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Do kids play outside where you live?


Another Fan

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So today I was behind what looked like the local middle school bus.  Dropped a bunch of kids off who proceeded to all be picked up.

 

For the most part kids don't really hang out outside anymore I've noticed for a while now.  Sometimes on the weekends some kids ride bikes, that's about it.  

 

As a kid of the 90's that's pretty much all you did.  Back then that was looked as uncool if you just sat inside all the time.  

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1 minute ago, Another Fan said:

So today I was behind what looked like the local middle school bus.  Dropped a bunch of kids off who proceeded to all be picked up.

 

For the most part kids don't really hang out outside anymore I've noticed for a while now.  Sometimes on the weekends some kids ride bikes, that's about it.  

 

As a kid of the 90's that's pretty much all you did.  Back then that was looked as uncool if you just sat inside all the time.  

in our neighborhood, yes..a ton! Think it is the exception. We have a really nice wild area in the neighborhood with a decent size stream/creek that kids have been playing in since we moved here 13 years ago, my kids included. See a ton of kids in yards throwing  LAX balls either to each other or into pitchbacks,, playing BB..just see a ton of kids out all the time 

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I see kids playing outside occasionally; Christmas break and during the Summer.

There are usually people hanging out in lawn chairs watching kids play with fireworks on the street during New Years and 4th of July.

They might be outside more than that, but I'm usually at work in the afternoons, after school.

 

I live in the 'burbs.

Edited by unbillievable
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41 minutes ago, plenzmd1 said:

in our neighborhood, yes..a ton! Think it is the exception. We have a really nice wild area in the neighborhood with a decent size stream/creek that kids have been playing in since we moved here 13 years ago, my kids included. See a ton of kids in yards throwing  LAX balls either to each other or into pitchbacks,, playing BB..just see a ton of kids out all the time 

 

Come on, tell the whole story....those kids are out there because you're the ringleader, the King of the Kids! One day you are going to get the Kramer Karate treatment!  Watch your back! 

 

I am the Resident Old Fart (ROF for short). We live in a neighborhood with 70-75 houses, and only ONE has a kid living there. My neighbors average 10-15 years OLDER than us. It’s kind of depressing, and we’d like to build somewhere a little more lively but love our location.

 

Anyway......I grew up playing sports on fields near where we lived, often at schools. Now they lock up school yards to keep kids off, and kids (at least where we have lived) almost exclusively play in leagues with uniforms, and practices, and scoreboards and referees, and psycho screaming parents. 

 

My how times have changed, and not all for the better. 

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I’m out of touch on this one.  My youngest will be turning 30 this year.  He and his buddies were outside roaming the neighborhood all the time about 20 years ago. We live in a village setting.  A lot of places to go and things to do. A lot of kids within a radius of a few blocks. 

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2 hours ago, Another Fan said:

As a kid of the 90's that's pretty much all you did.  Back then that was looked as uncool if you just sat inside all the time.  

 

Same here.  As a kid of the 60s, we lived in the woods all week and only came home on Saturday night to take a bath.     Houses were for wimps...

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I was a kid in the late 80s - early 90s and spent insane amounts of time outside. Like many posters have already said it was a sun up until sun down routine. We could literally be anywhere too. My parents wouldn't have been able to find us if they tried. Whether it was the train tracks, or any number of woods, or a bike ride into town .....we were gone. Honestly we wanted nothing more than to be away from our parents. 

 

Now I am the parent of 3 kids and I can't imagine letting them do anything like that. They love going outside and they can go to friends houses in the neighborhood but nothing like we did. I would say that they are on the high end of outside time for their peers. I would lose it if they rode their bikes to the next town over though. I honestly think I had too much wiggle room as a kid but it was all the kids in the neighborhood. Huge packs of us and that doesn't exist too much anymore.

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There was nothing like growing up in the 90's...we played an insane amount of street hockey, football out in a field somewhere, riding bikes, building forts, and just getting into mischief in general....I mean sure we found some time for Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis but it's not like today where kids live through their phones and tablets and gadgets etc.

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23 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

There was nothing like growing up in the 90's...we played an insane amount of street hockey, football out in a field somewhere, riding bikes, building forts, and just getting into mischief in general....I mean sure we found some time for Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis but it's not like today where kids live through their phones and tablets and gadgets etc.

 

Same here.  I remember waking up as early as my parents let me (probably around 7) and heading out to meet up with friends.  We either had plans to go fishing, build a fort in the woods, or play some kind of sport.  Come home to choke down lunch and dinner, and make sure to be home when the street lights turned on.  Those were fun times.

 

My son is 9 and he plays sports year round so he is plenty active.   He has a PS4 and enjoys it, but he only gets it for a couple hours on the weekend.  If he didn’t have sports, however, there aren’t really a lot of kids in the neighborhood out playing unstructured games like I did as a kid.  I was born in ‘79 BTW.

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3 hours ago, Another Fan said:

So today I was behind what looked like the local middle school bus.  Dropped a bunch of kids off who proceeded to all be picked up.

 

For the most part kids don't really hang out outside anymore I've noticed for a while now.  Sometimes on the weekends some kids ride bikes, that's about it.  

 

As a kid of the 90's that's pretty much all you did.  Back then that was looked as uncool if you just sat inside all the time.  

Back then they didn't have awesome ***** they have now inside.

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1 minute ago, mead107 said:

The teenagers are out side 2-4 in the morning stealing things from cars. ?

 

I’m glad they are getting some fresh air! How wholesome! 

 

 

We never stole anything, but we used to “camp out” in someone’s back yard, then strap 12 packs on the back of the bike as teens and ride all over creation. There is truly something special about being the only people awake and about. It’s like you have the world to yourself. I can’t believe we never got stopped riding from neighborhood to neighborhood leaving a trail of empty beer cans and urine. Ahhh, good times. (I honestly don’t recall, but I hope we didn’t litter the empties.) 

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51 minutes ago, BillsPride12 said:

There was nothing like growing up in the 90's...we played an insane amount of street hockey, football out in a field somewhere, riding bikes, building forts, and just getting into mischief in general....I mean sure we found some time for Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis but it's not like today where kids live through their phones and tablets and gadgets etc.

I always think of the scene in The Sandlot where the mother is trying to encourage the quiet son to get out more.  Have fun, cause trouble but not too much, don’t just sit around....

 

Such a far cry from kids imo today 

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