Children's Spaces

“Given half a chance, children create their own nooks in the leftover places of the adult map.” Alastair Bonnett talks of children making “dens.” “The meaning of each place was entirely at our disposal and was constantly being transformed to fit with our changing fantasies.” “Den-making is a particular kind of play, not with dolls or toy guns but with place. It’s a form of play that is particularly private and vulnerable.  Any adult or teenage presence can destroy it at once: a looming face would reduce Paul’s and my dens to a dull clutter of sticks.” Alastair Bonnett in Unruly Places

This brought back memories of "den-making" in my childhood.

~There were forsythia bushes in one corner of our backyard. We liked to play there in all the "rooms." It never occurred to us that we were probably totally visible to Mom and her friends who were sitting at the kitchen table and looking out periodically to check on all the children.

~Margaret Farrar, later Reynolds, lived behind the vacant lot next to our house. I have a vivid memory of raking leaves there and making leaf houses, very elaborate (to us) with "walls" for rooms and openings for doorways. Were we supposed to be raking her yard or did we go there because she had the most leaves in the neighborhood? 

ca 1955 Susan at creek on Madison Road

~We spent a lot of time at the creek of Madison Road. We thought it was our own little world - and it was. We spent hours and hours at a time playing in the water, swinging on a rope swing, catching tadpoles, walking on top of the REALLY HIGH bridge on Chrisman Avenue (somehow it totally shrunk in later years). The only time we saw adults was when MaryF was with us. Her mother was "always" with her. We figured it was because her parents were older and she was an only child. As in the quote above, the magic was "destroyed" by the presence of an adult. It became an ordinary creek when Mary's mother was there. Interestingly we didn't play much, that I remember, at the creek on Oak Street. We went over to Madison Road probably because it was a bit further from home.

~One wonderful "den memory" - I think Betty was with me. We got a huge pile of books from the library and took them to this little "island" in the creek to read. My memory is that the island was covered with tall, thick, vibrantly green grass - a perfect place to read.

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Dad was a great accomplice in den-making. He made us several teepees over the years. The lean-to appears in quite a few backyard pictures. It was turned into a stable for a Christmas card picture. 

Dad made this teepee in 1952 - Julia, Tom & Susan

1958 - Susan, Julia & Tom with teepee & lean-to

1955 - the fort - Susan, ?, Tom, Jan & Billy

The Texas Tower is in the back right of this picture. Dad modeled it after an oil rig platform. Our tower had a ladder and cargo net that could be pulled up, thus controlling access to the "high" platform. Photo 1958 Julia & Susan

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Then there was the "deep forest" in our yard at North Street. Our grandson named this when he was about three. To his young eyes I'm sure the two pine trees with their low branches made a perfect hiding place, his own den. Little did he know that we could see into his little world from the house.

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Den-making - fun childhood memories