Sometimes I feel sorry for my kids. They aren’t growing up in the same world I did. They aren’t living the childhood I enjoyed so much. I wish that for them.
Growing up I had the run of my neighborhood. I walked to and from school and rode my bike as far as I wanted. To my young mind I roamed to world, but realistically it was probably only six or seven blocks. On my street there were plenty of kids to play with. After school and during the summer we’d gather together for games of tag and kick the can. It wasn’t until the sun went down and the fireflies came out that we were called back to our homes. That’s the childhood of my memory. If I could give that to my kids I surely would.
Oh, but times are different now. There are quite a few families with children on our street. We know they exist but we rarely see them. Kids these days seem to be involved in so many indoor activities, lessons and classes that they’re hardly ever just outside playing. I consider my neighborhood relatively safe, but I don’t allow my children to play further away than I’m able to see. They ride their bikes only a few houses in either direction unless my husband or I go with them. Their school is too far for walking so I drive them each day. I can’t help but feel they’re missing out.
I’m sure you can imagine my surprise when I found out my kids feel sorry for ME! They were absolutely shocked to learn that home computers didn’t exist when their father and I were growing up. They thought I was joking when I told them we didn’t have remote controls for the TV. We actually had to get up from the sofa to change the channel! Gasp! When I informed them that we didn’t have access to a bazillion channels airing kids’ shows at all hours, they looked at me in horror. “You could only watch cartoons on Saturday mornings? That was it?” was their dazed response. It’s all true kiddies, and there’s more.
We didn’t have VCRs, DVDs, and no computer games (at least until Pong, and you couldn’t walk around with that.) We had no cell phones and no iPods. If we wanted to use the phone we needed to be home. We also had to stick close to the wall because cordless phones weren’t around yet. My family didn’t have a microwave until I was in junior high, no call waiting until high school, and don’t even get me started on answering machines. From the look on my kids’ faces you’d think I was describing the Stone Age.
My children don’t have video games, don’t watch much TV and rarely participate in extracurricular activities. We try to make time to play and just be. Maybe that makes us odd, maybe it doesn’t. The point is they know these things exist. They see them as a normal part of life, and they’re right. It’s more of a challenge, but we can still tune out the distractions and tune into each other. This is their childhood, not mine. Hopefully they’ll look back on it with fondness.
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