By: Paul Morrone
So much has changed since I was a kid. And I know some of you reading this are rolling your eyes thinking, ‘Paul, I’m almost twice your age! Talk about change, we didn’t even have TV when I was growing up!’ But fortunately, my thought of the moment isn’t how much things have changed, but rather about one of the simple things in life that hasn’t: the snow day. In a world consumed by technology, social media and video games, it was so refreshing to see kids being kids the ‘old school’ way during the most recent snowstorm when school was cancelled on Monday.
As a kid, it is an unexpected joy that is close to unbeatable. I remember countless early mornings when the snow was coming down, patiently waiting in front of the TV and watching the cancellations scroll through at the bottom of the screen on News Channel 8. The worst feeling was when I turned on the TV and it displayed a town such as Norwalk or Norwich – which meant that I had to wait for the ticker to scroll through the entire alphabet again to see if North Haven had posted a delay or cancellations. It’s a feeling of anticipation that my children will never have. Times have changed, and now we get automated calls, texts and push notifications from the public school system informing us instantly of any cancellations or delays. So much for deferred gratification.
As a parent, it’s work. And a battle. Get the snow stuff out, fight the kids to get their fingers in the gloves which are either too big or too small. Bundle them up, send them outside only for someone to realize they have to pee about 13 minutes after we got them ready to go. Then they have to get undressed, end up tracking snow all over the house, just to strap everything back on and do it again.
But the kids love it. Unlike myself, who has been increasingly averse to temperature extremes as I get older, the kids seem impervious to the bitter cold and will play outside with numb fingers and red faces until it’s time to come in for hot chocolate. This was the most snow that either of my children have seen in their lifetimes, and even though it wasn’t great for sledding, they found plenty of entertainment jumping in the snow piles made by the plow, wrestling in the snow and making snow forts with their friends.
I still remember being a kid and doing the same thing, and it brought back those childhood snow day memories of all the neighborhood kids playing outside and celebrating the fact that we didn’t have to go to school. I was once immune to the cold and would spend hours with my neighbors having snowball fights, making forts or sledding. Equally as exciting as playing outside, however, was coming in, drying off and enjoying a cup of hot chocolate and a movie to end the day. That part, I can still get into as an adult!
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