We have two neighborhood kids who come by to play with our kids after school daily without fail. They literally just walk in through the front door and off they all go down the street to play. To say I have dreamt of this day would be an understatement. A time when kids just left the house and played down the street. So nostalgic remembering how care- free childhood was growing up. You played until the proverbial “lights came on.” There was little to no adult supervision ; it was just play and it was so wonderful.
Needless to say of course the first few days they would leave my helicoptering self could not help but trail them slowly behind to make sure “they were safe.” Then slowly I have begun to let them just join in the fun and gain some wings. What I have noticed unfold is the idea that Play really begets play. The more you hear them laughing the more I have begun to see more kids start streaming out of their homes to join in the play. I continue to dream of that day when kids will play until the lights come on. When we will have such a deep sense of social trust among our communities – where kids are nobody’s but really everybody’s – where one adult is not afraid to redirect a child for misbehaving. Where any parent who sees a struggling child can cross the road and offer to help. That is social trust. Ubuntu – I am because we are.
In the meantime, I will keep sending the kids out to play; because as with all things childhood – things add up. It may be just an hour a day but those are 5 hours in a week they would probably be bored indoors; and besides it allows time to prepare dinner without feeling the need to immediately hand over devices.
So let them play outside until the lights come on!