Memories

I often wonder about people I knew as a kid.  Am I the only one who still lives in the neighborhood?  Does anyone else visit the park we always played in?  Do any of the others wish things were like they were before?  Things were simple.  Has anyone else noticed how much things have changed?  Does anyone else think the changes are completely stupid and were made without a sound reason?  No kids play outside anymore.  Or at least not nearly as many as when I was a kid.  You couldn't go to the park without there being kids there.  Often times without an adult.  And that was pre-cell phone, or decent cell phone.  None of us had one.  About six of us walked home from elementary school.  No adult chaperon, just a bunch of kids.  No one thought anything of it.  And guess what!  We survived!  I even walked to my best friends house, alone.  That parents let their kids do this may shock the kids who have been overly protected by their parents and think that these things weren't possible.  Parents just need to relax.  Being so protective and sheltering your child from the world is only going to harm them in the long run.  Like when it comes time for them to go out into the world that they know nothing about, because their parents hid them from it.

I'm not talking about my parents.  I grew up when sending your child out by themselves was common place. And I'm happy I did.