Based on that trend of almost 50 years (1970 to 2018 ), what do we think life will look like in another 50 years from today? (2070)
I remember playing outside all the time, winter and summer. There was a kidnapping in my little village. Poor child was murdered and found in a dumpster. My parents had a strange approach. My parents told me that god would protect my brother, my friends and me. They warned that god would only protect me if i looked out for ppl matching 'xyz'. Then they sent me outdoors.
Today i don't worry about bad things happening because stats state we'll be okay...but i worry i tad more than they trained me to....
When I was a kid back in the 70's - my foster father would often say to us "go outside - find something to do or I'll put you to work". Initially, there wasn't much but A/C to keep us inside but then Atari came out with games that seem so lame today but kept us entertained as we had never seen anything like it before. Despite the fact that the foster parents bought the game for us - it was still "get your a@@ outside" and that's what we did. While I had a tendency to do my own thing, I did participate when it came to marbles or jumping our bikes with playing cards in the spokes to sound like motor bikes and playing the game "Jacks".
All of that took place in Vermont, at least 20-years behind the times. Then, in 1981, the state experienced a murder that was so cruel that it left us shocked to the extent that we couldn't turn back the clock to simpler times. Soon after that a 12-year son killed his mom and not too long after that a 14-year old walking to a friend's house was abducted and subsequently killed.
All of the above made parents feel that the only choice they had was to keep their kids in the house - no more street baseball, no more bike jumps and no more games of "Jack". Other states had similar experiences far earlier than my state did - but the reaction was nearly universal.
I think this trend continues to this day because the world seems more violent and I don't see things getting better any time soon. It will eventually - just not any time soon.
Only no parent would drag a kid outside these days, they're too petrified of every other person in the world zeroing in on their kids to snatch them the moment they step outside or other parents calling the cops on them.
Yeah.... its ashame.
@Shelton. Ok...
SO TRUE! Remember playing outside? Imagining games? Patterns in clouds? Getting lost in your own head and having a grand time doing it? I'm so sorry for children now.
@Shelton Of COURSE not! We knew where the fun was...poking around in the woods behind the house, playing with tadpoles and digging in the dirt. I'm convinced kids today get sick more often because they never have a chance to develop a strong immune system. Kids should get DIRTY! (Shelton...do we sound like old people?)