Friday, November 10, 2006

Giving our children good memories

Column this week

For Permanand Persaud

What are your favourite childhood memories? Mine usually involve me being by myself – I was a quiet child, given to activities that involved observation and introspection. I don’t remember all that much – I’m not one of those that remember childhood occurrences like they was yesterday, but a few, select memories stay with me. I remember I liked walking to and from school, even though my dislike for walking in general is part of family legend. What I enjoyed was not so much the activity of walking but the things and people I saw along the way – the flowers in people’s yards, the very white clouds in the very blue sky, the people in the area making their way to work or perhaps, taking their own children to school.

Sometimes my mother would go with me or meet me after school, but as I got older this became less frequent, as age brought maturity and increased personal responsibility. I remember there was a wooden lamppost that lay on the side of the road. Every morning and every evening I would practise my balancing on this increasingly slippery beam until one day the inevitable happened and I slipped and fell. I went back home with moss covering the entire front of my blouse. I don’t remember if I told my mother the truth, but I doubt it.

Sometimes I’d walk home with some of the other children from school. These walks would often turn into mini adventures, as they sought more challenging shortcuts, dragging me half reluctantly, half excitedly along. One of these shortcuts involved jumping over a large drain. My legs were too short to make the jump and I slipped on the edge and fell, cutting open my lower lip. I’ve always paid heavily whenever I chose to ignore the voice of my mother that constantly played in my head, warning me of possible danger. On odd occasions my mother would think I was taking too long to get home. She was able to ask people along the way if they’d seen me; they knew who I was, with my large book bag and house and land umbrella during the rainy season. It was part of an unspoken understanding, the adults looking out for the children, helping us cross the road, quarrelling with us if we misbehaved, intervening on the odd occasion when there were fights.

I wonder what memories the children nowadays will have. Do children still walk to school, with the constant threat of bad drivers and kidnappers that we face? My mother, overly anxious as she was, still allowed me to make the walk home alone at times, not only for convenience but also because she recognised that as children grow older, you have to let them go in varying degrees, to teach independence and also responsibility for their themselves. How do these learn these lessons now, when any attempt at independence can have such horrendous consequences?

I’m writing this column this week thinking of Permanand Persaud, the 13-year-old boy that was brutally killed by a neighbour. I’m also writing this column with Sean Luke, Dane Andrews and Akiel Chambers in mind and also, all the other children that you and I know will eventually make the headlines of the papers, shocking us all with their brutal and senseless deaths. And it breaks my heart to have written that last sentence, because we know it is a certainty that there will be more children killed by people they know, doing the things they are accustomed to, following rules that should guarantee their safety but won’t.

I’m trying to think what I was afraid of while growing up and can’t, even though I was a timorous child. I know what children are afraid of now. They’re afraid of rape and torture, of strangers taking them from their family and their homes. They are afraid of abuse and the silence that surrounds it, even when it leads to their deaths. They are afraid of not reaching adulthood, or of reaching it scarred and destroyed by society’s failure to keep them safe. Our children are all our responsibility, whether we have given birth to them or not. My mother could have asked our neighbours along the way about my welfare and took comfort in the fact that they would watch out for me. Children still deserve that sense of protection. A child is not supposed to be afraid to be kind, to be good, to go fishing, to go swimming, to be with friends. The very least they deserve are good memories. Will we give them that?

63 comments:

Icahwait* said...

Morning Hottie- I remember my manners today.
You have a good point. I think that alot of kids still do get to exp all the good things they should. Then you see others and think its a sign of the times kinda thing. But I would say the good maj still rule

Do you see how many child crimes it have here that going on since way back when.

My fav childhood memories: watching cartoon early on a sat morning from the USA channel. Watching sitcoms on a Sun evening with the whole family. Kindergarten workbooks with stickers & ladybird books. Playing teacher with a real blackboard,chalk & ruler but an imaginary school lol.

Trinidad Carnival Diary said...

My mother was somewhat overprotective of me especially since I am her only child, but walking to school was never something she was worried about...I guess in those times parents had more confidence in the village looking out for the child.

Anyway, some of my favorite memories from childhood is sitting on my lunch kit and skating down the hill on my way to school (you know those plastic lunch kits? LOL) until eventually my mother seeing the deteriorated condition of the lunch kit started buying me the metal ones; I even had a Wonder Woman lunch kit that I adored!!

I also remember fondly having a birthday party every year, where all the children from the neighborhood were invited. In those days there were no matching Barbie Party Bags, Hats and plate! My mom made and decorated the party hats for all those children, as well as making baskets that she would fill with sweets and little toys. In addition there would be food galore! My mother loves to cook and bake…my parties were like a Christmas treat for all the kids. Speaking of Christmas, my birthday was also the signal for when the Christmas tree would go up, so in all of the photos from my parties over the years you will see photos of the Christmas tree!

One of my friends, who is the mother of a 5 year old son, told me that these day parents do not send their children to birthday parties kept at anyone’s home! I was so surprised to learn that the new trend is to have the party at school or at some venue with a party room (and outside supervision/security) such a Movietowne, Pizza Hut or Mario’s Pizza. I guess this trend is a result of what happened with Akeil Chambers and isn’t is somewhat sad that even a child’s birthday party no longer holds that sense of innocent enjoyment.

