31 replies to this topic

[Beckys_Mom]

I live along a busy road, there are no kids knocking around where I live..It would be dangerous if they did...... I get peace when Becky is off on her play dates and it tires her out...  Her school would send notes home about certain clubs ..( dance, singing and sports )  Becky nags to go saying so many her age are going... Most of all she loves to get off to the junior discos  lol...

[Beckys_Mom]

spud the mackem, on 19 September 2012 - 08:43 PM, said:

Hi again Kazoo, In the age of dinosaurs (when I was a Lad), we didnt have T.V's,cell phones any electonic games, so indoors you either listened to a radio or read a book, our small village didn't have any football/basketball courts, so we spent a lot of time beachcombing,or cave exploring,or climbing 100 ft cliffs,apart from Brit football,roller skates,etc..we used to light fires on the beach and have cook-ups with any shellfish you scavenged from rockpools, I'm talking about when I was about 10/12 yrs old,pinch a few potatoes from the local fields and roast them, magic days.... we didnt have time to sit around a lot as you were ordered to bed at 8 pm.........cheers

In my day, we had the computer games  ( Atari and pacman etc)  and  we loved the TV  ( The A Team, Air Wolf and Muppets )..BUT  we still went outside  a lot...  

Favourite past time was building a fort ..Also loved to build go-karts ... I made one out of an old dolls pram ..Well it was not that old at the time, I had it for a week  and it was turned into a go-kart ...I loved it

We would invent our own games outside...  I remember  back then I hated being called in for supper and bed...If I was called in for a bath  ..I would have ran up the fields like the clappers, this was brave and often..and I was as fit as a fiddle  !!

I also went to a youth club and the junior discos ... Roller discos were the best

Edited by Beckys_Mom, 19 September 2012 - 09:05 PM.

[StarMountainKid]

I've thoght about this, too. I almost never see a kid anywhere. The town I live in is 16,000 pop. It's the same old story with me, when I was young all the kids in the neighborhood were outside playing most of the time. In the summer or on weekends there was always a kid-organized baseball game going on somplace, etc. etc.

Reminds me (if you'll indulge me) of a movie crew in 1947 filming a scene on a street in NYC. People were outside everywhere, sitting on stoops talking, teens hanging out on the street corners, kids playing on the sidewalk, men having conversations here and there. The street was full of life.

Then, in 1953 the same film crew wanted to make a similar movie scene. When they went back to the same street it was empty. They visited other neighborhoods, the same thing. No people anywhere. Had NYC been evacuated? The director scratched his head in bewilderment. Where had all the people gone? Then he had the answer: televistion.

I watched tv as a kid, but when I went outside there was always other kids out there to play with.

[MissMelsWell]

I dunno, I live in the same neighborhood I grew up in... when I was a kid, there were roving packs of children roaming the street from yard to yard, jackin' up the traffic in the streets with bikes and roller skates with everyone screaming "Car! Car is coming!" LOL. I don't see kids in my neighborhood anymore I know they exist, but they don't go outside around their homes. There hasn't been that much change in crime, traffic, or anythnig around here, it's mostly the same as it was 40 years ago...  Still, no kids outside. In fact, my neighbors who live behind me, whose driveway is an easement on my property, have two kids... I bet I can count on 2 hands how many times I've seen them in 10 years. Probably 8 times. I'd have to guess they're in high school now. Maybe even graduated... not sure, I don't even know their names. In fact, I used to know just about everyone in every house for at bare minimum a 10 block radius ... now, I know virtually none of my neighbors. They arne't nice, they aren't neighborly, they keep to themselves, and apparently never go outside either and their children appear to be hugely sheltered. I hate the burbs to be honest. LOL

[Jinxdom]

That's what I don't like nowadays not knowing my neighbors name when I was a kid the neighborhood was more like extended family. Try to do a blockparty or something nowadays everybody acts like you sudden grown two heads. The only time I see kids nowadays is at the store.... usually crying or causing havoc.

