Where are All the Kids??????

[exav8tr]

Cathy and I have been travelling since May of '07. As many of you know we have driven from Alaska to Washington, Idaho, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota and now in Minnesota. We picnic at many of the city parks where we are at in an effort to conserve dollars for fuel. Besides we just enjoy a good sandwich and chips in a park. Very peaceful and relaxing.

The one thing that puzzles me is: Where are all the kids? We have seen empty soccer fields, beautiful baseball fields vacant, park swings and kids equipment vacant. There have been a few exceptions to this, but, for the most part, they are gone!!!!!

Have we, as a society, become so fearful of letting our kids out to play or are we creating electronic monsters with all the video games. No wonder childhood obesity is on the rise and becoming alarming.

What are your thoughts??????

[Waynem]

Wow Phil. I never thought of it that way, but I think you are right. When I was a child SO MANY YEARS AGO, I could go out and play until sunset. I had to be back in the house when it started to get dark. We ran and played all over town. Never any questions asked, except, what did you do today. Of course, we could leave the doors unlocked when we went off somewhere if we wanted to.

Having just visited the two granddaughters I see that they are very, very active in sports. But it is always at some soccer field, softball field, etc., far from home and it is "team" sports, and the parents were always there, or someone who "ushered" them to the field was there and ushered them back home. Never left unattended.

It's a sick society that we live in - but only 10% that make it that way. The other 90% of us are law abiding and will protect children, not take advantage of them.

[richfaa]

I am of a different opinion. I do not believe that society is any sicker now that it was 10/20/30/40/70/80 years ago. We are now flooded with media that has to fill the morning, noon and evenng news and we hear of every incident that happens anywhere in the country. We had drugs and drug dealers in my generation, we had robberies, car theft, Beatings, killings, Rape, Child abuse. Spouses killed each other,there were random killings, we had gangs. We did not hear of things that happened in every city in the country That made us think they did not occur, we felt safer, we were not. We are now more aware and more informed. I transport school kids to events over a wide area.Kids do the same things now that they have always done. Our street is full of kids from morning till dark..same as 50 years ago.

[Wiarton William]

We live wayyy back in the country..We have games..yard games,,nearby a lake to swim..a pool to swim in, a riding mower and kids bikes, I made nature trail walks and of course a vcr/dvd ..we have had two of the GK's here for 7 days w/o parents....2 Gk's with their parents......I am so sick of hearing...IM BORED..What can we do...where can we go....can I watch a movie.....can I call my friend.....can I have my video games...and of course..whats to eat? YUK! I dont like vegetables,, I dont like that.........and plates left half empty because they didnt like the meal.........cant ever recall snearing at my parents(and stayin concious).....makes one wonder what THEIR kids will be like.........

[PartyCrashers]

My Opinion....

Younger kids that need adult supervision are under parent supervision at team sports activities.

Older children....before teens and teens are all hiding in the house behind....computers, video games,....electronics.

Which yes we are becoming such a society that is getting lazy and higher obesity rates.

It is a shame!.....

I live in a community that is very much into greenbelts, schoolyards with grass "open space" all around.

Years, years ago....a childs dream area!

Our house is located in between an Elementry School and a Jr. High.

Directly behind my house is a large green belt, with a park....

During the summer and throughout the day, these areas are empty.

With the exception on Saturday morning when schedule team sports take place on the green belt.

There is a community pool in a short walking distance....Yet this stays busy.

The school yards are empty (basket ball courts, playground, tec...)

Near by park....empty.

Yet, on my street there is six.....six! basketball hoops, placed in the gutters for children to play basketball in the street.....which is against "city codes"

Not only are the children becoming lazy.....but the parents are lazy in their supervision.

I agree times have changed.....we as adults are more frighten to let our younger children get away from us and play without supervision,

But we as adults are not taking the time to let our children play....

We are allowing the television and other electronics babysit.

This is why I think the difference in my area of school yards, parks are empty but the pool stays busy.....it's easy for parents to supervise at a pool, while laying out in the sun

As a society.....we need to wake up!

A reminder.....this is my observations and my opinion.

I do not wish to insult anyone.

Denise

[TLightning]

They are inside in front of the TV or computer screen...not the kids fault, the parents let them do it.

[exav8tr]

Rich, to say that "Our street is full of kids from morning till dark..same as 50 years ago." Is a great and refreshing thing to hear. BUT to say "Kids do the same things now that they have always done.", I think is grossly misstated. That was the whole point of my post, that the kids are not out doing what they have always done. If they were they would be in the city parks, in the ball fields, playing in the rivers, playing soccer on a Sunday afternoon, playing hoops at a local ballpark. I was just saying that I see VERY LITTLE of this as I travel across the country. OF course, there are exceptions, but as a rule: Where have all the kids gone????