When I was younger I was afraid of the dark and that is about it. I remember my mother warned me about talking to strangers but in my naïve world that meant nothing ominous to me then. Surely I could not remember any child being murdered or raped as a child, not like children these day are fully aware of Permand, Akeil and Sean Luke.

As someone who is not yet a parent I have to admit I do worry about what type of society my future children will be born into..............

Hottie Hottie said...

icahwait. morning. I LOVED to play school too! I loved Enid Blyton books and I remember TTT used to show teh Disney channel very early on a Sunday morning. My fatehr used to get up and watch it and I'd get up and join him. Favourite memory also, my mother making sweetbread on a Saturday evening and giving me the pieces of coconut that were to small to grate!

Saucy, I can't remember sliding on no lunchkit nah. My mother would have killed me! But I remember teh plastic ones you're talking about - I had them in blue and red. I think I also had a metal wonder woman one. The worse thing was when that lunchkit fall open and your food bowl and thermos go flying all over the place. Remember ketching yuh nennen to open the Themos cover?! LOL!

It is very sad when fear robs a child of formerly commonplace experiences. I know parties in public places are a big thing now and it's okay but I think I prefer the party at home, where children can run about in the yard screaming and if they're tired fall asleep on a couch or lend them a bed and the parents drinking coffee and cake. Sad.

Trinidad Carnival Diary said...

Oh I loved to play school too; that and playing doll house were what I loved to do the most (apart from reading and drawing and making up illustrated stories) When I got older I would whip up clothes for my Barbie on my lil sewing machine that only did chain stich.. my mother would cut out the pattern, very simple clothes mind you, and supervise me at the machine, until I would use her patterns a patterns and make my own doll clothes!!! Whenever she bought fabric I was eager for scraps to make an outfit for my Barbies, and I had ALOT of Barbies, including about 3 black Barbies,her sister Skipper, friends of Barbie and of course Ken! Oh gosh and they had the house and Corvette!!I even had a carry case for when Barbie was accompanying me on a trip!!

That leads me to another favourite memory...Easter and August vacations in Tobago!!!! And my mom never stayed in guest houses, we would stay at Treasure Island hotel :D
Oh, and I would also spend part of my August vacation along with my million other cousins, by my grandmother's house in Mayaro..it was like a scene from that book "Crick Crack Monkey" by Merle Hodge!We each had our own special "tree" on my Grandmother's estate.. there were plum trees, pommerac trees, cimate trees,sapodilla trees,sugar apple trees,downs trees, tonka bean trees and mango trees galore! I had my own SAPODILLA tree people! And all of us, the million cousuins and myself, would go with my uncle to dig for chip chip on the beach, then return home to help shell them and wait for some curried chip chip and rice !!!!

*sigh* You know how long it has been since I ate chip chip!

Anonymous said...

I didn't have the experience of walking to school as we lived in Arima and went to school in Port of Spain, but I remember when my Mom used to pick me up int he afternoon, the special way she used to toot her horn so that I would know that she there...and the other kids in the school recognising it,so if I was not out front, they would call and tell me that my mother was there...even kids that I didn't know.

I also had the plastic lunch kits...and man I used to hate that lunch kit!!!...every evening for about a week, I used to throw the cover out the window, hoping my mother would get the idea and buy me one of those lunch bags..and everyday, she would come back with the same lunchkit!! After about a week, I resigned myself to it!!...now, I wish I could see those lunch kits.

And man, I used to read everything!!!...I LOVED Enid blyton. I lvoed Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys (although now I wonder how Nancy could be that dense!!!)

I used to love gooing to parties at friends' houses and having them over to mine.
Now, everyone has their party at some venue.
Do you think this is because of what happened to Akiel Chamebrs, or is it as we become more americanised and try to adopt the ameican way of life?

ANd you are right hottie..about people in the neighbourhood looking out for you(the children)...and you know that if you do something wrong, bet your bottom dollar that your mother knows by the time you come home.
Now if you try to correct a child, you getting cuss...and if the parent with them, they cussing you too...and want to know why you don't mind your business.

I actually have lots of memeories from my childhood...I lvoed my childhood, and I fear that because of how society is now, that my children (whenever t hey come) are not going to have a true childhood like I had...a carefree childhood.

And sorry for writing annonynmously...I haven't created a blog, and I doubt that I ever would.

Hottie Hottie said...

OH MY GOD! We used to go Toco and Tobago too by my grandmother's house. She used to cook the best food! She believed in big breakfasts - steamed red fish and crab cakes and fry bake and thing! And the house in Toco had serious trees too! Had a hog plum tree and a fat pork and plenty mango and a guava and a governor plum! My mom and my aunt used to make us fish broth with green fig and thing in it! I LOVE green fig!

Saucy, I had a lil sewing machine that only did chain stitch too! If you pulled too hard or if the stiching didn't "catch" the entire thing would unravel. I also had a Snoopy snow cone machine that i LOVED! When it ran out of syrup I'd use Kool Aid but it wasn't the same. I used to make dolly clothes too and fill the sink and take them "swimming!" LOL! I loved to read alot though. I had a big wooden cash box that someone had made for me. It was HEAVY!!!!! Everybody used to put their spare change in it. We had a galvanise roof and when the rain fell I'd run into bed and under the covers! It was so cosy with the room being dark and the sound of the rain on the roof.

