20 Days of Chill / Ultimate Blog Challenge - When I was a Kid

Welcome back, it's 20 Days of Chill Time again!

Today's prompt is

When I was a Kid

You know what's coming, right?

When I was a Kid, I had to walk (insert distance) to school. 

In the snow.

Uphill both ways.

Barefoot.

OK, I did have shoes. Snow boots even. The rest is true though. And it was perfectly normal, and all the other kids walked, too.

These days, it has become a huge debate. Many helicopter Moms insist it is too far, too steep, too dangerous for their precious offspring. The little one couldn't possibly be expected to walk themselves to school. 

For your understanding: In Switzerland every tiny little village has their own kindergarten and elementary school. Usually it's located in the center of the town, and the distance is somewhere between a few hundred yards to half a mile. There's sidewalks and backroads, and cars aren't allowed to drive faster than 30km/h = 18.5 miles per hour. 

There are always parents, older siblings or dog walkers having an eye on the younger ones.

Communities were built in the Middle Age, meaning they didn't plan for large parking lots, let alone drop off lanes. So frankly, the only danger for the kids lies in cars manoeuvring back and forth in what little space there is in the school's driveway.

That being said, let me go back to when I was a kid. 

I haven't changed all that much. 

Back then I liked to play and chat with my friends and my dolls, to play house, which included going to the grocery store and the hairdresser's. Haha, yes, I cut my little brother's, my doll's and my cousin's hair. When I played the Mom, I always made sure my kids had yummy food, playdates and birthday parties. If their little friends lived too far away, I would pick them up and take them home after the party. 

My Mom didn't have a car until I was about 10 years old, so if anything, I hoped to be mobile when I grew up. Come to think of it, I quite liked cars. When my little brother and I played with our LEGOs,  we usually built houses and connected them with streets, on which we would drive with LEGO cars and regular toy cars. 

I was pretty mild mannered when it came to my friends. I usually let them take the lead. More often than not I subordinated my wishes to other people's and adapted myself effortlessly, so I am surprised to see myself as a circa 4yo sitting in the driver's seat. I like it though! Maybe my memories are a little clouded anyway?

Growing up, I was interested in many of the professions I came across, and over time I wanted to become a (kindergarten) teacher, a nurse, an "office person", a bookseller, a career counsellor or a decorator.

Look at me now - I'm doing all these things! Well, sort of, right? I have been working in Human Resources, and I'm pretty much the Mom I imagined, down to owning my own car, haha. While I don't sell other people's books, I'm sort of a writer myself, which, frankly, is much cooler. 

When I was about ten years old, we had to write an essay about how we imagined life in the year 2000. I wrote about it here, and looking back, I pretty much nailed it. 

Today's Ultimate Blog Challenge's prompt is 

Childhood Dreams

As a child, there were no limits on the possibilities of what you could do. You would dream and think about what it would be like when you were a grown up. 

What if you still have that sense of wonder and the attitude that you could do ANYTHING you wanted to do.. what would you be doing differently today?

It's not so much about what I could do. I don't think I ever wanted to become an astronaut or a vascular surgeon. My wildest dream was probably to be a circus acrobat. You know rope dancing, performing tricks on the trapeze, these kinds of things. I did a bit of practicing with a narrow piece of wood that I put onto two chairs. I am afraid of heights though, and I had to admit that if jumping from the diving board at the pool made me nervous, tightrope walking was probably not for me. 

It's more about my lifestyle. I think my dream was to have a huge fancy house with every amenity that would make my - and my friends' - lives convenient and fun: swimming pool, disco room with glitter lights, sound machines, lots of LPs (yes, I'm that old) and fridges. 

Photo by John Fornander on Unsplash

I thought it'd be cool to have closets full of hip clothes and accessories. Since I did not like to work around the house, I wanted to have enough money to be able to hire people to do that for me. 

As you may imagine, I'm still working on that part ;-)))

What were your childhood dreams?