Children of Today

Oh My God. I can hear my father's voice in my head. "When I was a kid..."

I could never understand the need for a predator to go after children. I do not want to believe that there are really people out there who want to harm children. The crimes we have been seeing lately have been so horrible that I do not want to watch the news any more. But putting my head in the sand is not the solution, so what is?

Maybe I am not facing the reality of today's world but I am very saddened when I hear that a child has been beaten, abducted or killed.

What has our world come to that we can not even have our children leave their own front yard. I was born 1960. I did not think that it was a long time ago but I see how many things have changed. I grew up in the town of Copiague, a community very much like Malverne, where everyone knew each other. The next town over was Amityville (of the Amityville Horror fame). I grew up with two older brothers and two older cousins all living in the same town. Between them and our friends in the neighborhood, we had plenty of things to do. We were able to find many different things to do each day without a parent needing to chaperone us from play date to sport games...

We did not have electronic toys and gadgets (excluding a motorized car, erector set or the game operation). We had a black-and-white T.V. without a remote, phones that had cords stretching from room to room, transistor radios and record players. We had board games, ping pong and pool for rainy days, but mostly we were outside in the neighborhood playing with our friends.

We started the day with mom and dad making sure that we had some breakfast and we were off to meet our friends and walk to school. After school we gathered again and planned our afternoon until we were called in for dinner. We would play, handball, stickball or stoop ball at one or our houses until a parent came out to scold us for throwing the ball into the door or window.

We would ride our bicycles all over town with our fishing polls or go frogging in the neighboring town's stream. We even had a fort in the woods next to our house. We climbed trees and used whisteria vines as makeshift swings. If a new house was being built, we figured we had a new play area to explore. We kept ourselves busy until we were called to dinner.

When we were called into our homes for dinner we made sure that we knew what time we were meeting our friends after dinner. In the summer, we played manhunt which is like hide and seek in the dark. In the winter, we played outside in the woods. By the end of the night, we were covered with dirt, grass, snow and everything else we played in.

We were children and had no fear of anyone taking advantage of us. Bad things did not happen in our neighborhood. It was on T.V. or in the movies. When a child went missing they were found at a friend's house or playing somewhere and were returned home.

Yes, there was tragedy but that was on the news. I grew up knowing I was in a caring family, where parents were there to make sure that homework was done and your chores were completed. I look back and can say that I had a great childhood and have many stories to carry me through my life.

I feel sorry for the children of today. Yes, things have changes. Yes, we are more technologically advanced, but yet our children have lost their freedom to be children. Children are not allowed to be children any more. The family unit has changed and most times both parents work and children are kept in daycare, then have preschool to prepare them for the futre. They now grow up cloistered in their backyard or have scheduled play dates, where everything is structured and planned out and everything they play with has an educational adgenda. You rarely see a child riding their bicycle with their friends. Today if you see a group of children walking down the street or congregating in a park you think that they are up to something. Then, there are the times where children are sitting in front of the computer playing games or chatting. Not even to mention every child has a phone, iPad or some electronic too (there are too many to mention).

I know that parents need to protect their young ones and want them to have a better life then we had, but there are only so many years in their childhood and we can not let that slip by. Our children need to enjoy each day and every day. Malverne is a wonderful place to raise a child and there are some really great children being raised here with all of the groups to attend. You see the number of Eagle Boy Scouts and Gold Medal Girl Scouts in our community and it is a blessing knowing that they are our future.

You can correct me if I am wrong, but I think that children should be as free to be children as long as possible. I frequent Scooop ice cream parlor on Church Avenue and look at all of the memorabilia throughout the shop as well as the vintage T.V. shows being played. I am instantly reminded of my childhood (Thanks Scoops...).

I pray that the future brings a joyous lfe to all of the children and that they can enjoy the great childhood that I experienced. I pray that the parents protect and watch over their children as they let them grow up to be able to acomplish great things in life. Lastly, I pray that someday there will be no more tragedy for children all over the world and they can reflect on their childhood as I very often do.