The nostalgic memory of screen doors shutting was overshadowed by the childhood summers spent playing outside. The doors weren’t just keeping the flies and mosquitoes out of the house; they were serving an important role in childhood development by adding an extra element of fun and adventure when leaving the house. The doors provided moments of excitement and anticipation while waiting to cross the boundary from inside to outside. While the summers spent playing in the sun and the screen doors themselves are from a bygone era, they created a lasting impact.
Table of Contents
- 1 1. The Distinctive Slam
- 2 2. Mom’s Warning Voice
- 3 3. The Patch-Up Jobs
- 4 4. The Secret Knock
- 5 5. The Summer Breeze
- 6 6. The Peek-Through Protocol
- 7 7. The Great Escape Artist
- 8 8. The Dinner Bell Effect
- 9 9. The Seasonal Ritual
- 10 10. The Screen Door Handle
- 11 11. The Bug Inspection
- 12 12. The Sticky Summer Days
- 13 13. The Neighborhood Watch
- 14 14. The Holiday Decoration
1. The Distinctive Slam
There was a long-standing joke that the WHACK-spring-rattle was the play of the screen door closing, and most kids would act out that joke. While mothers would tell children not to let the door slam, it was highly unlikely they would be able to do so, most children would set off the door by launching the spring. It created a nice sound, in fact, some doors had a pneumatic closer that would make a hissing sound when the door was closing.
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2. Mom’s Warning Voice
In fact, that is not just an impact of the screen doors closing, it made an impact on everyone involved. Still today, when a screen door is encountered, the echoing voice of mom asking if someone was born in a barn is still embedded in the memory of everyone who was there.
3. The Patch-Up Jobs
Every screen door ended up needing patches. Whether it be wear and tear, an excited dog, or some random baseball flying through the door, those little metal patches are like badges of honor. Dad would cut a new square of screening, attach it with some special spline, and declare it “good as new.” Some doors ended up with so much screening that it looked like a metallic quilt.
4. The Secret Knock
Every kid in the neighborhood had their own unique way to announce their arrival, and every kid understood it. Some would do the classic shave and a haircut rhythm while others did their own version of it. Some kids would smack the door while others would thump on it.
5. The Summer Breeze
Screen doors were like natural air conditioning. They kept the bugs out and opened up those summer breezes. On hot summer nights, you could hear the wind and soft whispers from the screen as the curtains moved with the wind. It was nature’s lullaby.
6. The Peek-Through Protocol
Every time you answered the door you would always look through the door to see who it was. The screen door squint was so natural that we even did it at houses that didn’t even have screens.
7. The Great Escape Artist
With hours of concentration, the family cat set its sights on trying to unlock the screen door; sometimes it succeeded, resulting in some escapes. Some of the quicker-thinking cats figured out how to use their claws to hook open the door. Those little hook-and-eye latches became standard equipment.
8. The Dinner Bell Effect
Mom would stand by the screen door (that separated the inside of the house from the outside) and shout “dinner’s ready!” and as she did this she’d step outdoors and bang on the screen door to get our attention. That metallic rattle was as effective as any dinner bell, sending kids scurrying home from all directions.
9. The Seasonal Ritual
Twice a year Dad would do the grand switch on the doors, the screen door would go up in the spring and the storm door would go up in the fall. It was a sure sign of the changing seasons, as reliable as any calendar.
10. The Screen Door Handle
Those push-button handles were a wonder of engineering, even if they stuck sometimes, hot metal and a good slam would shut it right. It was like a daily science experiment built right into your door.
11. The Bug Inspection
Every day, kids would stop at the screen door to see the bugs that showed up in the evenings. The bugs would be gone by the time we went out in the morning, but once we came back after school, the bugs would be right back on the screen. The best part was when a praying mantis decided to hang out on the screen door for a while. It was like having a personal zoo of bugs.
12. The Sticky Summer Days
In the summer, my siblings and I would stand in the shade of the screen door while we ate popsicles. We would try to get our mom to not make the floor sticky by standing in the door frame and letting the leftover popsicle stick drips fall to the outside. The screen door was like the boundary line of “wiping your feet on mom’s clean floor” and “making an acceptable mess”. We would find frozen drips of popsicle juice at the bottom of the door frame for years, like sticky little remains of our past summers.
13. The Neighborhood Watch
We were able to see everything that was happening in the neighborhood while sitting behind the screen door. We were able to see who came and went, like the ice cream truck or new neighbors. It also allowed all the neighborhood moms to supervise their kids while they did the dishes.
14. The Holiday Decoration
The screen door would be used to hang decorations for each holiday. It became our display door for putting Christmas wreaths and Fourth of July decorations. The best part was figuring out how to decorate the door without destroying its screen.
