Happy Times

 I feel very blessed and fortunate to grow up here in Gig Harbor when life was less complicated than it seems to be now. The struggles I had in learning to read along with some of the kids I had to deal especially with bullying seems so much less than what is going on today.

In some ways the kids today do have advantages over what I had as a child with the technology but the pressure seems so much more as well. Also the danger living today is more than what I experienced as well.

Living in Gig Harbor in those times my brothers and I were able to walk and go see friends without even a thought of danger though I am sure there was some back then too. When I was in elementary school my father sometimes would leave my younger brother and I off at school early to play on the grounds. We had a really great time together and I am sure a lot of the reason we are best of friends along with being brothers today. Now no one would leave children by themselves at school being worried what may happen. When we rode the school bus we would wait outside our house only for a few minutes. The bus would go past our house and we would catch on its return. I am sure either our mother or father who was at home keep a look out through the window but now the parents are with the kids when waiting for the bus. Compared to many other communities Gig Harbor is safer however the opportunity for something to go wrong is still there for the parents to worry.

Another thing has changed is little league baseball. When I was a kid we had one team in the neighborhood for our age where every boy played no matter how good or bad they were. Today they have tryouts to see who makes the team. Those boys that are not good now either do not play or even put on a team. Parents act like the kids are playing for them and not for themselves; a lot of pressure even for those kids who are really good.

Just recently the football coach at Bellevue Washington High School was fired because he took payments from boosters for summer camps. The city of Bellevue is east of Seattle and many of the residences are quite wealthy. The school’s football team was charged for recruiting 8^th grade boys outside the district and now the team cannot participate in the playoffs for several years. Private schools often go looking to recruiting players but Bellevue High School is a public school.  I found it so ridiculous that parents no matter how wealthy would do such a thing. This really shows how life is like for children today. Again I am glad to have lived in the happy times that I call it. Important thing is let your kids grow up to be what they need to be and get out of the way. I am so thankful to have parents that let me be me.