Childhood seems to be the most beautiful part of our lives, no stress, no worries, no responsibilities, having people to cater and provide for our needs is awesome. It is not as sweet as that for every child and it hurts to see a lot of children today living as an adult since they have to work before they can survive.
I believe that it is a stage of learning, but the world is changing.
I see kids trying to make ends meet not just for themselves but for their families as well, becoming an adult before the right time usually have some negative impacts on kids and not many of them have been able to shake those negativity away.
Regardless of what childhood looks like, one thing you can't take away from a child is childhood games.
My mom was very careful about the children we associated with because we grew up in one of the rough places in Lagos so we were been locked indoor, Lagosians can testify to my claims about Oshodi in 2000. The Ikeja cantonment bomb blast changed it all, we had to move because our place was affected.
The new environment was very free and we were allowed to roam around, it was a whole new life. I was able to have fun and games like every other child.
My favorite childhood games then were:
Football
This was my first choice talking about games, I loved playing football as I kid.
I was very proud of my football skills, scoring goals make me excited a lot. I love it when teams want to have me play in attack for them, it was huge fun for me.
I got injuries like a broken bone, torn skin, bruises on the toe, and many others but I wouldn't hesitate to return to the field as long as I can walk.
I scratched my face against concrete and a side peeled badly and I thought it would be the end but I started playing football again when it started healing, I am just so much in love with football.
Rubber band games.
The rubber band games are very addictive and we usually play them mostly during the holidays.
There are different rubber band games and both allow lots of people to play at a time.
The first one is throwing rubber bands from a long distance, the child whose band falls on another band would be the one to pack all the bands on the floor so the game needs a good throwing ability.
The second game looks easy but it isn't and requires throwing in skills as well.
Every participant would submit an equal amount of rubber bands which will be placed in a big circle drawn on the ground. We then throw our slippers aiming at the rubber bands, the quantity your slippers push out of the circle is your win; sometimes only one person wins it all.
I remember a time I had so many rubber bands and my mom complained a lot, she threatened to burn them all so I went to hide them by burying them in the ground. A boy came to challenge me so I went to pack the rubber bands but I couldn't pick more than a few pieces, the majority were damaged. I took the few and still won the challenger.
Ludo
I played Ludo as a child, I learned how to play from my mom. She is good at it, we play together during holidays and I play with a few of my friends just to show off.
One thing I didn't like about it was that people usually want to bet and it turns me off when what I do for fun turns into a bet. I still haven't stopped playing Ludo, I still play Ludo on my phone but it gets boring playing it virtually.
The police and thief.
This is an action game, every player is divided into groups named police and thief.
We usually build our gun with wood, nails, rubber, and a pen cover which serves as the bullet. The police in the game usually hunt for the thieves, the thieves as well must protect themselves by taking down the police.
It was a very interesting game then but we don't see these things anymore, technology has given birth to a new world. The memories from those games are beautiful and I still cherish them a lot.
Snail picking
This doesn't seem like a game but it was very competitive then when I was younger, we enter the bush to pick snails after it rained.
We were found entering bushes, and the kid with the highest number of snails win. After deciding the winner, we usually cook and eat the snails together.
We stopped entering the bush the day one of us claimed to have seen a skeleton, we didn't return home with a single snail. Everyone ran throwing their bags away for safety, we never told anyone but it was the last time we played the game.
The invention of Java phones stopped me from doing those childhood games, I became so addicted to the mobile football game.
As an adult I do more mobile football and snipers games, they are addictive for me because they come with tough tasks.
Thanks for reading.
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