[Parrothead]

Another thought on this. We have become a reactionary society. One child fall down the stairs in a walker(because the parents were not watching) and immediately that product is taken off the market as being unsafe. Our kids all grew up in crib, playpens, strollers, etc. that are now unsafe. This is not to deminish the injury of a child but it is because the media tells us about these incidents constantly and some organization immediately reacts. JMHO
Happy trails..............................

[exav8tr]

Sue, you may have hit on something here. I also assume, IF I was to let my kids out, and IF they were to get hurt somehow, it seems someone would be saying I was a bad parent for not watching my kids every minute of every hour. Perhaps even calling the child protective services of the local area. What is our society coming to???? JMHO also...

[Mrs. CountryGuy]

A bit off topic, but, our twin grandchildren do that

"I am bored, what can I do now" line - - -

or, they did,

till ole gramma figured out that I had the perfect solution, a win win - - - -

when they tell me they are bored, I tell them they could scrub the bathrooms,

hmmmmmmm, they suddenly seem to have something fun to do, whining stopped,

but, my bathrooms still need cleaning.

did I say, win win??

[skypilot]

Carol -- Love it. I always tell my younger coworkers with younger kids to enjoy them now -- seem that when they turn 12 or so they get arthritic hands -- the hands no longer fit around brooms, vacumns, lawn mower handles, etc..... (as well as they suddenly gain all the knowledge of the world and we lose it all at the same time -- one person told me -- and I now use the expression often -- you put the little 'angel' to bed, and overnight that person is transformed into a 'satanic' monster that lasts about 4 years!!.... In any case, on topic - I remember being told eat your breakfast (or lunch) and get outside and play. I'll call you when lunch (supper) is ready. We knew the neighbors, we played stickball, rode our bikes, and occassionally got into trouble. When that happened, a neighbor often witnessed it and took us home where Mom and (later when he got home) Dad 'taught' us with belts, hands, etc., how to behave.

I think with over 200 million US Citizens alive today, they did a dang good job of bringing us all up. Yes, we had crooks, we had perverts (now that is a term I haven't used /heard recently), we had all the other ash and trash that was out there but we still survived. I agree, as others above have mentioned, we are so saturated with the media telling us about how everything is so bad -- the sun is bad for you because of cancer(yet it keeps us healthy !! ), the air is polluted (yet indoor air quality is noted to be so much worse than outside) .... no matter what we hear we also hear something about the alternative. Information overload!! I don't have a solution -- I'm a new grand-dad myself and I already see my SIL letting the twins having their way (8 months old - what else can he do -- I just hope he knows when and where to draw that inevitable line!!). Off my soapbox -- I guess my last comment on this has to be a historical comment -- My grandparents questioned us and how immoral / lazy / derilect we were and we came out OK. My parents said the same about our children, guess it is the nature of the beast to question the new incoming generation.

[Delaine and Lindy]

Reading the above post gives us a idea why are jails are full.. A lot of parents aren't parents. Kids today tell the adults what to do. Just go in any mall and you will see kids running wild, screaming, crying and totally out of control. You had better get the kids under direct supervision or when they get to the age of 14 to 16 they will be in trouble with law enforcement. However due to some who think all you have to do is talk to your kids and thats all it takes. Wrong a child will respond to certain things, you must be firm and consistent. We was with our neighbor while inside a mall and her daughter was out of control, rolling in the isle, crying, screaming, you know you have seen this situation etc, and she ask what did you do to correct your child when he acted like her child was acting, really didn't want to tell her but my child never acted like that. He wasn't allowed to act that way. It don't take a village to raise a child, it takes a Father and Mother and direct supervision and keep the Government out of child raising. Turn off the Tv and computers and put them to work at something and keep them in some kind of sports. And most of all get them in church of some kind. No in our area unless its some kind of sports or Church you don't see kids outside. Good Luck.. GBY....

[richfaa]

Times have changed... In my generation (the 50s. We did not have malls, computers, IPODs.Tv was a lot less than now. Many stations were only on during the day . My parents and grandparents were "immigrants", a dirty word now days.They had old world ideas on child raising many of which would be considered child abuse today. We had no choice about Church...you went..that was it..period. IF the church said something you did it..or else..the teacher had the power of life and death over you. What they did would be jail time today. My parents looked at the 50's.."the wild ones " Rock and roll..we would never amount to anything...We looked at the 70's..Hop heads, free love, they will never amount to anything.It goes on and on.. we look at the present generation ..they will never amount to anything..but they always do.We must live in the present, we change and adapt and we survive.

The good old days , yours or mine were only the good old days to us and today will be the good old days to the present generation. Was to the school I drive for today doing some bus things and the grounds were full of kids doing what kids have always done on hot summer days. Many things are different..but yet the same.

[Delaine and Lindy]

I agree, and the immigrant thing my ancestors were also from the old world. But the difference was they did it the legal way. Oh well life goes on. And didn't ask for anything, worked hard and were honest. Being raised on a dirt farm just makes you see things differently. Kids today have it to easy. And its our fault in some ways, by wanting them to have more. GBY...