July 2, 2019

Challenged to prove that "Swinging Statues" was a real child's game and not just something some older kids in my childhood neighborhood did to take advantage of the little kids...

... I found this video:



The game described there is more elaborate than what we played in the late 1950s in Delaware, but the basic idea is there. Our swinging method was more "dangerous" — holding an arm and a leg as opposed to 2 arms.

26 comments:

Rory said...

I can't see us playing that one for long. We played Red Rover for hours, and I was wondering recently how we made a functional game of it with little kids and adults involved. It's pretty physical.

traditionalguy said...

The good old days. Tom boys and boy boys playing together, and not a child molester in sight.

effinayright said...

"Crack the whip" could be a lot more perilous, if you were on the end of that whip.

bagoh20 said...

Damn crackers be cray cray.

Henry said...

We played a game like that. I don't remember what we called it. Something to do with swinging and freezing in place.

Ann Althouse said...

There was also "freeze tag."

Henry said...

Yup. That too.

Laslo Spatula said...

They don't have bicycle locks and milkshakes, so they are doing it wrong.

I am Laslo.

Leland said...

I prefer red light/green light with raccoons, as suggested in a previous thread.

Yancey Ward said...

Yes, this looks sort of like a version of red light/green light.

Yancey Ward said...

When we played the game in kindergarten and 1st/2nd grade, it was played in such a way that the frozen poses were as ridiculous and shocking as young children could make them. It became a contest of sorts.

bwebster said...

I don't remember the 'shopkeeper'/'buyer' stuff, but the swing-around-and-then-freeze: yep, played this as a young child in the early 1960s.

Unknown said...

A lot of our games involved running into each and/or the ground.

Butkus51 said...

we called it statue maker

paminwi said...

Red Rover was fun!
Crack the Whip was really fun on ice skates! You had to have good snow drifts to land in when you flew off the line!
Also, Capture the Flag was a great summer game, too!
And imagine today playing baseball with kids ranging from 5-15 t the same time. And yet we did that regularly with no problems.
Good times!

Howard said...

Blogger traditionalguy said...

The good old days. Tom boys and boy boys playing together, and not a child molester in sight.


Child molestation was more pervasive and reported less, so you are technically correct that people didn't see the plethora of molesters that lived in a protected closet and hid in plain sight.

Blogger Butkus51 said...

we called it statue maker


Thanks for refreshing my recollection.

Fernandinande said...

"Why don't you kids scream and hit each other?" sure seemed to cause the opposite. Try it!

PJ said...

In the grownup version Antifa plays, you take the statue-making concept one step further by casting the “frozen” player in Quik-crete

Curious George said...

It's no Kick the Can.

Fen said...

Red Rover was fun! Crack the Whip was really fun on ice skates! You had to have good snow drifts to land in when you flew off the line! Also, Capture the Flag was a great summer game, too! And imagine today playing baseball with kids ranging from 5-15 t the same time. And yet we did that regularly with no problems.

Looking back, I'm amazed at how we just appropriated all the neighbor's yards without any complaint. If you owned a house on our block, your front yard was community property for about a dozen rugrats.

One lady had these two huge weird trees that made perfect hiding spots. We were always in and about them. Never heard a word from her.

Today, I'm the "get off my lawn!" type. I need to remember what it was like to be a boy who owned the world. Lighten up Francis. Maybe teach the kids how to make tannerite?

rhhardin said...

"The good old days. Tom boys and boy boys playing together, and not a child molester in sight."

Child molestation was more pervasive and reported less, so you are technically correct that people didn't see the plethora of molesters that lived in a protected closet and hid in plain sight.


Child abuse (as in battering) was discovered as a thing in the 1960s. Before that it was a personal moral failing, like drunk driving was in the 50s.

Child sexual abuse was discovered in the 70s, primarily as a media ratings boon.

It was always a problem that didn't matter much, would be the conclusion.

Curious George said...

We also played "Around the World". Everyone would sit on the front stoop and whoever was "it" would tag a person who would have to tag them back before they ran around the house. Sort of a version of Duck Duck Goose.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I remember that game. We just called it Statues. Really fun until the big kids get tired or grouchy.

Mary Beth said...

Child molestation was more pervasive and reported less

I think the point was, neighborhood children played together with no need of, or desire for, an adult leadership or participation. Less supervision, in a way, made it easier to avoid the creeps.

Seeing Red said...

Seriously. Ask a boomer. I swung and was swung.

Nichevo said...

Rhhardin said...
Howard said...
Blogger traditionalguy said...

The good old days. Tom boys and boy boys playing together, and not a child molester in sight.

...

Child molestation was more pervasive and reported less, so you are technically correct

...

Child sexual abuse was discovered in the 70s, primarily as a media ratings boon.

It was always a problem that didn't matter much, would be the conclusion.

...

I dunno, Howie, RH shut you up pretty good there.