Boyhood Was A Verb

In my day, boyhood was a verb. It was playing, shooting (slingshots, firecrackers and BB guns) exploring, chasing, wrestling, playing tricks, building (forts, dams or tree-houses) climbing, sneaking, hiding and seeking. The ever-present possibility of getting into trouble added spice to all of this.

The landscape has shifted under our feet. In the nineteen thirties and forties, many boys lived in a rural landscape. They had the freedom to roam the fields and woods, to play and swim in creeks . . . to explore and have adventures. Now most of us are urban. Boyhood activities are structured by adults, and the resources of the natural world have given way to screens and technology.

It is now said that boys no longer read. They prefer to lose themselves in a digital world of screens and images where exciting things happen. Who can blame them?

I invite these boys to return to the time of my boyhood, find a hidden grave, sleep in a tree-house, listen to the critters in the swamp, catch a fish, go to sleep by the embers of a camp fire, and dynamite a toilet with a cherry bomb. Go explore the fun of getting into trouble and the magic and mystery of nature. You may not want to leave.