The other day, I asked my youngest granddaughter what her favorite subject in school was. You might can guess her answer. Recess.
I think recess these days is different than it was when I was kid. Those were the days when girls had to wear dresses to school. I begged my mom to let me wear shorts under my dress so I could escape from the principal’s son trying to steal a kiss from me on the playground. He was afraid to climb the monkey bars so those were safe territory for me. There was also a merry-go-round and a giant swing set on the playground, but we made most of our fun playing tag, red rover, dodge ball, hopscotch, and other games.
There was nothing like this on our playground.
Most of the girls liked to jump, or skip, rope. We took turns (two at a time) turning the ends of the long rope. The first jumper followed the rhythm of the rope until it felt just right, then she ran in and jumped as long as she could to the sounds of kid onlookers calling out some song. One of the songs chanted most was, “Cinderella dressed in yella, gone downtown to buy an umbrella, on the way she met her fella, how many kisses did she get?” 1 – 2 – 3 … and the count continued until the girl missed.
Another song could be embarrassing for two chosen victims. “Jack and Alice sittin’ in a tree, K I S S I N G, first comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Alice with a baby carriage.” Of course, every kid on the playground had their name chosen at some time with a bit of mockery and kissing sounds coming from the others.
The tune “London Bridge” had numerous verses to make it long enough for even the best jumper. “London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down, London Bridge is falling down, my fair lady. Take the key and lock her up, lock her up, lock her up, take the key and lock her up, my fair lady,” were just two of the stanzas.
Skipping rope got a bit more difficult when we jumped double dutch. That was two ropes going at one time, each turning the opposite direction. It could be tricky for the one jumping and the ones turning the ropes.
At one time, the childhood game connected generations, but I don’t know if that is still true. I don’t think many kids jump rope anymore. But if they do, maybe the kids could learn to spell Mississippi to the rhythm of a long rope being turned by two –
M I crooked letter crooked letter
I crooked letter crooked letter
I humpback humpback I