Whatever happened to "Go Outside And Play ???"

Remember those milk cartons with the supposed 'missing children' pictures?

That's what happened... all the parents are/were afraid that their kids would be abducted if they left their sight.

Outside group activities are still around and there for those who want to do them. But there is a growing counter culture that is also just as equal to doing outdoor activities and team sports. It is gaming and programming. I would indulge you all to read this blog by Richard Dooling first before reading on.

Mothers Against Warcraft

As you can see from the blog, you can gain as much, if not more from gaming and programming than being in so called real outdoor activities. For those who would make the argument that Gaming is being in a MMORPG(Massively multiplayer online role-playing game), it's as real as going out side and throwing the ball around. In fact in some cases, you may get more of an endorphin release from the experence making that much more real. From the article, it states that it has all the elemets that any organized athletic or group sport or activity would have.

With that being said, I still went out to enjoy the world between sessions of WoW and other RPGs I have played in the past. Most of these games are becoming more lifelike everyday, and the lines between the real world and the virtual are being blurred.


PS
All Hail the Computer...

I went out to to play a couple of days ago.

I climbed an apple tree in our garden. It wasn't too hard going up, but coming down wasn't great. The tree is on a slope and I couldn't quite reach the floor from the lowest branch so I sort of slithered round the tree and slid off a bit lower down the slope than I wanted to.

I scraped the skin on my hands and arms and I've got a bruise.

My housemate saw me walking up the garden path, obviously pleased with myself and asked what I'd been up to.

When I told him I got a telling off and a smack on the back of the head* - then I got hauled in for lunch - giggling all the way.

* No probs - he was a lot more gentle than my mum used to be.

Friends don't let friends go to McDonalds, or StarBucks. Choose Locally own and Keep Austin Weird.

Cool Thread. Man I remember going out to play when I lived in NJ. This was during the late 80's when I lived in Based Housing in Lakehurst. I would run around in the woods that pretty much borderd around the entire base and the neighborhood. When I moved to TX, well, I lost my nerve when going outside. Also I encountered rasism for the first time here in TX. I wasn't aware of Black people or hispanics. Since I'm white, and got knock around school here, I became inclusive, and mainly stayed in Side.

Well guess who's controling our schools. Maybe its time to not allow the people who got picked on control our schools and try to get rid of Recess.

Here in San Antonio, and here now in Floresville, where I currently live, I ride my bicycle around town and out to my home which is about 14 miles. The looks I get from people is not suprising considering if tomorrow the world had no gasoline, they couldn't run after me and steel my bicycle even if there life depend on it.

LOL

also lets blame the news. After all bad news sells and what wouldn't sell but about kidnap kids. Unfortantly most kids who get kidnapped get kidnapped from family.

Maybe we should trust our fellow man/woman because with out trust, the world is a lonely place. Well its lonely infront of a TV.

I grew up low income in Cajun country. To find anything to do, we went outside. We threw dirt clogs at alligators. We fished with Zebco 202's for Gar Fish bigger than us. We swam across bayous just to dare the alligators and gar fish to get us(as a kid, they weren't as plentiful as they are today, the gators that is, the gar fish were and still are vermin).

My grandfather used to get a gleam in his eye when he said "these boys PLAYED HARD all day". He knew how important it was to our growth. My nephews have never played hard once in their lives.

Thanks for this excellent thread. You've reminded me that I haven't played hard in fifteen years.

Enough internet. I'm going out to play.

haha thats a great question. I grew up in the 80's/90's and even then , at least in my neighboorhoods, it was still safe to go around and ride the bike, meet with friends, go to the gas station and get candy.. i could do whatever i wanted and i felt safe. but nowadays, i cant imagine being young and roaming around by myself. There are so many creeps out there, and maniac drivers.. you never know what could happen

I think I played kick-the-can more than anything else growing up...

In addition, the crew that grew up on my street could build a pretty good goddamn fort...not to mention the accuracy we had when it came to throwing rocks at objects...

But I think silver hit it on the head by portraying the t.v. as a babysitter...look at the dvd players in autos these days - another way to keep the kids complacent.

In the 70's we didn't even lock the front door at night; and even when ATARI came out, it even got old as space invaders and pitfall harry got old rather quickly...but today's games offer kids an experience not to be missed - at least in their minds, and parents seem content with that...have the kids play the video game inside where the parent has control as well as knowing the kids will not be accosted somehow 'out there'...

And I too brought items to school that would get a kid thrown in the slammer today...!

Ahhh, memory lane...

Aw! Those days as a child growing up free and wild
Building forts and Dams and playing in the sand
Skinny dipping in the creek and acting like geeks
Batting rocks with a stick and lighting cigs with a bic
Shooting hoops at the park and staying out til dark
Tubing down the river til we all started to shiver
Trick or Treating and our weekend club meetings
Sipping on a PBR beer and even crying real tears
BB guns and slingshots and tied up with slipknots
Black eyes and pretty girls with beautiful curls
Roller skating rinks and the Ole soda pop jinks
Campgrounds, circus clowns and Rock sounds
Sledding in the snow to squishing cookie dough
Cartoons and full moons to birthday balloons
Aw! I miss that first kiss and those days of bliss

My kids are outside all the time with woods to play in and friends to play with. I notice that when I drive through other neighborhoods the streets and yards are empty and it truly is a shame that America has lost those days of innocents.

I didn't think so many would reply to a thread like this, it was just a thought that hit me while observing the kids in the buildings I manage.

I read through every response and assigned a positive and negative to each remark to get a feel for the mood of everyone's replies. Though many replies warmed my heart to see that some kids still get out there and have fun outside with their friends.

