Are children today missing out on childhood?

Freefaller · 21 Jan 2008 at 17:57

When I was 12-15 to use the age group described I used to play lots of sports, I used to go out and about and seldom spent any time at home watching tv or playing on the computer (then again 286s weren't really that fun and there's only so many times you can tweak your config.sys/autoexec.bat files to make the games work

). so yes as a 15 year old I used to spend most of my time outdoors or at friend's homes chatting about random stuff and going to "do" things, like cadets/ccf, rock climbing and other sports and activities. I was busy as a child and not bothered about the TV - I had moved to the UK then too.

And you know what? I used to fall out of trees, I used to trip over and cut myself, I hurt myself lots falling off my bike doing stupid stunts with my friends, it made me tougher and made me maybe a more well rounded individual. I might have been chased once or twice by some bigger boys that we used to wind up, or get a ticking off from the local bobby, but it was part of growing up - there was nothing "strange" about seeing kids out alone playing and being kids,.

QlimaxUK · 21 Jan 2008 at 17:57

snowdog said:
I disagree, playing games on a pc / watchign tv is far nicer than to waste your time running around causing trouble. Been playing on my pc since the age of 3, and no regrets to it yet tbh.

15 Year olds playign in parks?
HAHAHAHAHA !
No other word for it.
You're an embarrasement if you play in the woods @ 15...

@ 15 there're 2 groups:
People who sit at home gaming/ watching tv. Occasionally playing footy and onyl going out on occasions.
Peopel who are going out all the time & chilling outside & explore sexual stuff & experiment with smoking/ getting drunk.

And some are in between & a combo or 2, no 15 year old plays on the street though, thats for kids upto 10 ish.

im 21, but @ 15 i was group #1 on your list... and still am

hehe

Freefaller · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:02

I think it's really sad that kids don't go out and play more and do more activities. No wonder they're turning into a bunch of unfit, overweight, socially inept and in general pathetic group of individual, no not individuals merely brainwashed drones. They aren't even succeeding better academically and seem to be turning more and more illiterate. :/

Dreadi · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:04

i just saw 3 kids walking down the street, not one a day over 12 stating they can 'get a bottle a vodka for £2'.

not quite the same as it was when i was that age and that was less then 10 years ago

Andelusion · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:05

Making dens in the woods, having water fights, riding your bike so far you'd start to get scared you wouldn't be able to find your way back.

This was my life 9-13 I think. Good times

snowdog · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:07

Andelusion said:
Making dens in the woods, having water fights, riding your bike so far you'd start to get scared you wouldn't be able to find your way back.

This was my life 9-13 I think. Good times

Sounds like my life, but @ 7-10 instead...
Used to have explored pretty much the whole city, now I can only vaguely renember parts of it and look how much the old placed have changed.
@ about 10 I started to become a gaming addict

.
@ 11 I was a hooked, I blame the upgrade out household did from 128 k isdn to 512 k adsl

.

QlimaxUK · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:07

Andelusion said:
Making dens in the woods, having water fights, riding your bike so far you'd start to get scared you wouldn't be able to find your way back.

This was my life 9-13 I think. Good times

probly the same as me at that age range.... b4 gaming kicked in

Freefaller · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:09

Andelusion said:
Making dens in the woods, having water fights, riding your bike so far you'd start to get scared you wouldn't be able to find your way back.

This was my life 9-13 I think. Good times

Sounds similar to me! Those were the days!

It would never have occurred to me as a kid to want to drink or anything like that. Though I was given the odd beer from my dad as a kid which made me feel really grown up!

Oh and wine too - but that's natural

Freefaller · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:09

Affordable home broadband wasn't available until I was at least 22 anyway

Even then it was only around 50% coverage of the country.

Andelusion · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:10

Yeah I was into my Playstation quite a bit from the age of 12, and for about a year played on that a LOT. Put on a lot of weight, then got back into biking again.

Then go to about the age of 14, discovered girls, got the internet, uhh

Kreeeee · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:12

Admiral Huddy said:
When I look at my christmas list from about 6M years ago, it's pretty different to todays and mine looks pretty basic in comparison. Not much of todays child gets anything that really inspires imagination.

