> > You couldn't get toys during the war, so me made most of the stuff we played with.
>
> This is the kind of stuff I was talking about. Kids don't do this anymore. They get a buzzing lighting shooting racing exploding thing for Christmas, it breaks a week later, and that's that.

I think I'm not *so* old that I can't be considered in the generation you're talking about, and I remember, when we were younger, we (my brother and I) and all the kids we'd play with made plenty of our own toys. And we're fairly well-off - we always had a television (multiple), and plenty of store-bought toys. But I think my favourite toy ever was an old broom handle I found in a dumpster somewhere. It would be a spear, or a wword, or a magic wand, or a pogo stick... the possibilities were limitless. We'd make up our own games and have great fun with them, and play for hours and hours just running around a field with some sticks and paper bags.

I think it's not true that television and video games are replacing this type of play. I know, for our part, they'd actually inspire it, sometimes; we'd all be our favourite characters from He-Man or from Super Mario Bros., and have a blast not doing much more than running around shouting "by the power of Greyskull" and jumping up and down. :-}

> > You didn't have to tag him with the ball to put him out. You just threw it at him. Ouch!
>
> This raises a whole new issue. If that happened today, and a kid inevitably got hurt, there'd be heck to pay. The parents of the hurt kid wouldn't just get angry, they'd be expected to get angry or considered uncaring or negligent. The kids, emulating the adults, will of course develop an animosity. In your day, the kid would get up, shake it off, and that'd be that. If he *was* hurt enough to need some time and comfort to recover, he would, the parents would chalk it up to a normal part of growing up, which of course it is, and that'd be that. The kid learns that incidental pain is a part of life and not grow up to be resentful of every little thing that hinders him in some way and aimlessly cast about blame and lawsuits at random.

This I think I'm too old for. That or I just never noticed it when I was younger... nowadays, people are ridiculously protective and, more than that, ridiculously litigious. I think this trend betrays a growing problem in today's society - people are less and less satisfied with their lots in life, and, as they grow less and less content, they gain a desire to "succeed vicariously" through their children. They take more and more control of their childrens' lives, determined not to let them "make the same mistakes I did" or any such thing, and determined to keep them from all harm. And, while a certain amount of this is certainly necessary (keeping your toddler from wandering out into the road is good parenting), it's been taken to too much of an extreme in nowadays society.

If you watch old television programs, you can see this disparity. In particular, I'm thinking of an old episode of "Bewitched," which features a young boy whose mother acts precisely that way: she won't let him do anything or go anywhere, "for his own good." She is portrayed as something of an unreasonable shrew. Nowadays, her behaviour is become (I love the "is become" construction :-}) the accepted norm - parents who allow their children to play and get hurt are considered irresponsible and evil.

On a side note, we have a law here in Massachusetts (if it passed, and unless it's actually a federal law, which it may be) that carries stiff penalties for *schoolyard bullies caught name-calling.* Let me repeat that. We have a law here in Massachusetts that carries stiff penalties for *schoolyard bullies caught name-calling.* I can't think of a single instance in which it has been enforced, but, still, it's obscene.

> His idea of a great 4th of July was one like the year he knocked himself unconscious with a firecracker. (One of his friends had a whole set of firecrackers go off in his pocket when he got careless with a match.) But it's refreshing how creative he and his friends were at their play. Today, no kid would be caught dead with a firecracker for fear that he would be.

I don't quite buy that. Laws prohibiting fireworks exist in many places - and keep getting more restrictive - and parents don't want their kids playing with firecrackers, but most *kids* I know are still thrilled to death with them and will sneak off and play with them in secret.