Quote:
Originally Posted by MarchHare
I really hate to sound like a crotchety old man, but when did this trend of obsessive over-protective partenting begin? As recently as my childhood (1980s), all the kids in the neighbourhood played outdoors for hours, climbing trees, exploring the woods, playing street hockey, riding our bikes, whatever. We were told to play outside after we got home from school and instructed to be home for dinner. The concept of an indoor, parental-organized (and supervised!) "play date" didn't even exist.
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I feel like this is a very recent trend and has obviously trended proportional to the ease of access to technology. I'm 23 so I'm not far removed from "childhood". We didn't have a family computer until I was 12-13 and our allowed tuime on it was quite limited.
Video games, tv, movies, and even the toys these days have taken the imagination out of play time. I remember seeing a kids kitchen play-set that had literally everything a kitchen had. We used to play "mechanics" and pretended bunk beds were cars. I probably had more free reign from my parents to do what I wanted at ages 6-12 than I did in my teens. I'm so glad I barely missed being raised in this paranoid time.