Post: #1

I was born in 1993 and I think my age group (1991-1994) was likely the last group of kids you might see playing around in the neighborhood or the park. To be fair, my parents also sent me to camp starting at age 8 and most were sports oriented camps (tennis, swimming/outdoor adventuring). What about you guys?

Post: #2

I'm a Gen X'er so we mostly played outside. Sports and riding bikes during the day. Manhunt and Kick-The-Can at night. Atari, HBO, and MTV first came on the scene in my generation so we also stayed inside a little bit also.

Post: #3

I remember biking home from school, picking up my cricket bat and going straight to the park to meet friends and play. I don't remember having to ask permission - I was usually home for dinner.

Post: #4

Lets not be too concerned here. I saw kids playing outside multiple times up in the summer until quite recently (2013).

Granted you'll see them outside less during the school year but during the summer i'd always see kids running around, playing games, and being hooligans.

Post: #5

I grew up in the 80s and basically lived outside as a kid.

Post: #6

I played outside my entire life and even to this day I'm still playing, but now it's a different game.

Post: #7

(03-06-2016 11:01 AM)johnbozzz Wrote:  I was born in 1993 and I think my age group (1991-1994) was likely the last group of kids you might see playing around in the neighborhood or the park.

Agreed. I played outside a lot when I was a kid in the early 2000's, but I very seldom see the current crop of kids doing so. "Playing outside with the neighborhood kids" is a virtually dead concept.

But unlike a lot of youth bashers, I don't believe it's because they're all inside playing video games. I think things have just shifted to formal, organized activities that parents sign their kids up for.

Post: #8

(03-06-2016 11:59 AM)Delta Wrote:  

(03-06-2016 11:01 AM)johnbozzz Wrote:  I was born in 1993 and I think my age group (1991-1994) was likely the last group of kids you might see playing around in the neighborhood or the park.

Agreed. I played outside a lot when I was a kid in the early 2000's, but I very seldom see the current crop of kids doing so. "Playing outside with the neighborhood kids" is a virtually dead concept.

But unlike a lot of youth bashers, I don't believe it's because they're all inside playing video games. I think things have just shifted to formal, organized activities that parents sign their kids up for.

I agree. I remember that kid's karate starting really taking off in late 90's, as did after school sports activities. Once again, things you'd need to sign up for.

Post: #9

The major difference is that parents of today don't make their kids go outside. The 90's was likely the last decade where parents wouldn't allow their kids to stay inside on a nice day. "Go outside and play." Also there was generally less distractions in the house. You didn't sit on the internet browsing FB and youtube all day.

Kids still play outside, but its different. I see kids riding bikes with no handle bars, staring down at their phones. Just a different world for the youth of today.

I loved my childhood. Riding bikes and playing in the woods. Neighborhood squirtgun fights. Paintball. Snowball fights. Playing street hockey, soccer, and football. Being outside was/is awesome. No smartphones no social media no distractions.

This thread has invigorated me. I still go outside but nowhere near as often as I should be.

Post: #10

Yes, I played outside as a child come rain or shine. I had to be either outside or inside reading - I could choose, but I wasn't allowed to spend whole days playing computer games or watching TV. I didn't have a lot of rules as a child, other than don't whine, make a fuss, or sulk. I had friends within walking/bike riding distance, and we were all pretty much feral. My parents always tried to facilitate me having people to play with and would happily drive me around to see other children. I had my first penknife at 6, first air rifle at 8.

My friends and I all came from no nonsense families with a lot of military ties, so we had a lot of freedom, and was taught a lot of survival/hunting/stalking techniques that we used to spend days practicing, which must have aged everyone for a hundred miles around dramatically, since we were always throwing bangers out of bushes or laying ambushes on strangers - we'd lie in wait for them in their gardens sometimes (traveling miles to terrorise people who couldn't possibly link us to our crimes), or launch surprise attacks on country pubs with bangers, bows and arrows, and smoke bombs. We'd go poaching with our air rifles at dusk around all the neighbouring landowners properties, and spend hours every day fighting with each other trying to mimic rocky and rambo and all the bruce lee stuff. We were all always covered in lumps and injuries.

It was an awesome time, and I look back on it with real nostalgia. Life was so full - every day was ripe with opportunity to do exciting, interesting things, or develop new skills. We were all incredibly fit and tough kids, and by rights we should all have died a bunch of times, but nature seems to favour the bold. One time I fell about 30' out of an oak tree and landed on my back in a 6x6 grass compost bin. Walked away without a scratch and went back to climbing the tree (on the fall it became abundantly clear to me where I had gone wrong on the climb). We drifted apart at about 16 or so when some of the group started getting more into girls. I remember very clearly feeling a real sense of betrayal that people I had so much shared history with should choose chasing girls over hanging out with our gang (we all went to different schools, so it was a holidays thing). In a funny way I still do, I think about what we had, and how much was lost by the pursuit of eros. I think to this day that it is probably the reason that I feel such frustration and a kind of contempt for guys who obsess over getting girls (I appreciate the irony of being on a game forum and holding that view).

