This photo was taken in 1956, my mother made a note of that on the back of the photo. Our family had not been living in Cliffwood Beach for long at that point. The house still had simple plywood siding. That's me on the left, my brother, my sister, and my mother whose hair is still red. 😊 Treasure Lake is below us and beyond the lake is Raritan Bay. On a clean day, it was easy to see NYC directly across the bay. Growing up in Cliffwood Beach was delightful. I am poking in the dirt in the photograph. Dirt is great for kids. We played in the dirt all the time. We made houses in the dirt with sticks. We made our own little towns in the dirt. We dug in the dirt and made holes to play golf. We didn't have golf clubs, we just pushed the ball with a stick and made our own game.
Imagination is a wonderful thing. Toys are not a necessary item for children. Dirt and sticks work, too.
When I was teaching, I was surprised to find that some parents didn't want their children to play in the sandbox. As a result, at the age of four, some children in my class were afraid to get their fingers dirty, which I thought was very sad. Those children already lost a part of the key to their own ingenuity.
Dirt is a good thing. You can grow things in it You can find worms in it and worms are nice creatures who help us. I used to give a lesson on worms in the classroom. Some of the parents were horrified so I stopped.😟
My sister in the photograph went to Cook College and got a Masters in Horticulture. I think she was inspired by the dirt in our yard. We had a lovely childhood.
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