Backyardigans

I was just watching an episode of Backyardigans with the boys and it got me thinking. (Ok that sort of sounds sad on my behalf, but you'll see where I'm going with this and why... I hope) When I grew up, life was different... yes people say this all the time, times change and people adapt... such is life.

When I grew up we played outside. We knew our neighbors. We could hang out in different parts of the neighborhood as long as we gave our mom a head's up as to where we were going and who we were with. We knew that if things went wrong there would be our friends parents close by to help out. It wouldn't be uncommon to see kids ranging from 5-12 playing a game of street hockey or soccer in front of the house. It wouldn't be strange to see small groups of friends riding bikes, roller skating or playing basketball.

When I was a child we had Backyardigan type adventures. I remember playing town where someone was the mailman another ran a gas station and someone else was the cop directing traffic as we road our bikes around. I can remember playing school, house, climbing trees and pretending to hunt for wild animals. I can remember doing all of these fun imaginative things with my friends.

What is sad to me... my sons will probably never have that kind of freedom. They will probably never grow up in a neighborhood where enough parents are home during the day for the children to be out playing before bedtime even during the summer. They will probably never get to have these types of adventures.

I wish we could get that type of childhood back for the generations to come, but reality says those days are gone for good. I can only hope that they will soon develop a friendship base with children at school to have some adventures together as they grow.