Dear Folks, I've been deep in concentration editing my stories for "publication" and I came across this one. I believe I've posted it to the list before but I thought it was worth posting again. Who Made Up Our Jump Rope Chants? July 15, 1997 (After another lovely picnic with the Girls of the Class of 1949) Recently we've been reminiscing about our game of jump rope but I don't expect any of you to have the answer to a question that's been puzzling me for years. It's obvious most of us recall many of the words and chants that went with jump rope-the game that was so much fun to play. The question is this. Who made up the jump rope game and its rules and the chants? Certainly not our parents or our teachers! And if they weren't made up by the adults in our society, that leaves only the children. All of us know from experience that we learned them from other children. On one curious occasion when I was in my late 40s and on active duty in the Navy I brought up the silly subject of jump rope chants. I was totally amazed how many of the younger generation in their 20s admitted they had jumped to the same chants that I had. To make my point clearer, I was talking with girls from many parts of the country. To make a more startling comment, one of the young shipmates who joined right in the discussion and offered another jump rope chant familiar to all of us was a young black male from Ohio! Oh my goodness, I'd never seen a boy jump rope in my life! Now I'm still struggling to figure out what sort of "communications system" children have that has nothing whatever to do with parents or adults. In addition, how do children sense the precise day in spring when it's time to bring out their marbles or their jump ropes or their roller skates, knowing that all of the other children will be right there along with them, having sensed the same thing? Who can I ask who could answer my question? Certainly not an adult! What do adults know? I don't suppose any of you have figured it out yet, have you? Well, have you?? vee

Vee, I guess you'll have to ask the KIDS!!!! One of the small town schools not far from here has a jump roping team. They do all sorts of tricks with the ropes and go to competitions, I guess. I think it started as a fitness thing and evolved into this team. They are supposed to be really good but I've never seen them, just read about them in the paper from time to time. Ruth At 9:40 PM -0400 4/8/05, Vee L. Housman wrote: >Dear Folks, > >I've been deep in concentration editing my stories for "publication" and I >came across this one. I believe I've posted it to the list before but I >thought it was worth posting again. > > > >Who Made Up Our Jump Rope Chants? > >July 15, 1997 > >(After another lovely picnic with the Girls of the Class of 1949) > > > >Recently we've been reminiscing about our game of jump rope but I don't >expect any of you to have the answer to a question that's been puzzling me >for years. It's obvious most of us recall many of the words and chants that >went with jump rope-the game that was so much fun to play. > >The question is this. Who made up the jump rope game and its rules and the >chants? Certainly not our parents or our teachers! And if they weren't >made up by the adults in our society, that leaves only the children. All of >us know from experience that we learned them from other children. > >On one curious occasion when I was in my late 40s and on active duty in the >Navy I brought up the silly subject of jump rope chants. I was totally >amazed how many of the younger generation in their 20s admitted they had >jumped to the same chants that I had. To make my point clearer, I was >talking with girls from many parts of the country. To make a more startling >comment, one of the young shipmates who joined right in the discussion and >offered another jump rope chant familiar to all of us was a young black male >from Ohio! Oh my goodness, I'd never seen a boy jump rope in my life! > >Now I'm still struggling to figure out what sort of "communications system" >children have that has nothing whatever to do with parents or adults. In >addition, how do children sense the precise day in spring when it's time to >bring out their marbles or their jump ropes or their roller skates, knowing >that all of the other children will be right there along with them, having >sensed the same thing? > >Who can I ask who could answer my question? Certainly not an adult! What >do adults know? I don't suppose any of you have figured it out yet, have >you? Well, have you?? > >vee -- Ruth Barton mrgjb@sover.net Dummerston, VT