The current Atlantic Magazine has a great article on a sort of playground in Wales, of all places. When I read it I was reminded of the sort of childhood experiences that I and my brother Dean and sister Mary enjoyed as kids, back in the early '50s. My wife Flora also noted similarities to her childhood. This was long before “play dates” and such nonsense, we kids walked and rode bicycles everywhere. Our parents allowed us increasing freedom as we showed increasing sense and responsibility.
I recall learning to ride a bicycle when I was perhaps 6 or 7, and the bicycle either didn’t have training wheels, or they were totally useless and were soon removed. I’d scrape an elbow or knee, and go home bloodied, and my mother would patch me up and send me back out. Dean and I would walk to the movies, about a mile away, for the Saturday matinee, which cost all of nine cents!! We could walk down the hill, several blocks away, to mess around in a creek and catch crayfish, or perhaps a snake, which we brought home. Nothing fazed our mother, not crayfish, not snakes, certainly not neighborhood kids in and out of the house all day long. We camped out in a little tent in the front yard, and made pea shooters out of bamboo stalks and pestered the little kids with purple privet berries.
My father built us what I recall as a huge swing set out of 2 x 6 timbers. He secured the A frames to the ground so we didn't have to worry about turning the thing over. The swing seats were 1 inch stock, and were suspended on Manila rope which he periodically inspected. The swings were the best in the neighborhood, so our yard swarmed with kids.
We had pick up baseball games in the grassy parking lot of the Presbyterian church up the block. Since we rarely had eighteen kids to make up two teams the rules were flexible, to put it mildly. The minister's daughter was probably the best ball player in the neighborhood. I wasn't terribly good, but everyone got to bat. Great fun!
When we moved to a suburban area when I entered the 4th or 5th grade Dean and I tried out for Little League. After warming the bench for a week or two we decided that we had better things to do, like tramping in the woods with our sister Mary. Dean and I would ride our bicycles the 8 or 10 miles to a nearby state park for swimming and just messing around.
Life was good in most ways. I think kids today are missing a lot by not being allowed to “run free.” Kids need at least the feeling of freedom and self determination, not having parents always hovering and organizing every last minute of every day.
Thus endeth the rant.
Oh yes, here’s the link:
The Overprotected Kid - The Atlantic