Sept. 02, 2006 - 17:29 MST

Personal Thoughts On An Article

In todays "Commentary" section of The Rocky Mountain News, guess they don't call them editorial pages anymore, is an article by Jay Ambrose of the Scripps Howard News Service. Quoted in full herein:

THE EMPTY OUTDOORS

Too many children today missing out on the joys of playing amid nature

"On one slow moving summer day when I was maybe 6 or 7 years old, my friend Earl proposed a trip to a nearby trash heap. The treasures there were beyond belief, some tattered old linoleum; a couple of rotting planks, water-soaked cardboard boxes and -- glory, glory hallelujah ! -- even a superwide, warped piece of plywood."

"With such stuff in hand, boys in those years could build something that would make their sprits soar to Taj Mahal heights, even if that something was only a rickety, ugly shack serving as a hideout or perhaps a fort to repair to when attacked by imaginary foes. This structure went up in Earl's backyard, and the foe that finally directed its demolition was not imaginary. It was Earl's Mother, who wanted it gone within a day or two, after we had some good times."

"Never mind. There was more to do. There was the occasion, for instance, when maybe a dozen boys our age from blocks around decided to build race cars from old wagon wheels, discarded auto steering wheels, ropes and boards and such, and then, on their own initiative, cleared off a hill in a woods for a racetrack. Earl, who was two years older than I was and many years more clever, fashioned our racer, which came in last in the only contest I recall."

"I don't remember girls being involved in that venture, though they could have been. I do remember my older sister and her friends putting on shows that they themselves wrote, produced and directed. They also figured out costumes for themselves, acted, sang, danced and made it clear that those of us in the audience -- their younger siblings -- had better stick out the performance and react with appropriate appreciation, meaning applause."

In my childhood, we built our own tree-houses and made our own slingshots with sticks and rubber bands. We went exploring in wooded areas, and even in what we called a hollow -- a dark, frightening but exciting swamp filled with quicksand and snakes."

"We rode our bikes everywhere -- I had a used, wide-tired Schwinn as my first bike, but later, a thin-tired, gear-shift dazzler given to me by an aunt. We didn't have TVs -- my family didn't get one until I was 10 -- but we did go see Western movies on Saturdays sometimes, and then played cowboys outside for hours afterward."

"We played football in our backyards, basketball in alleys and baseball in any field we could find. We wrestled. We ran. At night we would play kick-the-can and in the right season catch lightening bugs. We climbed on garage roofs and up any tree that offered itself. We captured crawfish."

"Sometimes in our varied escapades, we encountered a danger. I remember a cottonmouth slithering underwater toward my hand while a bunch of us were tadpole hunting in the hollow. If you don't know, I'll tell you: A cottonmouth, also known as a water moccasin, is poisonous, an agressive creature that can kill. I got my hand out of the muddy creek in a hurry."

"But that particular danger is as nothing, it seems to me, when compared to the danger of not getting out of the house, of staying caged with with TV sets that pound the brains to mushiness as young bodies grow fat and young personalities lose the oompph, the creativity, the spirit that could be theirs if uncaged, let loos to roam, try new things, discover new things, experience nature."

"There is a book out about the issue, Last Child In The Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. The author, Richard Louv, observes that children aren't getting outdoors as much as they used to, according to reviewers. Among the reasons are attachments to TV, video games and the Internet, too much homework and parents with a realistic fear of auto traffic and an exaggerated fear of abductions. The consequences for the children, Louv is quoted as saying are obesity, more stress, a greater likelihood of learning disorders, even depression."

"In his view, it is crucial for children to connect with nature -- the back yard is not so bad a place to start -- and to have some freedom as they experience plants, birds and weather. It's an emotional pick-me-up, a confidence-builder, he is said to argue."

As somebody who has been there, I can tell you, too, that it's great fun and a source of endless memories."

++++++++++++

Jay Ambrose, if my figuring is right was born in 1941 (In 1951 we got our first TV and possibly Jay was 10 that year, so my life experience of youth goes back a few years before his. I remember the rickety cars we built out of coaster wagon wheels, a two by four, a broomstick with rope wrapped around it to turn the front wheels mounted on a piece of two by four, the other two by four held the back wheels. Body style was what we could come up with in the way of wood, tin and whatever else seemed to help. We had no hills nearby so they were people powered. We called them "chugs," should probably have been chuffs, 'cause that's what the pusher did after a block or so.

Alleys and associated trash cans were our empire and many cobbled up inventions came from putting together pieces of trash in strange ways, totally satisfying to us, however repugnant they were to adults.

I too remember slingshots and the power of them. In my day, automobile tires had inner tubes and strips cut from those tubes powered all my slingshots. Also they featured in our rubber-gun contests. A whop from a hunk of inner tube rubber along side the head was guaranteed to wake me up.

Even back then, we kids where up to our lower lip with adult organized, supervised play. We were in our glory in competing in self-imagined games, (Calvin-Ball comes to mind). I was so sorry to see the last of Calvin & Hobbes, that strip epitomized young folk and their unrestrained play.

I remember coming after Mom's call, the last one, the one that indicated her patience was wearing thin and the next call would come from Dad and a paddling would result. I remember coming in, aglow from the fun we had been having, still a bit breathless running to answer Mom's call but still seething with good spirits and bubbling over with energy.

Those were gentler days I guess, the corner arc-light was our clubhouse, each block with its own clubhouse arc-light. Sometimes the group would merge with another for kick-the-can or run sheep run, but for the most part it was just us kids from that end of the block. As we grew older often a boy and girl would sneak between houses for a bit of smooching to be teased on re-entry to the public eye. "Ya-ya, we know what ya been doin,' was a familiar cry.

Guess my rite of passage was coasting down Ruby Hill in Denver on my Ivor Johnson bicycle, whanging from rut to rut, my bicycle wheels of wooden rims finally collapsing at the bottom of the hill. Dragging the assorted remains home caused me to consider the effects of my own behavior. Took me a time to earn enough to replace those wheels.

It encourages me to see articles of this kind because some folks see the value of living as children and growing up naturally and normally. Today's life seems to be a round of organized school sports, play dates, TV and Internet activities as well as loads of homework. Makes me wonder, do today's kids ever have any time to themselves ? Those times free of adults to do with as they please ? Those long, lazy summer days that took us where the whim dictated ?

It makes me wonder, will a change be made in the way kids are raised or not ?

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