Post: #11

I did. I still play cricket and tag rugby now (I'm just 20, but my time playing for college teams is over).
But this isn't the point of the thread. Obviously OP got too many veins from playing outside, which he desires to get rid of.

Post: #12

I remember riding my bicycles all over creation when I was little, before my little suburb expanded. There were open fields around us. We stumbled across a huge beehive once, and I remember being scared of being stung badly with nowhere to go.

We played army and threw rocks at eachother. Built forts with scrap wood. Learned to skateboard, including ollying up on park benches, board sliding, and one of my neighbors even made a dedicated, low pipe to slide on. Could land a pretty sweet regular or switch stance shove-it.

Then, child predator scares came on the news. As did fear of potsmoking kids. My mother fell for it. Where I once could get miles away from my house on my bike, she restricted me from going 1/4 mile down to the park because they didn't want me smoking part or something. My dad didn't want me to go up there anymore either.

Had a falling out with friends, got in a few fights, and discovered online gaming.

Now, I get out on nice days, sometimes on not-so-nice-days, and do things. Or climb. Or get in a body of water. Summer is coming, and I am ready.

Post: #13

I live in Socal, so there are no kids. I did see a late twenties wall victim pushing around her chihuahua in baby carriage this morning though.

Post: #14

The flat I grew up in had a communal parking area/garden/bin shed where all the neighbourhood kids would play after school and at weekends. Sometimes there were 20 kids all playing football or cricket in this space. Slowly all the families moved away. My best friend suddenly left one day aged 8 and I never saw him again. Last year I saw some guys Yad stopping girls outside my workplace every Saturday. I saw one of them later at a grocery store where I approached him, introduced myself and we hit it off and he told me he gamed with a group of guys during the week inviting me along. I went along, he introduced me to the group, and there was my friend from my garden back in my youth 20 years later in this group. Queue awkward reunion. He said to me "I always wondered what happened to you." Now, no kids play in that garden even though there are families here.

Post: #15

(03-06-2016 12:33 PM)RIslander Wrote:  I live in Socal, so there are no kids. I did see a late twenties wall victim pushing around her chihuahua in baby carriage this morning though.

I've seen that. It reminds me of someone who said that little dogs are surrogate baby therapy for women.

Post: #16

(03-06-2016 12:46 PM)philosophical_recovery Wrote:  

(03-06-2016 12:33 PM)RIslander Wrote:  I live in Socal, so there are no kids. I did see a late twenties wall victim pushing around her chihuahua in baby carriage this morning though.

I've seen that. It reminds me of someone who said that little dogs are surrogate baby therapy for women.

I haven't seen a woman carry around a small dog in a bag or push one in a stroller since 2007-2008.

Post: #17

(03-06-2016 11:56 AM)Oz. Wrote:  I played outside my entire life and even to this day I'm still playing, but now it's a different game.

Post: #18

Any of you guys grow up inner city?

Just curious how you navigated all the open drug use, prostitution guys drinking in alleys and all that shit.

I am raising a son here. There are lots of kids around his age, but not too many over the age of 10. It might be the cut off when parents start to think its time to head out to the suburbs.

Which is strange, as my friends from the suburbs are far and away the badder kids, stealing cars, starting bush fires and drinking at super young ages.

Post: #19

(03-06-2016 12:09 PM)General Stalin Wrote:  The major difference is that parents of today don't make their kids go outside. The 90's was likely the last decade where parents wouldn't allow their kids to stay inside on a nice day. "Go outside and play." Also there was generally less distractions in the house. You didn't sit on the internet browsing FB and youtube all day.

Kids still play outside, but its different. I see kids riding bikes with no handle bars, staring down at their phones. Just a different world for the youth of today.

I loved my childhood. Riding bikes and playing in the woods. Neighborhood squirtgun fights. Paintball. Snowball fights. Playing street hockey, soccer, and football. Being outside was/is awesome. No smartphones no social media no distractions.

This thread has invigorated me. I still go outside but nowhere near as often as I should be.

My future kids will not have their own phones until they reach a certain age... like teenager range. No reason to have one before then.

Post: #20

LIVED outside as a kid in Philly.

I'd call up my buddy (who was from Azeiberjan) and ask him "hey, do you wanna go make some trouble?"

And that's exactly what we'd do.

God knows how many roofs we climbed, forest trails we traversed and shit we jumped off of.

Then in the summer I'd mosey on over to Brooklyn and spend those sultry months getting into trouble with my other friend from Russia.

And then when I was 14 a girl entered the picture and that was the beginning of the end for my childhood friendships.

I'm with you 100% @H1N1 - there's a real feeling of betrayal and remorse that girls could come between us best friends and our adventures.

Stupid girls...

Ah, those were beautiful days.

