Kids Having A Ball....we should learn from them

Have you waltzed through the toy section at Walmart lately?
I can't believe the jammed aisles and aisles of various toys, games and weapons.
And I won't even set foot in a store like "Toys 'R Us". Too many of these so-called "toys" resemble grown-up items of necessity. The kid lawn mowers can cut the grass closer than my 28 year old blade push mower. The miniature Betty Crocker ovens cook roasts faster than my 18 year-old microwave. The "fake-toy" machine guns and artillery wouldn't be allowed within 200 yards of downtown Detroit yet our little darlings look like theey are "packin' heat" in the name of fun.

The intricate toys that kids have to keep them occupied is so CRAZY! Just one of these child-distractors need more batteries than all 8 of my TV remotes and 12 clocks put together! I was 51 years old before I knew which end the batteries went into my flashlights the correct way. Now my 5 yr-old nephew can manage a phillips screw driver and can change every size batteries for the all residents of his electronic toy-chest with the deftness of the head mechanic on Bobby Rahal's pit crew.

Recently my baby-sitting prowess was called into action ~ watching my 1 yr-old and 5 yr-old nephews. They have more of the afore-mentioned toys than 2 aisles of K-Mart so I knew my job would be easy. Of course we all know that once children get bored
with their stash of toys, we can always rely on those Disney video tapes, right?
WRONG. After playing with 3 race tracks, 12 super heroes and watching 5 minutes of four different cartoon shows, I heard the two little words we all dread -
"I'm bored".

I decided to bring out the secret weapon...a BALL!
BINGO! For roughly 4 hours and 22 minutes, we played about 185 made-up games with the same ball. We rolled it everywhere, we bounced it off nearly every object within 2 miles,
We threw it, tossed it and juggled it until there was practically no more air in it.
When I stop to think about all the various balls that we still play with as adults, it makes sense that this is the one item that will withstand the test of a kid's attention...(don't we revere our spheres ~ golf balls, basketballs, raquet-balls, whiffle balls, baseballs, bowling balls, tennis balls, soccer balls, mothballs, footballs, bocci balls, handballs, ping-pong balls, meatballs, volleyballs, softballs, ~ well, I think you get the idea)

We are all kids at heart. But I actually think I was the one who had the most fun that day.

I guess out of self-preservation, our super hero toy-makers ignore how fun the simplicity of a ball is. I suppose we could find a way to need batteries in them.

I know one thing...the phrase "Having a ball" has taken on new meaning.