Some People's Kids

Alright true believers, let's get this train back on its tracks! Most of you are around the same age as I am, so you will understand where I am coming from. Today's topic is about kids. Most, if not all of us have them. All of us were them. What do I have to say about them is the question.

Long ago and far away, when the majority of us were still children, we didn't have computers. Most households didn't have video game systems. We had bikes, we had baseball gloves, we had footballs, we had each other. My mother would tell my sister and I to go outside and play. There were no amplifying instructions, just go...play. The neighborhood kids would get together at someone's house, or at the elementary school, or in a field and we would just play. We would play freeze tag, climb trees, ride bikes, play frisbee, or throw a baseball. We didn't need directions, we just played. As long as we were home when our mothers told us to be, all was well. I understand that times are different and kids can't just be left to roam the neighborhoods anymore like we once did. The adults of today cannot be trusted. But that isn't the point here.

The kids of today take being told to go outside like it is some form of punishment. I tell my boys to go outside and play because it is 70 degrees and sunny in February, and they ask me why they have to go out. You would think that I had just told them that they were being dropped into the coliseum to face the lions. They would be content to sit inside all day, every day, with their PS3 or Wii, or computer, or hand held gaming system. They treat the outside like it is some sort of evil troll that they need to hide from. Don't get me wrong, I love video games as much, if not more than the next guy. I also love being out on a baseball diamond in May, or out fishing on a lake in June. I would rather be coaching or playing some kind of sport than be cooped up in the house staring at a television screen.

We grew up in simpler times than our children. Technology has made them soft. Kids of today are slaves to technology, and while I do believe that it makes them smarter knowing how to use a computer, I also believe that it makes them slightly anti social. I believe that video games increase their hand-eye coordination, but takes away their drive to play team sports that would benefit from this increased coordination.

Pushing 90 degrees in the Summer time..why don't you guys go outside? "It's too hot". 50 degrees in January, why don't you guys go outside? "It's too cold". I feel like I am trapped in a strange version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears! I remember being told to go outside and not to come back in until it was dinner time. I would spend 10 hours outside each day on my summer vacation. These were days when I had no plans. No baseball games, no pool parties, just your average day. I would round up the kids in the neighborhood who were also sent outside for the day and we would just play. What has changed so drastically over the years to make a Summer day too hot and a Winter day too cold?

How can I become a grumpy old man who yells, "you kids get off of my lawn" if the kids aren't even outside to yell at? How can I yell out my door, "Dinner time!" to my kids when they are locked away in their rooms? It is sad to think that I can send my children instant messages to tell them it is time for dinner rather than yell out in the back yard. I have always worried that the day would come when the swingset in the back yard would be empty because the kids had grown up and moved out. I did not think that day would come when my boys were 10 and 6, and it was empty because they were playing on their computers instead of on the swingset. It isn't just my kids though, I drive through a neighborhood that I know is full of kids, yet I don't see any. It is scary to know that Generation X has spawned Generation Xbox. Alright, I guess that is all I have to say for now. Until next time, my fine feathered friends....Stay Salty.

-Salty Dog