Trinidad Carnival Diary said...

anon you don't need a blog to create a user name, just pick one and stick with it :D

Well my friends who have kids say that even if they want to have a party at home parents don't want to send their children, they prefer it be at a public venue and I believe it has stemmed from what happened with Akeil as well a the fact that parents no longer trust having their kids over at a "stranger's" home; you can't blame them though with the way things are these days!

Another enid Blyton fan here! Fave books were "The Naughtiest Girl in School" series, I also liked the book "The Little Princess" read that and cried when I was young :S
And I also love Hans Christian Anderson's stories; I still have a HUGE hardcover edition of his tales.

Hottie Hottie said...

LOL! Anon, that's ok. You can choose and identity if you want though, where you just choose a name and you don't have to have a blog. I too wanted a lunchbag and I'd give anything to see a plastic lunchkit again. I think the venue parties are a mixture of both. I know it's the "in" thing to do and a lot of parents don't want the hassle of planning and cleaning.

Hottie Hottie said...

LOVED fairy tales! And I musgh preferred Hardy Boys over Nancy Drew, although I read both. Did anyone see the episode of South Park with the "Hardly Boys" following their "big, hard clues"? I laughed 'til I cried!

Trinidad Carnival Diary said...

Hottie girl I think we grew up in an era where our memories will be similar! I too had a Snoopy Sno Cone machine (I wrote about it in a comment on my blog and that a co-worker borrowed it for her daughter's birthday party years ago and never returned it!); did you have a chemistry set, Operation, Candy Land Game and lego? I LOVED LOVED LOVED Lego :D

To me the Lego these days different to what we had! I remember it ws like 50 pieces, 100 pieces,200 pieces etc. then they came out with hospital lego and others like that.

Anonymous said...

And I loved August vacations. All of my cousins went by my grandmother and we had the best time. We still all remember it and reminisce about it and lament the fact that two of the cousins who have migrated to the states and have children, that their children do not know each other, and not have the same lifestyle as we do.

My aunt who used to live with my grandmoher was a clean freak, and we used to have to make sure to wipe all where the ball bounce and hit the wall before she came home!!!

I remember us all sitting down and watching tv together and used to have silly games like guess how many commercials between the show!!
I remember us playing Richie Rich (any of you had that...and Memory..and of course Lego...and fighting to see who would get the wheels to build the car (the boys always won there) and to see who would get the house...stereotyping huh?..but they were good old days.

I was never into dolls..at all...I used to "mash up" my sister's!!!..and no I was not a psycho!!
Once my grandmotehr made the mistake of sending me a barbie...and I say, well, ok...I bit up her legs, and said that when she was walking down Barbie lance that the neighbour's dog bit her!!....I even dug out her eyes so she could experience being blind!!! I AM NOT PSYCHO!!!!

Anon:5:51

Icahwait* said...

me too with the enid blytons even my son has one I started reading the other day.
I loved my care bears & Shera too.

ok I know I'm in the dark about the Akeil Chambers can someone fill me in?

I don't know what I'd do if I was in Trini for b'dy parties. But I know here I don't want to set ah children to clean up after. He's never had a party home yet. Having it elsewhere is just easier, they do everything for you.

Anonymous said...

Yes...Candy Land..we had that too...and operation!!..and I loved my chemistry set...loved loved!!...like we really all are from the same generation.

Trinidad Carnival Diary said...

icahwait Akeil was murdered at a schoolmates birthday party;when his aunt came to pick him up he was missing and the next morning the owner of the home found his body in the pool. They later found out that he wa being sexually molested, the case is still a mystery as to what really happened and who did it. No one was every held or charged for his murder.

I can understand parents not wanting to clean up after a birthday party, but the ones at Pizza Hut and the like are so generic for the kids, I mean after you have been to one it's like you have been to all! I liked the personal touch of doing it yourself, then again I am the woman who did everything for my wedding without a planner, down to makig my own bouquet!

no longer anon are you sure you are not a psycho? LOL.

Hottie Hottie said...

Nolonger anon, my dolly phase didn't last long nah. And my brother used to chew up all the dolly and dem foot! AND I LOOOOOOOVVVVVVVEEEEEDDDD Lego. It was the best toy ever! I used to build houses and men and thing! Saucy, march across dey now and ask back fuh yuh damn snow cone machine!!!!!!

Hottie Hottie said...

It was discovered that he had been suffocated during the sex act and his body had been dumped in the pool to make it look like he drowned. The autopsy showed he had no water in his lungs though. The police still persist with this drowning theory, even though all evidence proves otherwise and despite the fact that when he first went missing the pool was teh first place checked and his body was not there. Later that night the next door neighbour saw the woman who held the party throwing lots of chlorine in teh pool to make the water cloudy. It is suspected that she knows who did it and was part of teh cover up. Hell, half the police and most of the journalists involved know who did it.

Trinidad Carnival Diary said...

Hottie we forget to inform icahwait that the woman who threw the party is the wife of a well known business man as well! And the neighbour alleges she was having an affair since the couple were living seperate lives at the time.That story has so many twists and turns eh, but yes I feel the wife knows what happened.

Anonymous said...

Oh gosh...I forget the pacman!!!...and atari..allyuh remember atari....that was before super mario and playstation!!!
Oh gorm Hottie...you have me bringing back memories...really good post.