If you guys want to get a hit of nostalgia and also watch one of the best films ever made, check out Stephen King's "It".

It's not just a scary movie about a crazy clown and shit - IMHO it's the great American allegory of childhood, growing up, facing fears and preserving that spark you had as kids into adulthood.

Post: #21

(03-06-2016 01:13 PM)Gmac Wrote:  

(03-06-2016 12:09 PM)General Stalin Wrote:  The major difference is that parents of today don't make their kids go outside. The 90's was likely the last decade where parents wouldn't allow their kids to stay inside on a nice day. "Go outside and play." Also there was generally less distractions in the house. You didn't sit on the internet browsing FB and youtube all day.

Kids still play outside, but its different. I see kids riding bikes with no handle bars, staring down at their phones. Just a different world for the youth of today.

I loved my childhood. Riding bikes and playing in the woods. Neighborhood squirtgun fights. Paintball. Snowball fights. Playing street hockey, soccer, and football. Being outside was/is awesome. No smartphones no social media no distractions.

This thread has invigorated me. I still go outside but nowhere near as often as I should be.

My future kids will not have their own phones until they reach a certain age... like teenager range. No reason to have one before then.

Good choice about the phones, I'm on the same boat. I only received a cell phone when I went to high school, and it was one of those cheap flip phones, only to be used for emergencies or to call whoever was picking me up via carpool. (I carpooled from age 14-15)

Post: #22

(03-06-2016 01:02 PM)Laner Wrote:  Any of you guys grow up inner city?

Just curious how you navigated all the open drug use, prostitution guys drinking in alleys and all that shit.

I am raising a son here. There are lots of kids around his age, but not too many over the age of 10. It might be the cut off when parents start to think its time to head out to the suburbs.

Which is strange, as my friends from the suburbs are far and away the badder kids, stealing cars, starting bush fires and drinking at super young ages.

I am from the burbs. When that happens, theft, early drinking, etc., it's almost always a result of boredom. I think if you can keep your kids stimulated, this won't be an issue. You may laugh at some of those chicks who are head of the high school year book or guys in robotics clubs, but they are normally the ones who don't get into problems.

Post: #23

I forgot about all the illegal, vandalism type of stuff we did as kids too. Breaking windows, blowing stuff up with 1/4 sticks of dynamite. Pummeling driving cars with snow/ice balls. We never stole anything though, except for some shop-lifting, and the only people we ever beat-up on were each other.

As much as being free as kids was great, it does end up being a "Lord Of the Flies" type thing without some type of authoritative figure around. Maybe we were just pushing our limits to see how far we could take things. At 12 years old, being able to convince adults to buy us beer at the local convenience store was a real victory. It taught us salesmanship.

Girls never came between us though. We would all go out together and cruise for girls. If a guy had a girl he would make her get some friends for us to hang out with too. Also outside parties at the river/quarry/woods and rich kids houses.

When I was 16 and able to drive at night on my own I guess I did spend a lot of weekend nights dating new girls and banging in the car. Priorities/desires change as you get older. That's natural. Women will always have some place of importance, but never as much as when you're in your teens-mid 20's. Which is probably a good thing.

Post: #24

(03-06-2016 11:59 AM)Delta Wrote:  I think things have just shifted to formal, organized activities that parents sign their kids up for.

Indeed. Probably a reflection of the shift from multiple-sibling households to single-child families where the parents have to start organizing 'play dates' from an early age.

Post: #25

(03-06-2016 01:18 PM)VincentVinturi Wrote:  LIVED outside as a kid in Philly.

I'd call up my buddy (who was from Azeiberjan) and ask him "hey, do you wanna go make some trouble?"

And that's exactly what we'd do.

God knows how many roofs we climbed, forest trails we traversed and shit we jumped off of.

Then in the summer I'd mosey on over to Brooklyn and spend those sultry months getting into trouble with my other friend from Russia.

And then when I was 14 a girl entered the picture and that was the beginning of the end for my childhood friendships.

I'm with you 100% @H1N1 - there's a real feeling of betrayal and remorse that girls could come between us best friends and our adventures.

Stupid girls...

Ah, those were beautiful days.

If you guys want to get a hit of nostalgia and also watch one of the best films ever made, check out Stephen King's "It".

It's not just a scary movie about a crazy clown and shit - IMHO it's the great American allegory of childhood, growing up, facing fears and preserving that spark you had as kids into adulthood.

I am amazed at how many of us grew up suburban or rural.

I am still curious to know about inner city youth. I imagine its no more of an issue than how we grew up. I know having "eyes on the street" is a great deterrent of nonsense. When we were kids, as soon as we were out of sight, shit changed.

I too am surprised that not too many of us died. The only ones before we turned driving age were a couple kids from my ball team who jumped into a bin of fertilizer on their farm and couldn't stay afloat. Brutal way to go. I knew from jumping into hay that this was a big mistake.