometimes is called the sword and the conker the shield, hence the string used is jut

[sl8]

23. Thanks much. n/t

[Cooley Hurd]

2. W/ the exception of Conkers, I did all of that by 9...

In lieu of Conkers, we played kickball.

[sl8]

6. Kickball? Kickball? Well, I suppose you did pretty well, for a Yank.

[Cooley Hurd]

8. ...except when I was "conked" in the nose once by an errant kickball!

[petronius]

5. We played 'conkers' with hard-boiled eggs at school lunch time

in the week after Easter - although I think we called it 'egg battle' or something like that. (Hint: make sure you know where the air bubble is in your egg.)

Substitute hand and/or fishing pole for net, and I'd done those by 11.75 (and kept on doing them, more or less, on to 40+)...

[sl8]

10. Well, the egg thing just sounds so very unwholesome.

Did you grow out of that practice?

Regarding the net fishing, did you ever catch tadpoles? I can't speak for the judges, but I'd imagine that's worth a partial credit.

Regarding your acting the child at 40+, I must say that that's entirely inappropriate. Inappropriate for you, that is. I can assure you that when I participate in those activities, it is merely research.

[Shankapotomus]

7. Let's see

1. Climb a tree - Check!
2. Roll down a really big hill - Check!
3. Camp out in the wild - Check!
4. Build a den - I don't know what that means. If you mean a fort - Check!
5. Skim a stone - Check!
6. Run around in the rain - Check!
7. Fly a kite - Check!
8. Catch a fish with a net - Check!
9. Eat an apple straight from
a tree - Check! But I ate like 6 and they were green and I was really sick that night.
10. Play conkers - Had to look up. It's an English children's game so that's probably why I've never played or heard of it before.

[sl8]

15. Den = fort? That's a good question.

I think the spirit is the same, I'm curious about the difference in the terminologies, though.

WRT # 9, I expect that you'd get bonus points for eating to the point of sickness. It seems such an important thing to learn about as a child. You don't officially get bonus points, you understand, that's just me.

WRT #10, "You're never too old ...", or so I've heard. I'm guessing that aphorism isn't universally true.

[loli phabay]

17. i would say a den is more of a secret clubhouse thing, never to be built in the open like a fort

Much like building an op in the military.

[sl8]

20. Ah, that makes sense, thanks. n/t

[LadyHawkAZ]

25. Green apples straight from the tree are a necessity of childhood

Mmmmmm.....

[jaysunb]

9. Inner city kids would not understand half of

these activities except maybe seeing them in a book or on a 50's TV show.

[sl8]

12. That is sad.

I'm sorry to say that I have no first-hand knowledge of inner city kids.

Do you think that they have any comparable activities? By that, I mean activities that not only help them learn about their environment, but enable them to to see the joy in life.

[jaysunb]

24. We had fun...in different ways though.

The images presented in the op were those of middle class white kids.

Times have changed...some.

[sl8]

26. That's still a little sad, but that's OK.

Makes me appreciate what I had, that I often forget and also what others never had and I only rarely think about.

I appreciate the upbeat note at the end. A "spoonful of sugar", as it were.

Thanks for the thoughtful response.

[MattBaggins]

11. This is more of a Lounge post

not really GD material

[sl8]

13. Sorry.

Should it be posted elsewhere, or not posted at all?

On edit: I missed the significance of the "Lounge" in the title. Can this be moved, or should I just start a new post there?

[MattBaggins]

14. Fine for the Lounge

[sl8]

19. Reposted in Lounge. n/t

[thelordofhell]

27. Done all this in the last 2 years.........and I'm in my 40's

[sl8]

28. You, Sir or Madam, are acting like a child.

And would that more were like you, from time to time.



p.s. I'm not quite sure I've got the hang of these "smilies". Cheers to you!

[thelordofhell]

29. I do adult things too..........

But never forget to have fun