And no eh...I am NOT psycho...was just never into the dolls...and look after that, nobody ever buy me a doll again!!!

Hottie Hottie said...

The woman's husband's name is Charles James and he promptly divorced her after what happened. Imagine she didn't tell him anything about teh child missing and then dying! Is only when the police cama again teh next day and he came home and saw the cars in front his house he found out! He's the one has been pushing the investigation and volunteered to pay for the DNA to be be tested in the US, which teh police turned down. That case is a huge insult to not only the boy's family but the entire country. Hell, I could tell you who the number one suspect is. He living life nice now though...

Hottie Hottie said...

Kevian, glad you like. I remember going by my cousin and dem in Santa Cruz and bathing in the rain and one setta wild ants take we!!!! Last I heard the young ones have taken an old refridgerator and put it to lie down so that when the rain falls, they fill it and have a pool!!!! LOL! None ah we too stable nah!

P.S. The adults removed the doors, doh worry.

Icahwait* said...

Gosh boy, thanks for the info Saucy & Hottie, it rings a few bells. But I didn't know the rest of it. Going to google his name and read up some more. If the house had a pool it had to be in one of the more well to do areas so is it any wonder why it all hush hush.

Saucy it don't have anything wrong with wanting to do things yourself so you could acheive your personal touch to it. It just means you have skills and patience. I don't have the patience.
Party games here suck. I like my musical chairs yes. I've never been to a childs party here YET and see them playing muscial chairs. NEVER. Most times we stay at the parties too, I suppose that will die out as he gets older

Icahwait* said...

I can't say I remember Candyland or Operation.
5" floppy discs with loads of games to play on your green screen computer. Donkey Kong.
My best friend had the snoopy snow cone machine. She had cabbage patch dollies too. I was into the barbies & baby dollies. Had a typewriter though.

We used to go down to Chagaramus beach alot to bathe and collect chip chip.
going to Maracas & Las Cuevas is a mission. Aunites,cousins, neighbours etc all trailing car after car. And every car had their own cooler, snacks and lunch. We by the beach from morning till evening. Now that is lime.

Anonymous said...

Girl, I still LOVE musical chairs...big as I am I still love to play it.
Any family gathering we have, we still play musical chairs. And you believe it is more competitive amongst the adults??!!

Hottie Hottie said...

Green screen computer, LOL! I rememeber that! Thing going pong, pong!

Hottie Hottie said...

But allyuh realise allyuh change this post completely from what it was supposed to be originally!?

Trinidad Carnival Diary said...

Well Hottie you did ask for out favourite childhool memorie :D

I was not into video games, but I do remember the old time computers where you had to use function keys, no mouse, and the monitor was only in3 colours; black,white and grey!

Ahh yes, bathing in the rain! My cousins and I used to wait for a bathtub to fill and make our own swimming pool!All the while my mother would be making chicken noodle soup so after we had our fill of the rain we load up with warm soup and fall sleep with the sound of the rain on the galvanize roof, that is the sweetest sound to fall asleep to!

Can't say when last I played musical chairs, but I did not like that game because I did not like loosing. Hey, allyuh remember going to Bazzars ? LOL. Dressed in your Sunday best and playing bran tub and punch board!!

Anonymous said...

I'm having so much fun hearing everyone's memories. That's exactly why I want my son to grow up in TT, instead of here in the States. It just seems so devoid of community here, in comparison to my childhood. Everything is so spread out and clique-ish.

I too want my son to know about going with his cousins Down-De-Islands on Dyer boat (a family friend who used to run charters); going to Balandra and seeing the huge porcupine at dusk and the turtles coming in to nest at night; going over by Auntie So-and-So to play with Marsha and Kelvin toys--even though there isn't even a whisper of co-sanguinuity. I even want him to be able to get lix in de street by his grandmother for going by Stacy and Jason house instead because Marsha and Kelvin had to go La Brea for the weekend...

Sigh, all these things that I'd love him to experience, but the world climate has changed so much to one of mistrust and extreme caution, I don't know that if solely a geographical change would allow him these pleasures.

I would say, however, that I had a birthday party for him in TT at my (biological) aunt's house and he had a HUGE turnout. And, I guess it was because of his age, but most parents accompanied their children. It didn't even occur to me that the children would come unaccompanied, so I made sure to have the penna-cools on one side AND the alcoholic treats on another. The chirren menu and the big-people menu. I just figure that we shouldn't just rule out the home parties just because of possible dangers. Danger lurks everywhere, and it's up to us to take as many precautions as necessary, yet still not let it adversely affect our lives.

About the reluctance to clean up, well I completely understand that. I shove my environmental concerns to the back of my mind and just get disposable everything.

Anonymous said...

Oh! I forget to mention that I was reading an old Enid Blyton book (one about Mr. Galliano's circus and it's no longer in print) and I nearly dead when I reach the part about the performing dogs, two of whom were named Darkie and Ni**er!!!!! I couldn't believe what I was seeing right in front of me in black and white.

Karabana said...

