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Anyone else (any other parents) notice kids "these days" don't seem to be outside playing with other kids as much as we seemed to have done when we were kids?
I vividly remember spending hours and hours outside with the neighborhood kids either sports in the street, climbing trees, riding bikes, etc. Nowadays I see one or two kids in the street chit chatting on their cell phones, maybe shooting hoops once in while.
Kids today only seem to be outside for maybe 30-60 minutes because, it seems, their moms have to be there too. The limiter is the moms' time as the moms don't like standing outside (with their arms folded - body language) talking to other moms about trivial things.
The rest of the time the kids are watching TV, playing video games, eating junk, etc. and my suspicion is because the moms would rather be inside on Facebook.
My wife and I will sometimes stand out in the front yard on beautiful 70F days in February (very common) and not see a single kid out playing. What the heck is up with that?
By the way, I have four girls 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2007.
My neighborhood has several parks and you can walk everywhere. I see kids out all day long walking to the park; riding their bikes; playing in the driveway.
Mostly it is only the little ones who require Mom's presence - as it should be.
If we are going to compare it to days of old though, I think one thing is that kids simply aren't as home as much to engage in free play. If one has a kid in a before in afterschool program, by the time they get home in the winter, it is dark out.
Less two parent households when I was young....so instead of the kid being in daycare as a 3 or 4 year old...they were outside.
I'd definitely agree that kids aren't outside as much, and that electronics are a distratction.
I just know that for my own kids...it isn't as simple as wandering down the street to find other kids to play with....some of those aren't getting home until 5:30 or 6:00.
I think it depends on the age of the child. In my area, you see less small kids outside (say, pre-school or young elementary school age). You hear them in the backyards though! But once they hit 8 or so, lots of them play basketball in the driveways, or cycle along the local trails. Usually in groups of 2+
My kids (13 and 10) don't play as much as I did 'outside', however they are waay more involved in outdoor recreation than I ever was. They ski, love hiking, camping, canoeing, snowshoeing, riding bikes...
But as far as 'play'- I spent way more time outside than in.
But one major difference between my childhood and my kids- We grew up in really, really small houses by todays standards. 1,000 sq ft tops. Bedrooms were small, we had no real family room, no video games- I had to get outside to enjoy myself. But I didn't go skiing, snowshoeing, canoeing whatever..
I can certainly see the difference. We have 2 sets of kids-19 years apart. The older ones, now 30 and 28 rode their bicycles all over the subdivision, went in their friends' houses to play or snack and had outside games with some kids we or they did not know. This latest set- 9 years old play with some friends on our street and if pre arranged they play with some friends off our street but still in the neighborhood. But I would never let them off our street to go where they wanted like we did with the first set of kids----and the neighborhood we live in now is way "nicer" with much more professional folks.
several reasons; parents and kids don't get home till much later,
I am not comfortable letting my kids play with kids if I'm not sure there is any supervision or even anybody home
While it is a nice neighborhood, I don't know that many people
One of our girls is not at all coordinated and is prone to falls and getting hurt so I encourage them to stay together-which they like to do anyway
we have more boys on our street and they play rougher than girls
When the weather is nice we all like to be together outside.
Mine play outside less during the winter, unless it's snowing.
During the spring and summer months they are outside quite a bit. I always know where they are and who they are playing with.
They don't run around the neighborhood, in and out of houses, "come back home when it starts to get dark", like kids did back in the 70's.
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But once they hit 8 or so, lots of them play basketball in the driveways, or cycle along the local trails. Usually in groups of 2+
