I guess a long time ago - not to me - we used to be able to

[Joe for Clark]

to go hiking off into the hills where I live. You'd find streams and Indian campgrounds and abandonded mining shacks and all that. It was an adventure for a kid. Not any more - those areas are all developed with really expensive houses and strip malls and all that.

SO our kids - they play video games all day - little to no social interaction - and they have no idea the fun you have going off hikiing -hell we are afraid many times for them to even try it- justifiably - that they are not safe to even try it. So sad.

How times change. How did we let this happen???

Joe

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. We let it happen when we didn't start a civil war when Reagan was elected

Of course, we didn't know it quite so much then as we do now; but with the 20/20 of hindsight, that's really the problem - we should have nipped that fucking titanic cultural change in the bud.

[Joe for Clark]

2. I don't know when it happened - it was gradual I guess.

Joe

[walldude]

3. Come to Colorado... we have plenty of hiking

sure my kids play video games all day but not every day, there's too much to do and see here.. Everything in moderation.

[SoCalDem]

4. That's "progress".. sad isn't it?

My boys caught the tail end of childhood freedom.. They would eat breakfast, hop on their bikes & I would not see them again until they got hungry.. then they were off again until it got dark.

When they were little we would spend hours on our bellies (Mom too) catching little blue lizards in the back yard (we let them go when they had showed them to dad)..

Kids used to be roamers.. but no more..

It's not safe and there are fewer and fewer places left to explore..

[Joe for Clark]

6. So did I - so did a lot of us.

This "reality" is just not acceptable.

It has to be a necessary part of childhood - that nature to explore.

We have to do something about this.

Joe

[Quakerfriend]

5. Yes, so sad. I, too, have fond memories of playing in the stream,

climbing the cliffs, and being out in the woods with my cousins all day long. We would go out to pick berries or water crest near the abandoned spring houses over the hill...build forts in the nursery or visit the horse farm on top of the ridge.

...And, I grew up just 10-15 minutes outside of Phila!

As a teenager I enjoyed the solitude of walking the paths that led to my friends houses. These places longer exist, except in my memories. But, I am writing about all of this so that my kids will know what it was like.

And, I feel so blessed to have recently moved to a place where my boys can experience the 'wilds'a bit. We have wonderful old trees and wine berries growing all over the place. There are frogs, toads and snakes, raccoons, wild turkeys, and fox.

What I am most thankful for is that they can go out alone without me hawking over them, to make sure that I can see them at every moment. When they have friends over they all play with such abandon- running through the woods. They all seem so thrilled to let loose.

Last weekend after they returned from the creek, my ten-year-old said, "We had so much fun riding those rapids!" Later that evening I heard on the news that the authorities have found two alligators (one 5 feet long!) in this creek recently:crazy:. This is in PA. It seems people have been releasing their unwanted pets here.

Being out in nature exploring is so important to the soul. I hope that we can turn back to this someday. Our society/culture needs this.

[Joe for Clark]

7. I have always believed - it is what makes kids kids.

I was born on the other side of the state - Beaver county.

My kids all from LA -

I have explored the hills around the Valley (the San Fernando Valley) since I was a kid. I found streams and Crater cones (mini volcanoes) and Indian villages and rattle snakes and all those things that make little kids feel like explorers.

These kids coming up now - have no idea - and it is not their fault.

Those areas are being developed for very very expensive housing tracts. They are.

This is just not right.

Joe

[Adsos Letter]

8. Hey, Joe for Clark...what a timely OP...

I just got back from a week up in Cedarville (far northeast corner of the state) and it took me right back to my childhood. Reminded me of the same things you spoke of in the OP. Cedarville is so far Out There that it hasn't really been impacted like the rest of the state.

I spent the week hiking all over the desert and mountains; looking for arrowheads and petrified wood, smelling the sagebrush and the "pitchy" smell from the lumber mill at Burney, finding petroglyphs and flowers in hidden creeks.

I don't know what happened. I know there were a lot less people in this state when I was a youngster (I'm 52 now) a lot less private land, and the people who did own it usually didn't mind if you went onto it, as long as you didn't destroy stuff.

Lawsuits, Crime, the "I Got Mine" attitude, the substitution of "entertainment" for play and exploration and harmonizing with the environment...and just one heck-of-a-lot more people.

Our group talked about it alot this weekend...

Here are some pics: