When I was a kid, my parents would have to make me come inside.
When my daughter was younger, I'd have to make her go outside.
It's partly our own fault. When we were kids, our parents rarely had a clue where we were playing. Nowadays, parents watch their kids constantly for fear of a boogeyman getting them.
My neighbors next door has this huge wooden gym set that really belongs on a public playground. It's a leftover from the last owners whose children never played on it.
It has a section that looks like a fort. On the other side is a room with a plastic concave window which you reach by crawling through a large tube. There are also a climbing wall and a tubular slide.
They have two sons that never play on it, either. The boys are about 7 and 8. You very rarely see them outside. One day the mother pitched a softball to her son for about ten minutes. That was all either of them could tolerate I guess.
If my brothers and I had that gym set when we were kids, we'd be on it every day and so would a swarm of neighborhoold kids (you never see neighborhood kids anywhere either).
"When I was a kid, my parents would have to make me come inside."
LOL! We were in sooo much trouble if we weren't home when the streelights came on. You still can't keep me inside once 40 degree weather hits. DH usually has to drag me in out of the garden.
As for this cutting thing, I agree with the posters who said these kids have too much, no accountability, parents that set no boundaries for them and too much time on their hands.
Get a part-time job, or go do some volunteer work in your community!
Yes, I'm a Mom. My three can tell you stories of how horribly I "abused" them while they were growing up with chores and responsibilities. Mean Moms Rock! And their kids don't have time for this pathetic attention-getting indulgence.