Bowling is not cheap anymore, is it? I found myself echoing my grandmother, "When I was young, bowling was only 50¢ per game and my shoes were free!".
I was totally making it up, I can't remember how much I used to pay to bowl, but I do remember doing random yard clean up jobs to get the 25¢ required for an afternoon swim in the city pool.
Anyway, everything is now electronic at the bowling alley.
Turkeys run across the score screen (why don't we keep score manually anymore? Kids already don't know how to read a clock, but now we're taking away the opportunity to do math in a fun setting?), music plays at high volume over tinny speakers as disco lights flash.
It was in that setting that my youngest son, (nearly 7) asked, "Mum, what was that...uh, ...that...uh...thing with the bird on it?"
"The what?" I ask while looking around at all of the possibilities.
He stutters through the question again, clearly unable to pull the word free from his mouth that best described his object, "The....uh, it had a bird on it" and points to the counter that is now empty.
I realized then that he was referring to my change that had been sitting on the counter (what little of it was left after four shoe rentals, slushies and a few games). I had slipped it into my pocket before the oldest got any bright ideas with a candy machine staring him down...
The poor little boy wanted to me to tell him the name for the coin with a bird on it...
a quarter.How sad is that? He has no idea what this coin is, poor little American boy growing up in Great Britain.
When I was little, the Tooth Fairy would leave me a quarter for my tooth... what's this kid getting?
Pound coins.
I'm not that sad for him anymore.
As kids, we learned how to score at bowling, and how to count back change. It is really sad when a cashier can't count back change.
ReplyDeleteBoy isn't that the truth...kids can't count change and hardly know what it means to play outside??!!
ReplyDeleteTotally sad.
Hugs
SueAnn
Poor little American boy...
ReplyDeleteI think this, not being able to make change, is why restaurant servers 'round' the bill when they bring me my change. I HATE that.
Don't forget they can't tie shoes either. Truly. They also struggle to entertain themselves if they can't use something electronic.
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean I have analog clocks, tie shoes, no calculators, no video games, DVD's, videoes, computers or DVR's? Sadly no. I have a hard time putting my money where my heart is.
Times have changed drastically since we were young, tis true. It is sad to think about. It also makes me wonder what things will be like when our kids are our age. One of the things that bugs me is that kids don't bother to learn how to spell words anymore because they rely on a computer to do the spell check for them. Sometimes there is something to be said for doing things the old-fashioned way.
ReplyDeleteBowling HAS gotten quite expensive! Sounds like you managed a fun time anyway.
ReplyDeleteWow, your tooth fairy was cheep! A quarter?!
ReplyDeleteBowling is not as expensive if you wear the bowling shoes home and resell them on eBay like I do.
Bowling is fun! And I am totally worthless at it, by the way... :) The bowling shoes are strange looking, but kind of cool, I think :) I am thankful I don't have to do any math at the bowling alley though, I am usually having a hard time as it is... ;)
ReplyDelete/Jo.
And kids today can't cook or sew or handwrite anything! No, wait a minute...that's me. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteYou get away with leaving pound coins?? I've no sympathy for you! All my babies milk teeth are now well and truly paid for (thank goodness), now I just have to expell the myth of the money tree in our garden..
ReplyDeleteAs for the bowling, aw, now that brings back other memories, days of when my kids allowed themselves to be seen out with me!