What Happened to the Local Kids? Where Have They Gone To?

Is this thread sponsored by AARP?

Originally posted by whyamIhere
My kid can't run around the block.

But her thumbs could crush a Volkswagen.

My neice has a 5 year old little boy Cody and they have a good balance in their life. They make sure Cody goes to parks, lakes, the ocean, fishing, playing in the yard, spending time outdoors with other children. There is plenty of time left to play on the ipod or wtach movies or whatever. Kids need a balance in their lives for sure.

The greatest gift I ever had was my Raleigh Chopper, in the 70's....

9am, get on the chopper, put on a pair of my dads welding goggles, race against my mates for a few hours. Then get off bike and play either football or cricket for three hours with about 30 others, making up around 15 a side. Then back on bike, race around again and again and then get dragged back in the house at 9pm, eat some food and dream about going out again the next day....

I was thin...
I was healthy...
I had muscle...
I had social skills...
I had friends...

But most of all I had a life......

Happy times....

Most of my kids are grown now (my oldest with kids of her own).

They spent a LOT of time playing outside and having fun, even though computers were starting to get some really neat games to play (the 1990s).

My oldest takes her daughter and son to the beach and park all the time. The key being she spends time with them when she's not working, taking them places that doesn't involve console games, computers, smartphones, etc.

My step son is only 10, and he does play on the computer a lot, but I also step in and shut it off and shoo him out to play outside. I have him in scouting too, so while he plays on the computer, he is also spending time outside in the fresh air, sunshine and playing games that are physical in nature.

While technology has a lot to do with it......it's the parents too. If you don't take time to do things with your children that do not involve some form of electronic media entertainment, or if you do not act like a parent and LIMIT your kids, then the product is plain to see: kids acting like zombies.

Parents should take control......unless they too are spending all their free time on electronic entertainment.

Originally posted by eriktheawful
Most of my kids are grown now (my oldest with kids of her own).

They spent a LOT of time playing outside and having fun, even though computers were starting to get some really neat games to play (the 1990s).

My oldest takes her daughter and son to the beach and park all the time. The key being she spends time with them when she's not working, taking them places that doesn't involve console games, computers, smartphones, etc.

My step son is only 10, and he does play on the computer a lot, but I also step in and shut it off and shoo him out to play outside. I have him in scouting too, so while he plays on the computer, he is also spending time outside in the fresh air, sunshine and playing games that are physical in nature.

While technology has a lot to do with it......it's the parents too. If you don't take time to do things with your children that do not involve some form of electronic media entertainment, or if you do not act like a parent and LIMIT your kids, then the product is plain to see: kids acting like zombies.

Parents should take control......unless they too are spending all their free time on electronic entertainment.

Beauty of a post, nothing to add but just my thanks for putting that up on the thread.
Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by Night Star


I agree that there should be balance, something like 90% outside and 10% lazing about.

This cannot end well for a lot of kids down the road when the health problems start popping up at a very early age.

Regards, Iwinder

Originally posted by mikegrouchy

Thanks for posting and your picture got me thinking, It was very rare in our circle of friends as kids not to have at least one or two casts/ or stitches in our group at any given time during the summer months.

Regards, Iwinder

Originally posted by davethebear
The greatest gift I ever had was my Raleigh Chopper, in the 70's....

9am, get on the chopper, put on a pair of my dads welding goggles, race against my mates for a few hours. Then get off bike and play either football or cricket for three hours with about 30 others, making up around 15 a side. Then back on bike, race around again and again and then get dragged back in the house at 9pm, eat some food and dream about going out again the next day....

I was thin...
I was healthy...
I had muscle...
I had social skills...
I had friends...



But most of all I had a life......

Happy times....

Yes indeed happy times, one of our gang had that exact same bike and everyone wanted to ride it.

I remember at the age of 11 or so, everybody had legs like tree stumps and hard as rocks.

Good times indeed and thanks for the input.

Regards, Iwinder

Well, I live in the middle of rural Minnesota, and in my neighbourhood, the kids are out of control -- they're back in school now, but during the summer, there are dozens of them riding around the place, on bikes, skateboards and scooters (really big on the scooters lately,) heading to the park for baseball or basketball games or playing hide and seek in the woods.

I'd kind of prefer the indoor types, as it's not easy to walk the little white dog when kids are constantly coming up and saying "Can I pet your dog?" but I can assure you that, at least in some places, kids are still kids, not video-game playing zombies.

this is hilarious.

"we didn't have it easy like these young whipper-snappers today! no-sir-ee! we walked to school, uphill, both ways, in the snow! rabble rabble rabble...."



i'm 22. and you know what i'm going to not do when i'm 30, 40, 50-something? complain about the youth using emerging technologies obsessively, because that's how young people have always done things--obsessively.

no one yelled at anyone for playing with sticks, because people had been playing with sticks since we found out they're are pretty fun to throw and hit each other with. but we live in an era of exponentially rapid change, and rather than encouraging younger generations to adapt to that change, some choose to scrutinize it. i don't understand the motivation for this? is it simple jealously? or do people think playing with sticks makes for better humans than iphones? i'm not so sure the research is in on that just yet.

it seems to me, that those raised on stick-wielding and marble-rolling have only served one purpose: to perpetuate the current paradigm of corruption and pseudo-scarcity that is controlled by the elite. whether that's because they were too ignorant to understand the system, or too busy to bother caring, the inaction of my parents, and their parents, and their parents, have positioned america where it is today--largest exported of harm in the world!

you know what playing with a stick gets you? a tan. an iphone, however, EVEN when just used to play angry birds, has the potential to convey ALL HUMAN KNOWLEDGE EVER OBTAINED EVER. sticks/kites/marbles/lawndarts can't do that. maybe, just maybe, this saturation of knowledge and technology will allow younger generations to lead humanity past this old, dusty cycle we've been stuck in for thousands of years. if that means being a little pasty, so be it!

reply to post by Iwinder


I just want to say thanks.
Living where I do, I don't have the opportunity to have neighborhood kids to observe. I do have 2 boys though, and I see how mesmerizing even the tv is to them. I am probably guilty of restricting their access to technology too much because of this concern.

