”School’s out for summer!”
During my teen years, Alice Cooper’s iconic and, yes, rebellious ”School’s Out” song would reverberate through my house on the last day of school. I could count on my sister to blast the music (when our parents weren’t at home) and set the tone (which possibly impacted my hearing) for the joyful days ahead.
Were kids happier then, or is my brain playing tricks on me, skipping over unpleasant events?
Looking back, I believe we were happier. Why? We experienced greater independence in ways that counted.
Along with responsibilities, such as working in our parents’ store, we had plenty of freedom to come and go with only a general sense of where we’d be. As the saying goes, we were left to our own devices! Such liberties would astound the typical, well-cared-for kid today.
Granted, I lived in a small town, and the world, in general, was safer for young people to roam on their own. Responsible adults didn’t need to track their youngsters every movement. In fact, I couldn’t begin to count all the times that an adult shooed my friends and me away:
“Go and play,” as they’d say, although that didn’t mean we could wander anywhere.
Based on our ages, a grownup would accompany us if we were walking or biking beyond certain boundaries. When we needed supervision at the local playground, we made good use of the adult or teen in charge, who could push us higher on swings and make the merry-go-round spin faster. Frankly, if you asked me, the big people had as least as much fun as their little charges.
Left to Their Devices
A good many summers later, as my dog and I walk past the playground at a local park, the sights and sounds take me to the days when my kids were little and back to my youth. Besides the accident-proof equipment (kids today don’t know the thrill of hosing down a super-steep, sun-scorched metal sliding board to cool it off, making it as slick as glass), not so much has changed—or has it?
I was an adult after “No Smoking” signs became fixtures to protect children at play, so what about excessive exposure to tablets and smartphones? Are they any less detrimental to a child’s natural development?
It was all I could do not to say something to a father who was engrossed in his phone, a good distance away from his daughter, while she sat in a swing and hummed a sad tune to herself. No, it was not a temporary condition. Nothing had changed by the time my pup and I returned to the site upon completing a one-mile loop.
On another day, I spotted two boys who were absorbed in a digital game. Their unconcerned mom watched from a bench.
Maybe the dad was addressing a critical issue for his work, and he’d lose his job if he didn’t handle it. Perhaps the boys had baseball practice later in the day, so they would get plenty of peer interaction and exercise after all.
I can be understanding, but how many adults and kids have good excuses?
This is not to judge but rather to encourage adults who care for children to free themselves and their youngsters from their devices. If not over the entire time school is out for summer, at least put them away for a day at the park.
Sallie W. Boyles, a.k.a. Write Lady
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