Shatong (inspired by #wheniwas13)

I think my mom is pretty much relieved that I was born in the late 80s (LATE!! i'm not that old) because it was a less expensive childhood compared to the present. When I was young, all i had was a stick that I'd pick up anywhere and play 'shatong' with. Now, children might not even know what 'shatong' is. There are a few things you can learn when playing 'shatong'. You learn Physics because you get to calculate the speed and velocity of the stick depending on the direction you want the stick to go to (of course, that's for kids ages 8-13 years old with an advance knowledge in science). But for a regular kid like me, I just learn patience and persistence which is tough to learn for kids these days when everything can be done in a touch of a button.



It's such a shame that games like Shatong are fast becoming extinct because of the technological advancements that we're having. Not that I'm complaining or anything, I love these advancements. I can't possibly imagine myself living without my Ipod but sometimes, I just wish these 2 elements would co-exist with each other. PSP and Chinese Garter would get along and at 4 o 'clock, children would come out and play Patintero. (Fun Fact #1: During my time, instead of saying 'Entrance', we'd say Engkalot! I really didn't understand why we say Entrance when the aim of the game is to not let anyone in. ^_^). I don't even see kids playing Hide 'n Seek (Tagu-taguan) anymore during brownouts.

It saddens me that these children hardly get any physical activity because they'd rather press a few buttons on their Nintendo than play Hop Scotch (Fun Fact #2: I called that game 'Kitkit' back in my days and we have hundreds of variety on how to play Kitkit. Anything you can think of, Kitkit Palda, Kitkit Flower, Kitkit Bahay. The possibilities are endless.) Pet spiders are just things in the past. No longer do I see kids having a Geng-geng fight on a piece of barbecue stick. (Fun Fact #3: 'Geng-gengs' are named based on the place where it is found. I think the most common is the 'Geng-geng' Abong (House). The most bizarre 'geng-geng' I can remember is the 'Geng-geng' kidlat. Come on, what did you do to get it?! Pray for a storm and get electrecuted?). It was physically exhausting to play back in my childhood. My favorite game was probably the Chinese Garter. Chinese Garter is made of rubber bands wittingly put together to form an elastic jump rope. There are 3 common types of Chinese Garter game. #1 is the 10-20. #2 is the ordinary jumping-over-the-rope. And #3 is my favorite. It's the I-love-you Chinese garter game. It's pretty hard to explain.

What I'd like to say is that we need to encourage these kids to play. To play physically. To run around and get dirty (literally speaking). Because they're missing a lot. They're missing the opportunity to learn things that can't be taught by technology. Patience and Persistence.

TTFN!