[bLu3 de 3n3rgy]

80's and 90's kids experienced the magic years before the descend into chaos and I'm glad i was raised in these times and have a "before" to relate to in childhood before this techno onslaught and paranoia of society. I'm serious when i say you only have to look to the 80's and 90's movies and music for the inspiration and magic that was alive then. The energy and potential known to us as 80's/90's children was amazing. I'm pretty sure it's been imprinted to us for a good reason yet to be known

Edited by bLu3 de 3n3rgy, 21 September 2012 - 04:44 AM.

[Mike D boy]

The world we live in is different today than 20 or 40 or more years ago: Nowadays, children are kept inside out of fear they may get hit by cars or get frostbite or heatstroke wherever they live in a climate deemed too dangerous to be out. Other reasons you don't really see children out in streets is fears of a perverse stranger picks them up in the playground and the risk of illegal drug use or street gang activity lures them into criminal behaviors (nighttime curfews with the parents keeping the kids out of the front yards starting at sundown). We can't teach children to fear the world, teach them social skills and survival abilities, and signing them in afterschool activities sound like a good idea, but they teach children to have quite busy(!) schedules we associate with working professional adults. :-P

Edited by Quake Storm Maverick 66er, 21 September 2012 - 05:48 AM.

[bLu3 de 3n3rgy]

Quake Storm Maverick 66er, on 21 September 2012 - 04:52 AM, said:

The world we live in is different today than 20 or 40 or more years ago: Nowadays, children are kept inside out of fear they may get hit by cars or get frostbite or heatstroke wherever they live in a climate deemed too dangerous to be out, other reasons you don't really see children out in streets is fears of a perverse stranger picks them up in the playground and the risk of illegal drug use or street gang activity lures them into criminal behaviors (nighttime curfews with the parents keeping the kids out of the front yards starting at sundown). We can't teach children to fear the world, teach them social skills and survival abilities, and signing them in afterschool activities sound like a good idea, but they teach children to have quite busy(!) schedules we associate with working professional adults. :-P

The last 10/12 years. I would put this mark at the 10/12 years ago mark. Or 2000 if you want an exact numerical point. There is a before and after of 2000. The 90's is the 90's gotta love the 90's.

[Professor T]

You've got to wonder what went wrong for Sponge-bob Square pants to be the best Kid's show?
I grew up with the Groovy 70's shows, BBC's origional Tomorrow people, Doctor who's, H.R Puffinstuff.

[StarMountainKid]

One more think that just crossed my mind. Where are the adults? I rarely see any adults outside either.

[spud the mackem]

StarMountainKid, on 22 September 2012 - 04:10 PM, said:

One more think that just crossed my mind. Where are the adults? I rarely see any adults outside either.

  Ha Ha ,thats easy,playing on the kids X-Boxes etc once they've got them to bed out of the way.

[coldethyl]

My street is a cul de sac with more cul de sacs branching off of it so I see kids playing outside when the air isn't so hot you can breathe it.

[DKO]

Well I was a 90s kid. I loved growing up in that decade. Before the world got too PC.

I'm not too sure about this day and age. My boss says his kids spend a lot of time playing on facebook.

I can't really say why kids seem to stay indoors more these days. We had video games in the 90s, but the internet wasn't that popular. We didn't get the internet until 2001. Maybe internet keeps them in?

Growing up I loved playing video games, but I would get bored quickly and go run outside. Go to the beach, Skate park, Dirt jumps, riding my BMX everywhere. I wasn't into team sports that much but loved action sports (BMX, Skating, Surfing). Also my main transport was riding a BMX around, I loved it, riding along jumping over every jump-looking thingy. Good times.

My boss' kids though expect a lift everywhere. Even if it's really close, they will wait a long time for my boss to pick them up and drop them off instead of just hopping on a bike or walking.

[Beckys_Mom]

DKO, on 23 September 2012 - 06:01 AM, said:

Well I was a 90s kid. I loved growing up in that decade. Before the world got too PC.

You know you were a true 90's kid when  you remember someone yelling up  - Get off the darn internet, I wanna use the phone !!....

[DKO]

Beckys_Mom, on 23 September 2012 - 12:49 PM, said:

You know you were a true 90's kid when  you remember someone yelling up  - Get off the darn internet, I wanna use the phone !!....

Haha that's true. And the annoying noise the modem made when dialing back up.

Reminds me of this page I saw recently. I can relate to most of these.

http://www.buzzfeed....-a-kid-of-the-9