I have to believe that I grew up in an era that promoted children's imaginations. Of course this was prior to television cable with a zillion and one channels, fast computers, video games, cell phones and texting, Gameboys, iPods, etc. This was a time when kids played with other kids outside, all day "until the street lights come on". Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall, we were almost always out there. Playing with the neighborhood kids was the highlight of my childhood. The parents were on board as well and everyone kept their eyes out for all.
Our mothers would send us outside as soon as we were done breakfast, were dressed and our teeth and hair brushed. Or, because there were no fences in our neighborhood, we'd go out as soon as we'd see another kid out in their backyard. Soon at least a half a dozen kids would be playing together, sometimes as many as fifteen kids consisting of many different age groups. Sometimes we'd play school in our carport, or we'd all be riding bikes up and down the street, playing cops and robbers. The older kids would write plays and the younger ones would act them out. There were times we'd make magic shows and charge the adults pennies to come and watch. And they would come! Sometimes a small group of us would play with our Matchbox cars in a large sandbox. Very often, we'd pull out our beloved baby dolls and doll strollers and play house,which was always my favorite activity. We'd sometimes even take picnic lunches through the woods to the beaver dam or walk "The Bumblebee Trail" with the bigger kids in charge. In the dead of the winter, the kids dragged their sleds and toboggans to the neighborhood hill and we'd be sliding until the sky was pink with the sunset. We'd all look out for each other and if memory serves me right, it seems we all got along pretty well.
Nowadays, I have to pull my son off his computer as he could spend hours creating rollercoasters or watching goofy YouTube videos about a crazy, annoying animated orange! He would watch cartoon after cartoon and then play his Wii games until the cows came home if I didn't object. But I do object, and I do force him out to play. But it's not the same. And he is almost always alone.
Once outside, he'll happily swing on his swing set and I watch him from the kitchen window and gasp as his eyes are closed and he makes himself go all crazy and upside down on it. I can only assume he is pretending to be on a rollercoaster. He'll take his bike out and ride around in circles, again sometimes closing his eyes for short moments and screaming as if he's on an amusement ride. He'll round up the two dogs and try to teach them tricks or grab their leashes and walk them around the back yard. But this all tends to be short-lived. When he would come in, he'd want to head right back to the computer.
Since we've started school, I made a rule that there is to be no TV before and during the school day. There is to be no video game playing and no computer usage (except for supervised studies). At first, he had a hard time adjusting to finding alternate things to do with his free time. What I have noticed recently, is that he has been pulling out his toys from his past. Toys that have rarely been used and long-sinced packed away in his closet, like Lego blocks and Tinker Toys. His Matchbox cars, road & street carpet and toy buildings have come out. I see him playing with his Woody doll and making it do gymnastics. And I hear him talking to himself, immersed in his imagination. He's beginning to choose these activities over the computer games.
This is what childhood should be about. Free play. Why is it so rare to see the neighborhood kids out and playing together these days? In our current society, is it easier for a parent to feel secure that their child is tucked away in the next room, hooked on his video game than it is to worry about his personal safety outside? Has it become too difficult in this busy, stressful world for the parents to find time to supervise the kids outside? Is the world that much more dangerous than it was 40 years ago? Childhood health issues, obesity, cyber bullying, gang activity, teen drug and pregnancy, and childhood depression seems to have sky-rocketed since that bygone era.
If I had one wish, I would turn back the clock for my boy. If only he could experience just one weekend day of what we had as kids. I am convinced he'd leave the Gameboy stashed in his dresser, grab a cookie and run outside to join the gang waiting for him on the front step. That would the one kind of gang I'd be happy for him to join!
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