#BEDM - 25th: The best things about childhood

I haven't really been following the #BEDM prompts, but when I was reading through them all at the beginning of the month I thought this one was great!  So, what do I think are the best things about childhood?

• The freedom to be imaginative and just go with it.  Turning a low wall into a train and travelling on adventures? Yes please.  Running around the playground with classmates playing a game which no one can really explain the rules to but everyone understands? Completely acceptable.  Building a new city in the sand pit?  Positively encouraged.  
• Primary school - I loved primary school.  I didn't go to a great primary school (it failed its Ofsted inspection, and then later failed its special measures programme) but I had some fantastic teachers who gave me great experiences.  In year six a term's topic was The Stone Age - the junior school corridor was an L shape, with the two year six classes in the bottom bit of the L and we were allowed to turn this area into a cave!  Working in small groups we dabbed the walls in brown paint and then when that had dried we painted animals and other traditional designs on to the walls, only using candelight - the windows were covered up to block natural light and it was brilliant!  It looked fantastic.  I am not an artistic person and I hated art lessons at school, but I loved the cave painting.
• Long school holidays - those six week summer holidays were excellent, as well as weeks at Christmas and Easter, plus half terms...I know I've only really just finished university, so I haven't yet experienced having my holiday allowance limited to only a few weeks a year, but those long holidays were great.  
• The strength of friendships.  One of my closest friends I met when we were toddlers.  We've been to the same schools and sixth form college (but rarely in the same classes) and despite living at opposite ends of the country for university, we now live in neighbouring counties.  Even if we don't see each other for a while, as soon as we're together again we fall back into a comfortable familiarity which I love.  The same with some friends from sixth form college (I'm counting that as childhood, we were barely 16 when we met!) - you know at the time you've got a good thing going on.  Some of my closest friends now I met as an adult, and I hope I'll make more friends in the future, but there is something special about childhood friendships.  
• Decisions being made for you - well, this is sort of a good thing, sort of not.  I quite like making my own decisions, deciding what I'm having for dinner and what time do I want to eat it, deciding what to spend my money on and sometimes counting glace cherries as one of my five-a-day.  But sometimes I just want someone to make the decisions for me.  I don't know if I'd rather have a curry or tuna pasta bake.  I don't know if I want to have a hot lunch or a hot dinner and I also don't know if I ought to go to the supermarket today or can it wait until later in the week.  Should I take a jumper with me, is it going to rain, do I need any cash?  Okay, these aren't really hard decisions, and I can make them by myself (or at least if I get cold and I don't have a jumper then that's my own fault for not bringing one!) but sometimes, just sometimes, can someone else just tell me what I need to do today?
• Discovering what you're passionate about - admittedly, many of the things I love today I only discovered as an adult, and I am sure I will come across things in the future which I will love.  But two of the main loves in my life, reading and Girlguiding, I am so pleased I discovered as a child.  They've set me on a great course for the future!

I'm now going to have a look at the #BEDM hashtag on Twitter, I'm really interested in what other people consider the best things about childhood to be!