Children's Toys

The children of Great Grandma's time
Had plenty of things to do
With buttons and balls of string
They'd play the whole day through.

They had no brightly colored toys
That did everything for you
Their moms and dads would make them things
And their imaginations were their wings.

I remember my dad once made me a toy
Using a wooden spool and some paraffin,
A tooth pick and rubber band,
I had a tractor that would travel throughout the land.

Now that tractor was my favorite thing,
For reasons I don't know.
But it helped my imagination work,
And it would go and go.

And now as I watch my baby
Playing on the floor.
I wonder if this is how it was
In those early days before.

For she sits beside me as I sew
Ignoring the brightly colored things
For she prefers the spools of thread
And the balls of strings.

written June 1979 about my baby Becky

check back, I will post a picture of one of those tractors Daddy made me