When I was a young warthog!

I remember my childhood quite vividly.

There were bike rides. And on my very first bike ride, dad taught me how to balance on the bike and go straight but omitted to teach me how to turn the bike without falling off, or where the heck the brakes were. Which in turn resulted in me going head first into the ditch because, out of sheer panic, I could not figure out the brakes nor know how to avoid the ditch.

Being on the skateboard because it was newly introduced then. As I could not balance on the skateboard, I sat on it while my cousin pushed me. And as usual, in panic, I put my feet down which (again) resulted in me going head and face first on the asphalt and having two scars above my lip today to remind me of that fateful day where my dad almost choked my cousin to death because he didn't watch out for me.

Going skating in the park because it was a great activity then. And having a huge bug fly into my eye while I was skating which resulted in me having to go to school for a whole week with one eye the size of a ping pong ball.

Being thrown in the swimming pool to learn how to start paddling my feet to keep afloat and eventually learning to swim because in dad's words "you were too afraid to put your head under water."

There were little kiddie potluck parties thrown at home where we used Alpha Nuggets from KFC (remember those?!) and spelled out "Jo you Asshole" to show to the one friend who said she would turn up but did not. (we made two trips to KFC just to have enough alphabets to spell that. I still have the photo of our Alpha Nugget insult.

There were weird themes at parties where we tied our hair in two side ponytails because the Shampoo chicks (remember them?) were hot then. And where all three of us turned up in this partially blue and partially striped shorts which must have been quite the fashion then.

Then there were the trips down to the padang where we learned how to use the monkey bar, where we swung ourselves so high on the swings and attempt to jump off it. And we would hide in the those circular things and pretend it was our home. And then cycle until our lungs were about to explode to avoid the neighbourhood dogs who were hell bent on biting us.

What a great childhood.

I hope to give my children the same childhood that I have.

I look with pity on children living in the city of Kuala Lumpur where their Facebook/blogs are chocked filled with pictures of them clubbing, drinking,smoking, video games, reality TV and the latest gadgets. (just to name a few)

Whatever happened to the innocent, carefree, childhood that each child is entitled to?