Paulo Freitas do Amaral, a professor, historian and author, writes a nostalgic chronicle about the family whistles that were used a few decades ago to call children home. The author recalls his childhood in Cruz Quebrada, in Oeiras, when his parents had their own distinctive whistle that he recognized immediately, even amid other sounds and play. All the kids on the street had their own whistle, and there was a specific time for the callings — at eight in the evening, when the whistles to call the children for dinner began to be heard.
The author describes a different Lisbon, where children played in the street, went to school alone, spent hours outside the house, and had a freedom that today seems almost unimaginable. There was also a trust that was part of everyday life, without the need to know the exact location of children at every moment.
Freitas do Amaral recounts that, many years later, he still uses this old habit when he loses his mother in a supermarket. She makes the same whistle and he finds her immediately, as if time and modern forms of communication disappeared for a few seconds. The family whistle fell into disuse with the arrival of telephones, mobile phones, messages, and location applications.
The chronicle ends with an appeal: the author encourages readers to teach the family whistle to their children, so that one day they can be in the middle of a crowd and immediately recognize someone they love, just as he recognized his parents when a whistle was enough to call them for dinner.