My list as a kid was always bikes, skateboards, scooters, water bomb catapaults and toys from a few films/series (jurassic park/ghost busters). I spent all of my time outside after school and really pity the children today with their mobile phones and internet.

Heck, I didn't use the net or have a mobile until I was in year 8/9!

Andelusion said:
Making dens in the woods, having water fights, riding your bike so far you'd start to get scared you wouldn't be able to find your way back.

This was my life 9-13 I think. Good times

Ditto!

QlimaxUK · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:13

rough guess... but;
0 - 10: kid ''normal childhood''
11 - 13: kid gamer
14 - 17: teen gamer/pc upgrader
18 - 21: gamer/pc builder
and then....
21 - 80+ gamer/more expensive pc builder
on Deathbed: Wondering where my extra life is

Freefaller · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:14

Oh yes mobiles! They didn't even exist when I was a teenager!

camels5 · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:15

Andelusion said:
Making dens in the woods, having water fights, riding your bike so far you'd start to get scared you wouldn't be able to find your way back.

This was my life 9-13 I think. Good times

this was my elder sons' childhood. But my younger son is 7 and I can't see me letting him out and about till he is at least 11 (senior school) we now live a built up area so where would he go? he is certainly not hanging about on the streets, however he does go to tennis, beavers and has friends around or he go to theirs. Times do change unfortunately not always for the better.

Andelusion · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:15

I remember being about 14 and hearing that someone my dad works with had a son who was my age, and he'd just got a mobile, I thought it was hilarious

Think I got my first abuot a year after.

camels5 said:
this was my elder sons' childhood. But my younger son is 7 and I can't see me letting him out and about till he is at least 11 (senior school) we now live a built up area so where would he go? he is certainly not hanging about on the streets, however he does go to tennis, beavers and has friends around or he go to theirs. Times do change unfortunately not always for the better.

Yeah I mean at the time my mum would also worry if I was in the village by myself, but now it would be unthinkable. Our village used to be very quiet and peaceful, now the bus shelters are forever getting burned out. I used to play in the woods mostly though as was lucky to live on the outskirts, now they've been quarried and turned into a land fill =/

dannyjo22 · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:15

Andelusion said:
Making dens in the woods, having water fights, riding your bike so far you'd start to get scared you wouldn't be able to find your way back.

This was my life 9-13 I think. Good times

Hahaha yeah, I was never at home, let alone sitting in front of the tv or playing video games. A few of my mates always joke how we used to take a quid from our parents at the weekend, dissapear at 9 in the morning with a football and return in the evening after playing football all day.

Even if it was only 4 a side we would still be playing on a full sized pitch. 90 minutes on a full sized pitch is nothing, we used to play for 9 hours

Most of the young kids I know now would rather be ronaldo on fifa XX. I think the fitness levels of kids compared to even just 10 years ago is dire.

Then again my old man would have said the same about my generation compared to his.

Freefaller · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:17

I still remember one of my neighbours getting a NES with duck hunt that was really cool - for about 1hr, then we went back to getting our clothes dirty and ripping holes in the new jeans my mother had bought for me!

QlimaxUK · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:17

Freefaller said:
Oh yes mobiles! They didn't even exist when I was a teenager!

the invention of camera phones bug me, now i gotta be 100% sensible when out just in case lol :eek:

youtube dosnt help either... :rolleyes:

dannyjo22 · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:19

Kreeeee said:
Heck, I didn't use the net or have a mobile until I was in year 8/9!!

8 or 9 so old, I was 26 before I used the net and didnt have a mobile til around then as well. Now it seems like people couldn't survive without a mobile. I work with guys that take about 20 calls during the shift per day from their wives. What the hell did they do before the mobile.

I fought off both the internet and a mobile for many years before giving in.

Freefaller · 21 Jan 2008 at 18:20

QlimaxUK said:
the invention of camera phones bug me, now i gotta be 100% sensible when out just in case lol youtube dosnt help either...

I guess it acts as a dare for people to try more and more silly things. If you were lippy to someone as a kid you'd expect a fat lip as a result, and that was the end of it. Nowadays kids carry uzis and will tell you to shut yo' mother****ing maaaaaf if you dare tell them to behave. Sad sad sad. Bring back the old days!