overly cautious

Today on my walk, I took note of the lack of children I saw playing outdoors. Please know that the weather is perfect (70 degrees and sunny), school is out this week and I've definitely seen kids in our neighborhood so I know they are there. Lurking.

Of the three children that I DID see, one girl was riding her bike in circles in the open double car garage, and two other boys were riding their bikes up and down a very short driveway in addition to wearing helmets. No laughing, no squeals of joy, no giggling, no grins from ear to ear.
Where are the kids running around? skating? climbing a tree? playing in the yard? give me something! anything!

This is not the first time I've noticed the lack of outdoor activity among those under 12; or over twelve for that matter. But teens are different. They're too busy being sullen to even consider playing outside. I'd never expect to see them outside.

I can't help but wonder what has happened. Why don't children run around outside anymore? Why and when did parents become scared to let their children play outside? And more importantly, what's up with the helmets?

I think back to my days as a child when we used to ride our bikes, FULL SPEED mind you, down the huge hill that was our street. Some kids even put their hands in the air with arms stretched up toward the sky. If helmets existed then, I know we didn't have them. No one we knew had them. Would we even wear them? Half the fun was that it was life threatening!


As a kid, I remember leaving the house in the late morning and being gone all day, literally all day, only returning for dinner. Our mother never asked where we'd been, why we'd been gone so long or why we hadn't called (yay, no cell phones!) She didn't ask because she knew. Because she'd done the same thing when she was our age. She'd felt the freedom of going out to play, the made up adventures, the excitement of the possibilities, the wonder of where the day would lead you.

Now what do kids have? Video games? Wii? Helmets? Obesity? Cell phones? weeee. fun.