Reply to "I lived the happiest childhood a child could possibly know”

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Quote from Maud Hart Lovelace, the author of the Betsy-Tracy books.

I try to give my 6yo a similar childhood - very few structured activities, lots of free time especially outdoors, minimal screens, minimal expectations other than manners and helping at home - and I will still fail because nobody else does the same. We have a neighborhood full of kids but those kids are either in activities or on screens at home. Playgrounds sit empty on weekends. You can’t just run up to someone’s house on a weekday afternoon or weekend and ring their doorbell because chances are they won’t be around. It sucks, but oh well, I try my best. And my DD is a generally happy, cheerful kid so I guess there are other ways to have a happy childhood.[/quote]

I am a Gen xer and had this kind of childhood. We kids ran free in our suburban neighborhood weekends and summers and were in and out of each others houses. Things I remember: finding a stash of really mast porn in the drainage tunnel under the road and looking at it with my 5 year old neighbor, among others. A group of boys bullying little Jimmy up the street, who was a bit slow, into pulling down his pants in someone’s backyard shed. Kids smoking their parents’ cigarettes. 12 year old girl neighbor rolling up covered in hickeys from her much older “boyfriend.”  Setting off firecrackers and Kyle on the next block having to go to the ER from getting burned. My brother getting chased by a neighbor with a gun because they were tee peeing a crotchety old man’s house. My friend Susie getting flashed in the park. Running across a 4 lane highway with no crosswalks dodging traffic to get to the Ben Franklin to buy Jolly Ranchers.  Random men in pickup trucks stopping to talk to us until someone’s mom who was actually paying attention for a change instead of lying in her darkened bedrooms “resting” opened the door and called out to us. I could go on. [/quote]

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