"Where have you been all day!""Out."
"What have you been doing?"
"Nothing."
"Well get in there and wash those dirty hands!"
The children are not safe, even in their own back yards. The predators have more rights.
I don’t know about all the psychological gobbledegook here, but playing sandlot baseball and football, the neighborhood tree house, walking/biking around town, exploring woods and hanging out with the neighbor kids were fond fond memories. I nary see kids doing such things today, and haven noticed that for many years.
Technologies and safety reasons. The former keeps kids inside. The latter is a natural concern given all the creeps and weirdos out there, thanks to the left and its constituencies.
Great article, and it reflects my observations. It’s interesting to note that I live next door to a large Catholic family. We live in a wooded area and those kids are outside playing every day. The parents keep “apologizing” to us for the noise...but my reply is always that it is not noise to me...it’s the sound of fun. I feel sorry for those children who do not get out there, get scratched, scuffed, and sunburned...whilst building memories which will serve them well for the rest of their lives.
And, those unfortunate children who are shielded from all reality become Obamas...and we all know just how disgusting that is.
So sad. We baby boomers had such freedom as kids. I wandered through woods, swam in ponds and took home stray dogs that my mother would feed from the table. Maybe I idealize my childhood, but in some ways it was heaven.
Meh, nature, it’s overrated. When they need volunteers for space station living —I am there.
I was traveling in another state two summers ago, and as I often do when on the road I turned on the car stereo and began scanning through the AM band looking for a talk radio station. I came upon a guy speaking in a sort of rambling manner about a lot of the things this article says ... about how we don't let our kids go outside anymore, how childhood seemed so much "better" for prior generations, etc. The voice was a bit familiar, but I didn't know who it was because it wasn't someone I recognized from my own local talk radio lineup.
He also told a caller that his most valuable education as a child came in the back seat of his family's car on long trips -- just listening to his parents talk in the front seat about various things. That last one really hit home with me.
Turns out it I was hearing Glenn Beck's radio show for the first time, and I've had a much different take on him ever since then.
One of the missing links for the process of socializing and learning how to mature for many young men is the lost baseball game of rotation, or work up. There was a time when kids from all over the place would gather at a local ball field and take positions in the field with three players at bat. If you were put out you moved to right field and had to work your way back up. Disputes were settled on the spot. The learning process was swift.
Furthermore, they have been done a great disservice by all these assinine studies that say, "Eggs are bad for you. Cheese is bad for you." No...they aren't. They contain so much a body needs when growing. Cholesterol be damned. There are things that a body needs in order to grow a healthy, fully functional immune system. Our kids have been deprived of these things that G-d in His infinite wisdom placed on this Earth for a reason.
"History shows again and again how Nature points out the folly of Man."
I remember when during Summer, parents would kick the kids out of the house during the day, and told them to only come back for Lunch and be back by dinnertime.
Good point. I've always maintained that someone (me) who grew up outside, who hunted and fished and hiked and built forts and watched otter slides and beavers work and...and...and....
Had a WHOLE lot better idea of what to worry about in the environment than some DC bureaucrat who only steps outside for photo ops.
Besides the other things mentioned I believe that a lot of the reason that many kids don’t go outside to play is because of single parents, especially single working parents. It’s just so much easier with peace of mind knowing your kids are at home playing video games instead of outside when you can’t be home to watch and keep and ear open for them in case they do get a scrape or scratch.
I would expand on his theory and say that the ability of the Left to push such idiocy as AGW is because no one goes out in nature anymore. No one experiences the real world, but are force fed the horrors of what man is doing to the environment. I know that here in Indianapolis the most vociferous and vocal young environmentalist are kids who live in the city, spend their time in coffee shops and Apple stores and wouldn’t know a butterfly from a cockroach. However, they know all about the terrible things modern life, the same life that created and powers their little computer/social media world, is doing to the fragile “ecosystem”. If you have spent your 60+ years fishing, hiking, riding your bike and gardening you have seen hot weather and cold, dry and wet, blizzards and droughts. You realize that nature works on its own plan and that we have little to do with it. If you spend your time inside wrapped in your electronic cocoon then every hot day is a sign of the apocalypse.
Later.
I spent the teenage years of my youngest child PHYSICALLY EVICTING her from Playstation and the Internet, and forcing her to go outside for some exercise and fresh air.
Could not relate for at that age I lived outdoors playing ball, going swimming and riding bikes. At least until I turned 16 and got a part-time job.
Great post. It’s a topic my husband and I talk about frequently. I have two babies, so they are too young to play outside without my supervision. But I rarely see children out and about the way we used to be. In the mid-80s, my sister and I were always outside; playing with neighborhood kids, riding bikes, hide-and-go-seek, going on long walks. In fact, my mom made us leave the house everyday and told us to be home for lunch and dinner.
I will say, though, safety is a concern. My in-laws live a mile from us and I cannot honestly say that I would allow my kids to walk to their house when old enough. There are just too many bizarre predators lurking around. Simply check your home address on one of the sex offender websites; incredible how many registered ones are out there. Who knows how many un-registered ones.
What really drives me nuts now is watching families at restaurants ignoring each other, staring at their phones, playing games on their ipads, playing on facebook, etc. No one speaks to each other or even looks at one another. No conversations, no real interaction. Why do parents allow children to do this? What kind of zombie-like generation is this going to be?
Public School is a conditioning process for laziness
Parents work so much to keep their heads above water they have no time for children
It's less taxing to watch action and adventure on TV with a DVD than it is to go climb a tree or explore the woods
Child Predators are everywhere and the law protects them more than it does the children
with the advent of Monsanto Bio crops children are more susceptible to allergies than ever before
So why go outside ? The shame of it is there are so many things to discover on your own outside it does not take a great amount of perspicacity to realize children have very much to learn by stepping out the front door and having many great adventures of their own ...
Do parents have time to show outside adventures to their kids ? I'm afraid in this economy the answer is NOT ENOUGH TIME vacationing and week ends are not time enough but i suppose parents can change or have they been conditioned too by the same public schools and Government Largess that has placed children on the back burner? ...
"Where have you been all day!""Out."
"What have you been doing?"
"Nothing."
"Well get in there and wash those dirty hands!"
My son gets the outdoor experience through the Boy Scout Troop. They do a lot of backpacking and camping.
My daughter, not so much.
There is undeveloped land behind the house where I grew up. I cannot count all the ways that the exploration of this land enriched me. Here’s a few:
1) Observed the full growth cycle of frogs, including polliwogs in the stagnant ponds
2) Found all sorts of berries, including my favorite: black caps
3) Spent countless hours flying kites — why doesn’t anyone fly kites any more?
etc..