Great post HH.
My sis, bro & I talk every once & awhile about how different it was for us growing up - we lived in a small town, walked miles & miles to school, & played all over the place outside after school w friends, & the folks didn't know where we were. It can't be like that now. Especially in this city. (An 11 yr old girl was grabbed & killed by a neighbour while she was walking home from school, her body later found in a lake several yrs ago. Also that year a girl the same age was taken from her bed in the middle of the night & murdered.)
I remember the summers walking to a convenience store w my best friend to buy cinnamon sticks (yes, we ate wood!), l'il caramel cones, licorice pipes, cinnamon suckers, Popeye cigarettes, Lik a maid, & Sweet tarts. Hmmm... it's a wonder I've never had a cavity!
We would go to the playground & swing as high as we could on the swings & sing that Stars on 45 Beatles remix song.

PS: No longer anon, good on ya!!! I like your new name!

Hottie Hottie said...

cb, the dogs were named WHAT?! Now, I know Enid Blyton has she racial stereotyping going on, what with the badass Golliwogs etc, but I didn't know she was so upfront with it. But anyway, that word was very commonplace in literature of that era. I've encountered it in works by F. Scott Fitzgerald etc so I guess she was just a reflection of the times. What makes it so startling was that she was writing for chidren.

Anonymous said...

Hottie, girl, exactly!!! I'm there trying to recapture my youth and I come across this. Thing is, the fact that she wrote it didn't really phase me. Not even that it was intended for young developing minds. What kinda jarred me was that when I read it previously, I didn't even notice anything wrong with it. I was, apparently, very well trained by "the Man." I picked up on the golliwogs, tho. I take comfort in that.

When I go back home in Feb, I'm going to check our her Faraway Tree series to see if there are any subliminals. I'm thinking that Moon-Face may have been the crackhead of the bunch...

Hottie Hottie said...

Crackhead!? Well yes! The Faraway Tree was some good reading. And one about a rocking chair that transported you. Was that The Wishing Chair?

Mani - drooling? What you talking bout? I forgot about Ashy Larry; forgive meh nah!

"Thanks Dave. I love your show."

Hottie Hottie said...

Oops! Wrong post, ignore the Mani comment.

Anonymous said...

"Saucy, march across dey now and ask back fuh yuh damn snow cone machine!!!!!!"

Dais what I did tell she! Okay, so ah reach over here now. This is a sweet, sweet topic Hottie. It sucks being born and growing up in de States. Trini childhoods does always sound like de TING SELF. And Anon, doh vex about not having a blog. Watch me eh! I's de poster chile fuh homeless people who does abuse other people's blogs...Look how Hots and Sauce does tolerate meh!
So here goes:
I remember dancing and singing wid meh Holly Hobbie hairbrush to Sister Sledge, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Third World, and Chic. I wonder whyyyyy he's the greatest dancer.....
BEGGING mum to leh someone cornrow me hair wid beads...She wouldn't let meh channel me inner Peaches and Herb @ Solid Gold. :(
Watching de circus wid glow in de dark accessories.
De Holly Hobbie and Easy Bake ovens and de sh*tting ting ah used tuh make in dey.
Coney Island and Sesame Place.
DO NOT START on de game Operation and de Operation pen..Please! Charlieeeee horse & H20 pon de knee!
O.R. time stitching together meh bruk up dollies.
My surgeon Snoopy wid de scrubs and cheerleader Belle and she pom poms. Also de sno cone machine, LOL Saucy!
Chrissy, those dolls yuh could feed, and Cabbage Patch dolls..Renamed of course!
Garbage Pail Kids trading cards.
POP TARTS AND MO' POP TARTS.
*SIGH*...New Edition/Menudo...lololllllllll.
Roller skating parties in meh Strawberry Shortcake skates wid de red stopper. I had de bedspread, phone, collectibles, and lunchbox. Charlies Angels too!
UnderoosUnderoosUnderoooooos
Wonder Woman ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. I used to loose out meh hair & twist rong in meh room till ah did hit de floor.
Game rooms, Atari, Pac Man, and Space Invaders.
Begging fuh a ride pon de horsie outside de store and quarters fuh de bubble gum machine.
Bussing ah Marion Jones behind de Mr. Softee truck.
Carrrrrvel!
Trips to Capezio & Stride Rite.
Ballet, piano, and karate dojo on Saturdays: staccato grand plie pas de bourre, jete, jete, balance...Karate chop in yuh arse!
Scooby Doo, the Electric Co., Zoom,
and Schoolhouse Rock.
Dancing de Maypole in school and doing Mexican dances for Cinco de Mayo.
Spelling bees and storytelling contests.
School Xmas pageants where we'd sing, "Mamacita, donde esta Santa Clausssssssssssss?"
Friday nites watching Dallas and Falcon Crest with my mother with Dynasty on the VCR fuh back up. Dominique Devereaux in yuh runkatunk! I learned about scandalous philanderers, whores, and their illegitimate bastids..... Thanks Mom!
Reading Judy Blume and Archie Comics under de covers wid ah flashlight. I must, I must....
The Jeffersons, The Cosby Show, A Different World, Good Times, Hot Tracks, What's Happening, and Alex P. Keaton.
Tiefing and trying orn meh muddah crotchless panties.
Ending up in de ER at age 3 after drinking up she birth control pills.
Jack and Jill museum & art gallery trips.
Going to de UK to see Nanny and charm school in de summertime.
Boat trips across de E.Channel to France.
Xmases in South America.
Divorce court proceedings with Barbie and Ken aftah he did horn she wid BOTH Christie and Skipper. She corvette did get repossess after she needed money for legal and didn't pay de car note. Ken did pelt ALLL she clothes out de dream house into de swimming pool oui!
Manhattan shop windows @ Xmas.
Playing trial court wid meh bruddahs dem.
Playing "hairdresser" wid mel lil' gay fren Kennneth dong de block.
Sailing down bannisters with meh bum landing on ah pillow cushion at de bottom. I does still drool when I see ah good, long, sweeping bannister boi.
And SO MUCH MORE! Ahhh good times..

