Growing Up as a Country Kid

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Outside More Than Inside

Growing up as a country kid, you were outside more than you were inside.

You had some type of farm animal(s) in your backyard. Maybe even an incubator in the house.

You know how to shuck corn and shell beans. Baskets full.

You’ve picked your pumpkins, watermelons, cantaloupes, and strawberries right out of the field and your blueberries off the bush. Maybe you picked your own peaches and apples too.

If you didn’t have a garden in your backyard, someone in your family did.

Somebody was always canning something and giving it away.

Sweet Tea, Jacks, & Fritters

You learned you can never have enough sweet tea. Your mama might even wash out milk jugs for more tea when a holiday is coming up.

You know there’s no match for hot apple jacks and corn fritters, crispy on the edges.

Porch swings are your favorite place to talk. They make all conversations easier.

Your mama taught you to always clean up the house before company comes.

Your dad taught you to never eat the last of any food item on the table, because you should always save it for someone else.

Work & Play

You work for what you get, as long as you can. It’s just the way it should be.

Fishing is a way of life.

You’ve caught crawdads and tadpoles with a bucket or a dip net.

With your brothers and sisters or cousins you’ve played in ditches, splashing around after a good rain.

In your mama’s yard, you’ve made mud pies.

Waiting for homemade ice cream to get ready is no problem; you know it’s worth the wait.

You’ve hosted or attended a pig pickin’ and eaten pig pickin’ cake, or you at least know what it is.

You’ve searched for fireflies/lightning bugs, slapped lots of mosquitoes, and put ladybugs in a jar.

There are days when your feet are so dirty you think you will never get them clean.

You played hide and seek outside in the dark with your cousins, counting on your grandparents porch.

Church is an expectation, not an exception.

You’ve been to an outdoor summer revival and put your feet in the sawdust.

Growing Up as a Country Kid

There was always open space to run and play.

You can remember a dog, or two or three or more, following you around. You ran for your life while being chased by a rooster.

You’ve sat in a tree stand, ridden on a four wheeler, gone spotlighting, checked traps, and followed animal tracks.

You are either aggravated at someone hunting/parked on the side of the road or you are the person doing that.

You own camouflage clothing and long underwear.

You’ve watched July 4th fireworks from a boat, a backyard, or the back of a pickup truck.

You’ve said, “Can you hear me now?” or “I’m sorry, my reception is so bad.”

When you got in trouble, your mama or daddy made a switch from a tree branch in the yard.

Discipline is normal. You know the difference between right from wrong.

And most importantly, growing up as a country kid, you were always loved.