The other day I saw a commentary on CBS Sunday Morning. Basically it said; " in the 40's and 50's children had a good 10 mile radius of acceptable 'play area'. In the 70's and into the 80's 1-3 miles and today parents do not want their children out of sight.
On my way to and from work, I drive past a playground. Today I saw a couple small children with parental supervision playing. One was on a swing, the other on the slide. No other children were present. In fact, rarely are children present without an adult.
I walk my dog along the bike path. We have significant miles of bike paths along the river. Since the flood of 97 dikes and homes have been moved, creating a large 'greenway' all along the Red River. My house is a stones throw from the dike so we utilize the greenway almost everyday. When I was a kid the river and the woods on either side were our habitat. Trails through the woods, fishing, forts, smoking stolen cigarettes, building fires and living like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn was the norm. The hard-pack bike paths that used to weave along the river are long gone, rarely is there a sign that someone has been playing in the woods. Families will travel along the asphalt path, kids complete with helmet and reflectors, parents coaching 'stay to the right, be careful'...no one strays from the path. No kids play alone.
"Be home at dark" was the rule when I was 11. By the time I was 13 'dark' was more closely aligned to "when the street lights come on, you come home". That and "don't go in the river" were the parameters, the world was ours to explore and we did. We didn't wear helmets, we ate carrots right out of the ground, crab apples right off the tree.
Now it is xbox 360 and the internet. Trust me, I like pwning noobs on Call of Duty4 with the best of em', and obviously I am here on the net...more hours per day than I like to admit. I believe the entire world is in this box in front of me, but a different world is out my window and down the street, over the dike and through the woods.
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3 comments:
What's a noob?
noob as I understand it to be..
slang for Newbie, which is a slang word meaning...a person that has little skill at something or is "new" to it...ie....when I was in my scuba class we were called "Newbies".
noob- came out of the video game/texting slang...as in
"I spent all day pwning noobs"
which means; i spent all day blasting lame players
Ah, I see, I haven't heard the term noob until about a year ago.
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