Anonymous said...

Ah, Dolli (improper ingles) reach. I was thinkin' about you last night as I made pão de queijo. Any of that in your childhood?

Trinidad Carnival Diary said...

Menudo! New Editon! Michael Jackson (when he was black) and Boy George (didn't even knew what gay or cross dresser was in those days).

I have to admit, I had Michael Jackson posters all over my room! LOVED the one with him in the tan leather jacket, white T shirt and jeans..I think that was for "Beat It". I also had...a Michael Jackson "leather" jacket complete with matching "leather" pants, studded belt, Michael Jackson buttons/pins,Michael Jackson navel breakers and T-shirts AND ear-rings :S

My mother used to real indulge me yes!

Ahd Dolli me eh know what to say to this..LOL:

"Tiefing and trying orn meh muddah crotchless panties.
Ending up in de ER at age 3 after drinking up she birth control pills.",

Anonymous said...

Yes cb, some ah dat wid plenty ah tamarind sauce. An ole staple. I had to mix it up Trini style..LOL!

And Portuguese men are extremely randy, meh mum had nuff sexy langerayys (yes, dais how I does seh it) and I used tuh like to dress up in them when she wasn't around. Imagine a 3 yr old wid ah big belly and no tut tuts in high heels and ah lace merry widow? Helen Keller! LOL......

Sauce,
I'm an only chile wid me own parents, so ah know about de indulgement too eh! Somehow I have 7 brothers and 1 sister though, all halfies. Ur mommy sounds wholesome and nice. :) Meh own did caught up in she own version of de Danielle Steele and Jackie Collins version ah she life. (Hence my book report on Sidney Sheldon's "The Other Side of Midnight.") Imagine de Dr. did ask me why I did it and I told him I thought the pills were candy and that she was wretched for holding out on me! :o Let's just say syrup of Ipecac was a vital& intimate part of meh chile'hood. Age 3 was the Year of Discovery.
BTW, I liked the MJ poster when he wore the tux and bow tie b/c of that song "Don't Stop Till U Get Enough." Till this day I freak it RHEL BAD when I hear this song! I go play it pon meh honeymoon.

Oh! And I remember playing Star Wars and always having to be Boba Fett de bounty hunter. I loved tying up pple and selling 'em to Jabba de Hutt fuh Monopoly $!
And playing Pole Position and Uno........

Carnival Jumbie said...

Allyuh did not have more barbies than me! I had the mansion, The Barbie Ferrari and Corvette,the rockstar stage. the pool set and about a million barbie. My dad had a friend who owned a toy store and he use to let us pick one thing when we went to visit and all I used to pick was more barbie.And all my parents give me for Christmas was more Barbie.
But I was still a tomboy, all i used to want to do outside was climb tree.
My best memories are in secondary school though..we used to do real wildness in school.Doh talk about School Bazaar and sweat box disco..booyakah!!

Anonymous said...

What a bittersweet post. The innocence of yesterday is long gone. Akiel Chambers is still such a fresh memory for me. Even though I live in the US, I have followed that story and it is just appalling that nothing or no one was ever caught. And trust me, they certainly know who did it. But you know sweet T&T, is who yuh know and things will get swept under the rug.

I have such sweet childhood memories. We were poor, but at the time I thought that we were well off and the toast of the town. I remember walking to school every morning and walking back home for a nice hot lunch that my grandmother would prepare and then walk back to school. My father, uncle and cousin would also come home for lunch. It would be a sit dowm lunch for all of us. I went to Providence Girls in Belmont, so on the way back to school I would stop by Young Lai parlour to buy my pepper mango and pepper plum. That was the follow to lunch. I would get 25cents so yuh know that used to get me a lot of pepper mango back then.

In my house, they monitored your TV time so basically, it was 12 and Under, Sesame Street, Panorama and Dark Shadows (this might be a give-away for my age). I was an avid reader and my favorite books were Nancy Drew mystries, The Hardy Boys, The Bobsy Twins and Hans Christian Anderson. Every Christmas, I had one aunt that always gave us a jigsaw puzzle as our Christmas present and every year it got more and more difficult. Remember Snakes & Ladders anyone? We used to build play furniture out of the matchboxes and then paint them with watercolors.

The summers I spent at my cousins who had land and we would go picking mangoes and making mango chow (for a girl, I was a real tomboy and I was one hell of a tree climber), getting guavas, anyone remember gru-gru bef(sp?). Anyone ever get constipated by guavas (or cork as they used to call it)

I remember taking the short-cuts home from school and being chased by dogs. Man, I was one hell of a runner. Is like dem dogs used to sniff you coming and when you see dem dogs ears pop up, then you you know to -- RUN! Man, I outrun quite a few dogs in mey uniform.

On a Saturday afternoon my father used to treat me to ice-block and penna-cools. Again, those were times of innocense.

Hottie Hottie said...

But like ah kyah leave allyuh alone at all!!!!!! Look at writing!

