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No one plays outside where I live. Everyone is in organized sports or other activities almost every day after school. I hate it. I finally gave up and signed my kid up for everything under the sun, just because he was so bored every day when there was no one around to play with. Also, even when kids were home, parents wouldn't let them just go out and play. Even the neighbor's kids weren't allowed to leave their own fenced in backyard. It's just depressing. I think it's partly just where we live.
1) Fear culture. The 1970's and 80's was common for sexual predators like Pogo The Clown and Jeffery Dahmer picking up kids, many parents fear this (and rightfully so.) Now yes, it wasn't common but it was over-sensationalized.
2) Parents aren't home. We see a LOT of latch-key kids these days due to one or two working parents and I am sure it isn't common that the parents just want the kids at home, quite possibly due to the unfounded fears of abductions that I mentioned in my first point.
3) Neighborhoods don't grow up at the same times. In the 1950's it was common for several houses be along the same age group. Nowadays due to parents being parents either right of the bat or a bit later, there is no set age for parents to have parents. I had one friend who lived around the corner my age and another down the hill my age but that was about it. Most didn't live in my sub-division (though it wasn't really one.)
I am 59 and I "play outside" a lot. Today I played 1 1/2 hours of tennis and was in the pool for about an hour. I will note that today is the last day the pool is open and it was a humid 84°. All winter long I jog and barbecue outside. But I agree in general far too few people, kids or otherwise, are outside.
And you do this in the street or out in your front yard where your neighbors can see that you are "outside a lot"? Because that is what the OP's complaint was, that s/he couldn't see kids playing as s/he drove down the street.
Oh they do. the neighborhood I left recently, it was nearly around the clock sometimes, the first group would scream across our yard by 8AM and the last would scream back into their houses by maybe 11pm, and that was on a school night. No shortage of kids playing outside.
"I like to play indoors 'cause that's where the electrical outlets are." anonymous child. A lot different from when boomers were young and were even encouraged to play outside, even when the weather wasn't perfect.
It wasn't just Boomers lol. I'm a Millennial, I guess...born in 1988...and even though we had computers and video games (starting with the original Nintendo, then the Super Nintendo...), my friends and I spent as much time outside as possible.
My mom was a stay-at-home mom and a great one, at that, but she had better things to do than deal with me all day. On school days, I'd head outside as soon as my homework was done. On weekends or during the summer, I was outside from dang near sunrise to sunset. My mom didn't even know exactly where I was most of the time...just "in the neighborhood." I'll walk around with my little crew of buddies from the neighborhood, and we'd go play in the woods, ride our bikes around the neighborhood, go to one friend's house to play with chalk and jump ropes in the driveway, go to another friend's house to play on the trampoline, go back to my house and play on the swingset, go to another friend's house and play in the sprinklers....etc. Then, we'd be back in the woods again.
Nintendo and computers were for after dark (when we weren't allowed to play outside) or rainy days or maybe when we weren't feeling too well.
Location: In a little house on the prairie - literally
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Both my daughter and my son tell kick their kids outside as they are only allowed a certain amount of "screen time" (TV, computer, phone) a day. And outside means it doesn't matter if it is 90 degrees or -20 and snow. Get out there, play with the dog, run, jump, break a bone maybe, get cuts, and live. Never mind this helicopter stuff.
Back in the fifties in Glasgow children were out from early to late playing street games... now its never seen, partly because they cant play on the streets with so much traffic and the houses are now arranged differently from the teneents we had with common backcourts where childrent would meet to play games.. now kids have their own small garden , some playparks and thats it apart from organised play areas...When my grandkids visit they play with a basketball round the back for a while then sit inside on games... Ive even tried encouraging them to play board games but only the youngest at five seems interested.. they all have bikes but not sure when their out on them.. One of my granddaughters whos 14 loves to hear all the old stories about how we played.... out on the quiet steets at peever."hopscotch".. skipping ropes. doublers, two bouncy balls we played against a wall..usually and old factory or office wall... now there arent any or many... We also used to plan visits to the local parks in summer , wed get a small group together and all take bottles of juice and sandwiches with our fishing nets for tadpoles in the parks pond... great days out on our own, no adults, now kids seem to need a parent or a car to take them everywhere... I blame the layout of the land now and all these games the kids have... I watche don grankid looking at her watch for ages.. and wondered why..... its also got everything on it... and not just the time... jeezo.. bring back my hulahoop. skipping ropes. balls, roller skates, bring back cops and robbers where we tied each other to a lampost.... the only one I wouldnt want back was "hudgies" when boys would run after a lorry and hang on to the back for a hurl... known as a hudgie.. very dangerous.. and never tried ...
I think part of it is lifestyle changes...it was different before the internet & cable TV. Also, most parents work, so kids are in daycare, or booked up for organized sports, dance classes, etc., nearly every day of the week.
Depending on where you live, it could also be the configuration of the neighborhood...urban areas often aren't child-friendly re places to play, suburban areas are back yard-oriented, rural areas are spread out so that you may not even see many children.
These sort of things have kept kids inside in the past decade.
My boy doesn't get to do these.
If he isn't outside more, it's bc there are no other kids outside to play with and he'd require my direct supervision bc he is 4.
Btw, I was born in 1976. We had video games, etc. We were outside bc it was more amenable then than now.
There's not many kids around.
But when older kids get together (9-10 yo+, etc) on "playdates" or whatever, I do see lots of them outside.
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the neighborhood I left recently, it was nearly around the clock sometimes, the first group would scream across our yard by 8AM and the last would scream back into their houses by maybe 11pm, and that was on a school night. No shortage of kids playing outside.
