When his mother took his mobile phones for the day on Good Friday, the sisters Lillie and Harper O’Rilly received the outdated order to go out to play.
It was then that the sisters O’Reilly noticed a great puddle on the other side of their home in St. Thomas, Ontario. They decided to create a sign that said “Splash Us”, and then stopped in front of the puddle, waiting for vehicles to pass.
“We think why we do not create a sign and make the cars splash us with the pond,” said Lillie, 11. “Many cars led to the pond and splash us, we were wet … really wet,” Harper added, 10.
Some vehicles even turned to the block and made a U turning, accelerating through the puddle for a second round of splashes, the girls said.
Impressed by the answer that the sisters obtained from the passers -by in real life, their mother, Taylor Brooks, captured a video of the splashes and published it in Tiktok with the title: “Do you remember when the children played outside?” Since then he has gone viral and obtained more than 10 million visits, along with thousands of comments.
“Each of those vehicles went home and told someone what happened to them today. I know he would,” wrote a Tiktok user. “I think adults had more than children,” said another spectator.
“You simply know someone who had a difficult day at work began instantly to rid when they did this. Entertaining for both sides,” he read another comment.
‘Let them get bored,’ says mom
Brooks said he did not expect the post to attract so much attention and that the family was surprised to see how many people were related to the video. She believes that it is because children who play outside without technological devices are no longer as common as it was a few decades ago.
“Personally I think it’s the nostalgia of the 90s,” Brooks said. “Many of us grew up in the 80s and 90s, we had fun before technology and really resonated with people to see children having fun, without devices and only came home for many people.”
Comments on the video tend to agree. Many spectators recalled having performed similar activities when they were children and congratulated the O’Reilly sisters for being good sports.
Brooks’ message to other parents? A little boredom from time to time does not hurt and can motivate children to find innovative ways to entertain themselves without technology.
“Just let them get bored for a few minutes, and something will occur to them. It was nice to see them doing something together, they were outside enjoying every minute, so they will discover something and have fun. It is instinctive for them,” he said.
The girls said “definitely” plan to do this again, and the experience taught them that they can have less screen time and more external time.
“We learned that you don’t need to spend every day inside your phone,” Lillie said.