Dolli, you in a class by yuhself. The most I ever do is interrupt meh mother in de middle of a rooksin. See she talking to me and puttin me back to sleep wrap up in sheet! LOL!

cb - what is pao de queso? Wink eye.

Saucy, I didn't have the posters but I had a frend whose sister had them ALL and I wanted one BAD! Nowadays yuh shame to say so! And I loved Boy George. Yuh know, I never thought him strange! I wasn't sure if he was a boy or a girl but his name was George so he had to be a boy. Talk done.

Dolli - That is a best song. Let me only hear that song play in a dance NOW people have to make room.

Carnival Jumbie - Take win. Ca ce Barbie ce vouest! And sweaty school disco was the highlight of the year! The nuns and them used to ring the bell exact six for disco to done. Preesah! Holy Cross disco used to be THE disco to go to!

Law - I know gru gru bef. My moms and them had plenty a dat on the plantation in Santa Cruz. DEM was some tomboy! Penna cools. I remember meh cousin convincing me to go in neighbour yard to pick donks and the man dog run we down and bite me on meh bamcee. You have not LIVED unless somebody wash yuh ass in Dettol.

Trinidad Carnival Diary said...

I never got a dog bite, but Hottie I do remember the Dettol!

Diva take win,I had many Barbies but not all the accesories; I also had alot of Cindy dolls, remember those, with the huge head? :D

I love ice block, especially the milky ones!Oooh that brought back a memory, my mom had these popsicle makers with spiderman, hulk and wonder woman on them. She would make kool aid, pour them in the plastic popsicle makers, freeze it and I had my OWN popsicle with a wonder woman stick!Yes Dolli, my mom was very "wholesome",she was a single parent but man oh man she did everything! And she played mas too,and I liked going to the Savannah on Carnival Tuesday,waiting to see her cross the stage.I also loved dressing up in her Carnival costumes too!! All I remember now is how scratchy the lame used to feel.LOL.

Carnival Jumbie said...

Saucy them Cindy dolls used to get me vex! Cause i had one or two and NONE does fit in the Barbie clothes. steups

ttfootball said...

Hottie this is a great blog, and while the comments have definitely gone in the opposite direction, is better ppl have a good time wit it otherwise it might start to look like the Express homepage.

I too wonder if children nowadays will have the kinda sweet memories that we did... I have been trying to get a feel of peoples' ages on here, some thing i definitely identify with, some not. Ah find nobody talk about playin pitch and flying kite, cricket in the road, football, of course making chow. I suppose i was more the outdoorsy type, but I did LOVE the Enid Blytons and the Legos!

Anonymous said...

Oh gosh all yuh ...fuh true childhood memories does have yuh bazodee sometimes. here are mine:

Watching Mastana Bahar, Panorama every night(meh mudder say ah must know wha going on in de world....as if Trinidad is de whole world eh), Indian movies on Sunday morning and westerns wid meh fadder Sunday afternoon, 12 and Under, Scouting for Talent, Rikki Tiki, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Calabash Alley, Love Boat, Knight Rider and the A-Team. Oh gosh, ah all most forget Three's Company!!

Climbing meh neighbour mango and guava tree with meh brothers.

Before my mum finally gave up and relaxed my hair when I was 10, every Sunday was wash day and me and she both crying as she trying to comb through my knotty curls, me on the floor between her knees with coconut oil running down meh nose.

Going Upper Level to watch the taping of Party Time.

Eating chili bibi, and faina and sugar, or homemade iceream with Jello and fruit cocktail and evaporated or condensed milk.

Drinking Milo in the morning befoe school.

Going Princes Town in the summer to stay with meh cousins where I learned to make kurma and sada and paratha.

Reading Enid Blyton, Nancy Drew, Bobbsey Twins, Hardy Boys, Paul Keens Douglas and Earl Lovelace.

All yuh remeber Commodore 64 computer?? Hah Lord!!

Playing meh records on meh Big Bird record player....." *singing* Puff the magic dragon......."

Loved Barbie dolls, cabbage patch dolls and the Care Bears. Also Richie Rich game, Monopoly.

remeber playin Missippi with the elastic band around yuh ankles, then yuh knees, thighs and waist in the school yard

Sports Day at school.....the three legged race and potato sack race...........aye aye aye!!!

Remember the shoe store/brand "Bata"??


There is so much more ah could call out eh but dais it fuh now.

Hottie Hottie said...

Oh gorm! Mastana Bahaar!!!! With pick a pan. Anybody remember Baby Susan and Baby Sandra dancing on Indian Variety?! Oh Lord! Dem Indian movie was the damn ting self! Turn of the Tide, Gayelle, Rikki Tikki with ...Petra and ... wais de next one name? The pretty one with the plaits who did sign language. Sweet Trini, scroll down fuh meh Fraggle Rock and Labyrinth post.

Yuh know how LONG I eh eat farine and sugar! Dey does still make dat? Aye, it still have harvest?

TTfootball, of course I remember them ting! Yuh waiting fuh kite season and buying yuh kite paper and ting! Meh neighbour Chinee used to make for all them chirren in de neighbourhood. And as for chow! Allyuh ever get ketch with that leaving chow in de hot sun or burying it for it to get hotter?

Diva,yuh remember them dollies that only had one row ah hair in de middle ah dey head!? Yuh kyah give dem a ponytail at all, at all!

