After taking an informal poll this morning we determined that no one under the age of 40 knows what tiddlywinks are. We asked 8 people (5 below age 40 and 3 above age 40) if they knew what tiddlywinks were.
- "Its a drug you take"
- "I think its a card game"
As predicted, only the over 40 crowd knew it was a child's game. My guess is checkers and monopoly are close to being as extinct as tiddlywinks.
Tiddlywinks is an indoor gameplayed with small colored discs. These small discs are "winks" which lay on any flat surface. Players use a larger disc, "squidger", to pop a wink into flight by pressing down on one side. The objective of the game is to get an many winks to fly into a cup or land on another person's winks.
Marsha, my next door neighbor, was the tiddlywink champion on Stadium Street and no one could beat her. Her artistic form and technique were a force to be reckoned with.
Before the computers, handheld games, and cable TV, people of all ages played games as a form of entertainment. We actually had to entertain ourselves with board games and outdoor activities as a means of "fun".
As a family, game night was the night we all would gather around the kitchen table and play board games or card games. We enjoyed stiff competition and the bragging rights that came with every win. Families were close and the time we spent together was quality time.
Today, children don't go outside and play or read books or open a board game. Seldom do you see one away from a computer, cell phone, or TV. Our collective worry should be that creativity is being lost and replaced with mind-numbing activities.
Take time tonight to gather around the table to play one game. Shut-off the TV, put the phones on vibrate in another room. Enjoy something that is truly amazing - quality family time - and see the results.
Tiddlywinks are gone. Let's salvage quality family time.
