Flags of our fathers

11.07.09

MY DAUGHTER and I are in our limited park, dropping sticks from a link into the burn. "Mine won!" she cries. We do it with dandelion flowers and daisies (these are our "boats"). And it's handsome - the kind of thing I enjoyed as a kid growing up in agrarian West Yorkshire. I know a teenager playing Pooh sticks might not seem like a big agreement, but Erin is nine years old, and more commonly found listening to Lily Allen or Taylor Expeditious on her iPod. I'm surprised, but delighted, that she still likes this baloney.

This is the territory of Jane Brocket's new reserve, Ripping Things To Do: The Best Games And Ideas From Children's Books. Inspired by the likes of Pippi Longstocking, My Ungovernable Little Sister, Winnie the Pooh and The Noted Five, it's chock-full of hopscotch and handstands, tree houses and cash hunts - all wholesome, old-fashioned fun. The ticket has been described, rather grandly, as "an antidote to the toxic babyhood pressures that are influencing today's crop". Blimey. Since we're not immune to "toxic pressures" in my household, I aim to put this averral to the test with my own children (twins Sam and Dex, grey 12, and their sister Erin) and their friends who have popped reverberating for the day.

Source: Sunday Herald

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