They have both bruised their legs from the knees down over the course of the summer, jumping off tree branches, racing their bikes, wrestling a puppy dog, and on and on. Poor guys have even both been stung by bees twice in the berry patches. But they wouldn't have it any other way and neither would I. Kids should get to be free to an extent.

As a parent though, I also recognize the need to have a better knowledge of where they are at all times. There are too many crazy people and situations for a young child nowadays. I used to be able to walk all over our small town as a kid and walk out to the creek outside of town. If I lived in a more populated area, I would not even feel safe with them out of my sight. As it stands now, the rule is earshot they have to be able to answer me if I call their names. I am grateful that my oldest son can ride his bike to the end of the road and back without me needing to worry.

I think that this issue is what helped to create the dependence on technology. It became easier and physically safer to allow kids to watch tv and play games in the basement rather than out on the street on their bike. I also feel that in some ways we have become too protective of our kids, it is a fine line to balance.

adjensen
Well, I live in the middle of rural Minnesota, and in my neighbourhood, the kids are out of control -- they're back in school now, but during the summer, there are dozens of them riding around the place, on bikes, skateboards and scooters (really big on the scooters lately,) heading to the park for baseball or basketball games or playing hide and seek in the woods.

I'd kind of prefer the indoor types, as it's not easy to walk the little white dog when kids are constantly coming up and saying "Can I pet your dog?" but I can assure you that, at least in some places, kids are still kids, not video-game playing zombies.

Sarcasm accepted and taken as good news for us all here.

Thanks for posting,
Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by anon29


Great post as I asked for the negative and the positive and I am getting both for sure....

Thanks very much for adding to the mix here.

Regards, Iwinder

reply to post by woodsmom


You are correct and you should if you can find it read "The Gift of Fear" authored by Gavin Debecker.

It is a good read and relates to what your above post does.

Regards, Iwinder

All I know is the kids in our street are everywhere. Theres about a group of 3-6 boys (it varies) aged 6-10 out every afternoon on their bikes and skateboards, my little 3 year old loves to say hi to them when we go on an evening walk. Our neighbour is always scooting off with her friends on the weekends all day, now it's getting hotter you can hear kids jumping in pools and playing, and the park we went to on sunday was SO packed that we had to turn around and go to a different one as there was not a single car park (out of hundreds taken)

You see fewer kids playing because there are actually fewer children.

If you don't live in an area with a large immigrant population you probably don't see many children. The truth is white middle class women are having very few children.

You also can't let your children out to play. People are too afraid. Plus if they are under 12, you might even get a visit from child protective services.

Don't be so quick to blame tech. Video games, phones and tvs have been around for decades.

reply to post by Iwinder


Well, with sites like Facebook, Twitter etc., there's no real need for kids to leave the comforts of their own home any more. Add in an Xbox or Playstation, what kid would want to leave their house? I see it all the time in Europe. Hardly do I see kids around town after school, they're all at home. Inside. I do however see people playing soccer often, but usually through clubs and after school activities.

So this isn't just something happening in the U.S., but also here. I truly believe people can get addicted, "hooked" on the internet and various websites. My mother (who's nearing her 50's!) was a Facebook slave for two to three years. Dinner? Forget it, she had to farm Farmville because someone gave her something and she had to repay it. She had friends that she never spoke to, heck, she didn't even know half her "friends" on Facebook. But that didn't stop her from wanting more internet "friends". It's only recently she actually had her fill of Facebook. It was sad to hear about, every time I'd talk to family back state side, my mom was always busy with her Facebook. Day and night. She'd sit for ten plus hours in a zombie state.

Drugs may not get our children, but Zuckerberg Suckerberg'ed them right in his trap. Kick your kids off the computer, tell 'em to go out and play. There's more to life than "likes".

Daughter2
You see fewer kids playing because there are actually fewer children.

If you don't live in an area with a large immigrant population you probably don't see many children. The truth is white middle class women are having very few children.

Well, again, from personal experience, at least in the Upper Midwest, that isn't the case. I live in a fairly well-to-do small town on the fringes of the Twin Cities, which has zero immigrants, and every house in the neighbourhood, apart from mine and a couple of other older families, has between 3 and 5 kids living there. I was walking with my sister-in-law last week and commented about how weird it was that there were, literally, probably 50 kids within a few blocks from my house (most of whom were outside at the time, lol,) and in 15-20 years, there will be zero.

You know I just said this yesterday. I live right outside of Chicago and it was one of the nicest days of the year yesterday and me and my buddies went outside to throw around the football during halftime of the Bears game and there wasn't a kid in sight!! We're 31 years old and that's the only thing we did growing up, you'd have to drag us in the house at night!!!