Sadly, negative remarks of fear and trepidation outnumbered positive remarks by almost 2 to 1. Fear seems to pervade our society in the fact that the media has poisoned the minds of parents and they live in fear of having their children out of sight for even a minute. Hell, some parents are putting tacking devices on the little ones and teens have phones and cars tracked by parents when they go out.

I think a general consensus is that TV, video games and the internet have become the babysitters for busy parents.

Pull the plug on the electronics. Give the kids some wood, nails and a hammer, then set them loose to build a fort. Yes they might hurt themselves, but those injuries are part of growing up and we shouldn't wrap them in suffocating cotton swaddling for our own peace of mind. Or why not pull out a board game and sit down as a family and enjoy each others company.


I must say though, many of you have given me hope for our future generation and I've enjoyed the stories from everyone's past adventures.



Edit: I just have to add a story about my dad.

We had a boarded up school at the top of our street that hadn't been open for years. Some of us kids would use a loose board on a window in the back and hang out there. We were probably all between 10 - 15 years old and it was our secret place, complete with library books and desks still in the classrooms.

One day when we were in the school we could hear dad calling my sister and my brother and me.
HE WAS MAD!!!

We climbed out the back window expecting a whipping, but no, he put us in the car and drove us all the way to the Duncan RCMP Station.

Dad sat outside in the car and us kids had to walk into the station and ask an officer if he could tell us the laws on "Breaking and Entering".
We were all between the ages of 9 -13.

My brother was crying when the officer showed us what the cells looked like, and he read through the penalties of B&E and seriously explained them to us.

Dad never spoke about the incident again, and there was no other punishment.
But we sure learned our lesson.



[edit on 18/11/2008 by anxietydisorder]

The games of today are better and they may stimulate the brian more, but it still is no replacement from the outside enjoyment of youth. I can remeber when if i was in the house for more than thirty or so minutes it better be because I was eating or using the bathroom. Witch was alright with me because I loved it outside. Climbing trees building forts swimming do the things that you know if momma seen you dowould have your ass kicked. But parents are worried these days not just about some one taking their children, they also worry about them getting hurt. A skint knee now a days means your inside for the rest of the day. When I skint as long as it quit bleeding I would stay outside. I also believe it is because kids today for some reason can manipulate their parents better than we ever could. What happend to the day when any adult saw you do something wrong and they would get on to you. Parents these days do not like any one other than them getting on to their kids. They get mad and wander what the hell you are doing. It might be because of how long I have been around young kids, but I can't help it I see a kid do something wrong I will scold them before I even realize it.

In the 60's if you got hit by a teacher at school, or by the Principle, just wait till you get home. That would be a spanking.

If one of the other parents in the neighbourhood had to punish you my parents would have thanked them for letting them know, and that was another spanking when you were sent home.
The entire community was responsible for raising all the children.


1969

My mom could go shopping with four kids and we all behaved. If we got out of line she could drop the back of your pants and give you a few whacks in the grocery isle. Nobody thought anything of it, you were just making the kid behave.


2008

10 people would be on cell phones calling 911 If you spanked your kid.
Police would be on the scene in just a few minutes because a child's involved.
Your child may be removed to "Protective Custody" and yes, you may also be arrested.
Child Services will be involved in your life for a long time and the records never go away.


What a difference in such a short time.

reply to post by anxietydisorder

---

When i was 11 years old, i moved over seas to a crappy 3rd world hell hole


I also got a N64...


The rest...


History...

OK take the games of today and put them back in the 50's, 60's or 70's and see how many kids stay home and play them on their Xbox or Playstation 3. Technology has us playing cyberly with other gamers from around the world. Couldn't do that back in the day. Jump into Motorstorm and crash into a kid from another country or talking on BTS, ATS to Britain's, Americans, Aussies, etc... Back in the day it was just the same old friends. Don't get me wrong because I do miss those days. Guitar Heroe has kids that would never pick up a real guitar playing rock songs and drumming to classics. Just a different world and time now, but I'm glad my kids still get out and play.

Yes I remember growing up in the 50's and 60's when we were kids we used to take off on bikes ride to Disneyland,Knott's berry farm,or to the beach,I remember in old days we could use a vacant lot for a baseball field with our parents helping ,and as far as TV only thing I remember watching is the Flintstones,and they were on at night,now if your on a vacant lot you run the risk of being arrested for trespassing,I guess it's the fear brought on by the media,believe it or not there were criminals running loose when I was a kid but everyone in the neighborhood seemed to look out for one another,and yes we broke limbs had to be stitched up etc guess video killed the radio stars

I LOVE THIS POST!

Your question has been answered, but I'll never forget or lose the magic of going out in snow forts, but playing Atari games & stuff after we came back from inside, & taking things apart was great fun!

I remember playing Atari with my friends, & trading & lending games, & plugging them in, & seeing the new game in action.

These days, there is emulation, & I can run all of these games on my computer, but I don't have time for that, since researching conspiracy REALITIES is more important, although I wish it was not true, so I could go out & play like a kid & play my games. (I'm 28 now, & yes, I still feel like a kid).

No, a majority of them are used in mind control & sex slave operations by your loving government that you vote for...

If graphics are your bag, then yes, but in terms of gameplay, I'll rather play an oldschool game that does not have tons of cut-scenes that do nothing for your brain.

Have you heared about retrogamingradio.com ? (no, i'm not plugging that site, my site is in my sig).

Ahhhh those were the days when you go out and play. I think the main culprit to this problem is that parents are too busy working untill late, so they they can't supervise their children as much. They don't have the time to stay home like 'Mom use too', mom and dad are working, and no one could trust their baby sitter to really watch them like a real parent would.

People just think its safer at home, but you have to let kids get their bumps and bruises from out side, its a must. thats how they get to learn how to really socialize and know people for what their really are.