Children Outdoors, Living Adventures
American Greatness,
by
Anthony Esolen
Original Article
Posted By: Judy W.,
1/14/2022 1:22:31 PM
We’re in Central Park, at night. A young couple are sitting on a bench, kissing, when all at once a small gang of boys and girls shows up. The oldest can’t be more than 14. Two of the boys, one black and one white, are playing accordions. (Snip)
The scene is from Frank Capra’s “You Can’t Take It With You” (1938), with Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur as the couple in love. Whenever I see such a scene with children having real and adventurous lives, I first ask why people in 1938 found such a scene credible, while we do not, because we hardly ever see children outdoors, in groups
Reply 1 - Posted by:
earlybird 1/14/2022 1:27:50 PM (No. 1038570)
On our little street, there were 16 kids within an age span of four years on just half of the block. Boys pretty much played with boys, girls with girls. Unless there was an organized game. Outdoors all the time that we weren’t in school, and at night in summer. An active bunch. Softball in the street, kick the can, hide and seek. We often stayed out after dark.
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Children today live such structured lives, beginning with infant daycare and ending with high school. I can remember my parents ordering us to "Go outside and play" when they wanted to get us out of the house. We wandered all over my small town of nine hundred people. My two older brothers were allowed to wander the surrounding countryside and swim (unsupervised) in the Ohio River. Minor conflicts were settled amongst ourselves without adult interference.
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Reply 3 - Posted by:
Pinkpanther 1/14/2022 2:31:17 PM (No. 1038648)
The two biggest contributors to lack of children: contraception and abortion. Children can’t play in groups if there’s no longer groups of kids. We are fortunate enough to live in a Texas neighborhood by an elementary school so my 10 yr old son (youngest out of 8 kids) runs around with a group of boys age 8-11 who live in close proximity. The old school rules are in effect for him: be home when it gets dark.
That being said, had those families also had 4+ kids there would have been MANY more kids to run around with. Each of them come from 1 to 2 child homes.
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Reply 4 - Posted by:
earlybird 1/14/2022 3:50:12 PM (No. 1038722)
Re #3, the families in our neighborhood all had only one or two children. Full stop. They had gone through the Depression, war. Massive inflation. They were not apt to have had abortions. They limited their families to what they could afford. All worked for a living. Middle class. No welfare.
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Reply 5 - Posted by:
DVC 1/14/2022 4:34:47 PM (No. 1038755)
When I was a boy, from 2nd to 6th grade, we had a group of four or five boys who got together every day that we were out of school and went down to the water to get crabs, or ride our bikes out to 'far away woods' ( a mile or two) or shoot BB guns, or build tree forts, or just ride bikes for the fun of riding. Climbing trees was a big fun. We had a "sand pit" with a tree on the edge with a rope, and we swung there, dug in the sand,
and had fun for a while, then moved to another place. We had to be home before dark, except in the summers when it got dark late, we had to be home "by dinner time"....and we didn't have watches, but we had stomachs that told us when lunch and dinner were due.
I pity kids with no freedom, which has been common for years. Sad.
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Reply 6 - Posted by:
raphaela 1/14/2022 5:32:22 PM (No. 1038808)
I live in the South. When we were young and would get a serious snowfall, the families from several blocks used to sled down the steepest hill in our neighborhood because the streets surrounding were blocked off to drivers. There would be an old trashcan filled with refuse that would be set on fire to keep us all warm. Forty to fifty kids and adults would bring their seldom-used sleds or whatever could pass for sliding down the hill to the summit. There were no fights, only fun and excitement. Sometimes we wouldn't get back home until after 11pm. My mom would make us mulled wine with cloves and sugar, and orange and lemon slices floating on top. Our eyes would be sparkling, our cheeks red and our hands cold. Those are some of my fondest memories. The freedom was delicious and kids just do not have any any longer. More's the pity. One summer when my son was about 11 he asked if he could ride over to his buddy's house about two miles away on his bike. With a little trepidation I assented but warned him about creeps and asked that he keep a swiss army knife on his person just in case. That was one of his favorite summers adventures until he started attending boy scout camp.
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Reply 7 - Posted by:
czechlist 1/14/2022 6:35:58 PM (No. 1038846)
In the suburbs where I live kids are playing in groups all around the neighborhoods and one must be cautious driving down the streets.when school is out. But I live in a red city in a red state.
If I lived in a blue inner city I wouldn't let kids play outside.
4 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
Sandpiper 1/14/2022 6:44:42 PM (No. 1038854)
What an interesting, and poignant, article! I too grew up in a world with greater freedom. We had a group of about a dozen kids on our street growing up - we played all sorts of games in the summer evenings. When we moved there weren’t other kids around at the new house, but I had the freedom of riding my bike for miles all around my small town (without a helmet, the horrors.) Now - my son was taken to task by a neighbor who threatened to call CPS because he allowed his children to play outside without adult supervision. They were in their own front yard!
Some of the best Life Lessons I learned came from playing with other kids sans adults. Learning to negotiate (“You’re out!” “I was SAFE!”), how to be creative without breaking any laws, how to problem solve, how to deal with bossy-pants kids, or tattletales, or scaredy-cats, and so on. Wow, we learned how to get along with others and succeed. Pity the youth of today.
3 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
columba 1/14/2022 7:36:08 PM (No. 1038899)
I bought a VHS of that movie last week ! I gotta see the scene.
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These are playful children, in the movie. Nowadays if we see a group of children without adults, at night, we are afraid, often rightly.