Kiddie Treadmills

How about we try getting our kids out from in front of the television, take away the video games, and kick them out the front door like our parents did us?? I remember playing outside all day during the summer, only coming in when the street lights came on. And I'm only 30! What in the world has happened in the past 20 years that we now need exercise equipment for children??? Things haven't changed in my house. My kids are always playing with their friends or outside running around with the dog. TV is a privilege, not a right.

Definitely NOT Amish. Maybe just raised differently? I don't know.

KW--you describe my childhood exactly. Toss in the building of forts, and you've got kiddie paradise.

I totally forgot about forts, Paul! Forts, scavenger hunts, freeze tag, hide and seek! Those were some good times!

KW -- I had the same sort of childhood. Good memories!

Matt -- excellent idea. I think many of us as adults could benefit from that as well (especially me!).

KW--and danger. Let's not forget a fair amount of unsupervised danger.

Matt--I'm liking that SOYLENT GREEN scenario.....

Paul - Danger and injuries! A severed finger was just duct taped back on and you were sent back outside and told to stop your whining! *sigh* I WISH for the good old days!

KW/Paul/BikerPuppy - I second (third, fourth?) those childhood memories! Our yard backed up to a wildlife preserve a few miles long so we were always running around in the woods unsupervised. Hiking, building forts, occassionally getting lost, but always outside all day. Not to mention riding our bikes endlessly around the streets we lived on, and to our friends houses 5 miles away. "Mom, can I go to Amber's house?" "Sure hon, how are you getting there 'cause I'm not driving you" lots of conversations like that.

Sardines was the best, anyone ever play sardines? Not exactly the most active game, but tons of fun. It's reverse hide-and-go-seek. One person hides, everyone seeks. When you find the person you hide with them - the last person to find everyone hides the next time. The most fun comes when you hide in a spot that wont exactly fit everyone and you end up with arms & legs sticking out all over the place.

Will these treadmills fit in their cages? Uh, rooms...I mean, rooms...yeah.

We used to play Red Rover until someone got hurt. Someone always got hurt. That's the point of the game, right? And we rode our bikes (sans helmets) from morning til night, pretending they were our horses, our spaceships, or our motorcycles. We rode as far as the city pool in the summer, and came home at dusk (right about time to go out and catch lightning bugs and put them in jars). <sigh> I miss those days.

Yes, yes, yes! A deck of cards clothes-pinned to the spokes of our bicycle wheels. A summer-long purple lip stain from the Kool-Aid that was handed out to us from the "scream" door. Let's just hope no one comes up with the idea for the tots to compete with each other on the treadmills, wearing their little high heels.

lostinthevalleygirl--it's plain you have not surrendered your childhood sense of excitement!

BikerPuppy--another idyllic childhood....

Jules--I wish we had known about "sardines" when I was a kid....