Hottie Hottie said...

AYE! Last day ah school going with your friends for KFC or pizza! And the parlour woman in primary school selling all kinda preserve thing!

Trinidad Carnival Diary said...

Hottie, when I was very young I used to say when I grow up I want to be an Indian...LOL..that came from watching the Indian movies on Sunday mornings!! ha ha!!!I used to find the women were so pretty and they used to sing, and dance and roll in the flowers....if you used to see me with my mother long plait (she kept her hair after her first haircut when she was an adult)hairpinned to my head singing with a hairbrush infront the TV while watching the Indian movies :D

TT football I remember making chow with whatever fruit was in season be it mango, pommerac,chenette or plum and the secret ingredients were shadon beni (bandania) and BIRD PEPPER!! Here nah, when that start to burn yuh mouth so was all kinda "zoot" "zoot" sounds yuh making trying to suck in some air to cool yuh tongue.

diva, I didn't like the Cindy doll much, her head was too big!! Oh and hottie I never had dem dollies with the one row ah hair eh, I hated them too bad!

My parlour woman from primary school used to sell the BEST phulorie I ever eat in my life, and doh talk about the tambriand (sp) sauce, I used to lick the brown paper it came on clean :D And, we used to buy bara, that was before they get the idea to put two together and call it doubles, back in my day we would get a single with channa.

Oh, and yuh ever get jareh (spelling) for maljo? All my cousins end up by the Indian lady Nannie to get jareh at some time or the other! All I remember is she used to do some ting with a cocoyea flex!

ttfootball said...

Bird pepper, Saucy! LOL!! I remember a time I pick bird pepper and playin with them in my school uniform pocket, my hand burn whole night! :-(
What about playin scooch? (sp?) My WHOLE class playin scooch, and doh pray to get hit in the middle of yuh back, game done for you!

o and by the way, chow make from stolen fruit taste sweeter ;-)

Hottie Hottie said...

LOL! Skootch! Bird pepper eh no joke pepper yuh know! But cherry pepper is de worse. My brother mistake one of those for real cherries and pop one in he mouth. Hear nah, the WHOLE neighbourhood did hear he bawl! Den, he made de mistake and went and bathe. And the first place he soap was he balls. I does still fell sorry fuh him when I think about it now. DAT was prayers!

ttfootball said...

aye *icahwait remind me of something: remember when u got a poppy and pin it on your school uniform for poppy day?

ttfootball said...

they does still have that?

Trinidad Carnival Diary said...

ttfootball the poppy thing still exists, for memorial day last week several persons I know wore the poppies.

Hottie Hottie said...

Poppies is a big thing up here. Just last week some joker write about how foreigners in London have no respect and yuh doh see black people wearing poppy up here. Well, somebody write back and say that when England choose to recognise the fact that back people made a significant contribution towards the war effort, then he go wear a poppy. How he grandfather died in the war and the wife and children he left behind got endless pressure and racism from the same society he died protecting. Allyuh thought Trinidad had becchanal?!

Hottie Hottie said...

"Tippy tippy tap, you're on my shoulder,
Tippy tippy tap, you're on my shoulder,
Tippy tippy tap, you're on my shoulder,
I am your master..."

Anonymous said...

Red light, green light, 1, 2, 3.....

Hottie Hottie said...

Red Rover, Red Rover...

Trinidad Carnival Diary said...

hop scoth and morel :D

Anonymous said...

Duck, duck, duck, duck, goose......

Hottie Hottie said...

What game is that sweettrini?!

Anonymous said...

Oh gosh gyul, all the children would stoop down in a circle. One chile would be the goose and walk on the outside of the circle patting heads. Each head he pat, he say duck and randomly choose someone and say goose. The person he pick comes out of the circle and chases the chile around it. If the 1st chile makes it back to the empty spot in the circle and stoops down without being tagged, the other chile now is the goose and has to go around the circle. If the 1st chile gets tagged, then he has to go around again.

That was a game and a half. Chirren use to throw themselves in the circle to avoid getting tagged and skin up they knee on the pitch.

Remember Mother May I?

Anonymous said...

Oh gorm,,i know I late,,but playing Brown Girl in the Ring,,and red light, green light, one two tree,,and Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys,,and racing with my siblings when we get home from school to pick the best mango off the julie mango tree,,and being home with my mother in August cause she was a teacher,,the list goes on and on and on,,i miss trini bad ,,sob :(,,,, remember giving somebody a meggy, u know,,u have to put your fingers a certain way,,and taking math lessons,,who here from South remember miss Simmons math lessons every Saturday morn. I miss the big big bright red ribbons we had to wear in primary school. If i only put that in my daughter hair in de states they'd think i lost it!!!,,thanks for the memories hottie

Anonymous said...

ttfootball mentioned pitch, well let me tell you ah story. My cousin had a nice handsome lil fren ah did like, so being the tomboy I was I decided to play pitch wid him to try and impress him how good I was for a girl. First marble ah pitch , hit de poor boy real hard in he balls. Lawd, meh boy start cuss with de pain, yuh know yuh gyal run.

Anyone remember:
Two little dickie birds sitting on a wall
One name Peter one name Paul
Fly away Peter, fly away Paul
Come back Peter, come back Paul

Hottie Hottie said...

Yes man. I remember dat!