Healthy Life Forever

The other day my son came up to me and told me he was bored. I felt sad for him and began to think, what is there for him to do this summer. When I was a child, about the same age as my son is now, I would walk around town with my friends, looking for fun and finding adventure everywhere we went. My only worry was not paying attention to the streetlights, because when they came on it was time to go home for dinner. In today’s world, it is not as simple for my children, it is harder for any parent to just let their children loose and leave them to own discoveries for the entire summer.

Another question that I have is why does summer time seem to go by so fast? As a child I remember spending endless days at the lake. We would swim, swing from the rope that we hung on a tree or try to fly our kites. The days seemed to go on forever! As an adult, I feel like summer just passing by and before we know it it is time to get the children their school supplies.

I love all these summer memories, but they often have me think of what my children will remember about summer. Riding bikes in front of the house, having friends come over and play in our yard, going over to a friends house play the latest Wii or Xbox games. These memories will be so different from the freedom that I remember and enjoyed as a child, but unfortunately the freedom that I experienced can not be extended to my children in today’s days. I don’t even feel comfortable allowing my children to ride their bikes around the neighborhood, unless I know where they are every second.

It would be easier to let them wonder a little in the neighborhood, if the neighborhood was as close as the one I grow up in. As a child, even though you had your freedom, there were others watching and if you did something out of line your parents found out. We knew that if Ms. Kem saw us fighting she would bee-line for our homes, or if we walked to close to the flower bed at Ms. Windels mailbox, she was going to yell at us that we better not step on the flowers. This was accepted then and it gave the parents a sense of security, I can honestly say that I do not feel this in my neighborhood. I have lived where I am for the past 6 years, yet I am only on a friendly wave basis with most of my neighbors.

It’s a shame that it is so different for my children and I can honestly say I would do anything to be back in the summer time of youth. For a short time anyway!

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