In an age where video screens and consumerism hold our children captive, it’s refreshing to see kids actually outdoors, exercising their muscles, their minds, and their spirits, AND engaged in FACE-TO-FACE relationships with other kids, adults and creatures as well. They remind me of my little buddy Conor and his sister Samantha who lived next door to me in Wisconsin.
Answer this question… Why are these nine kids outside playing together – and I see them every day – while your kids and grandkids are locked into a video screen with plugs in their ears?
I actually saw six little kids playing touch football on a side street THREE times last week while I walked Clarence.
As I pass the kids in my neighborhood, they actually say ‘hello’ and acknowledge my existence. I suspect it has a lot to do with the fact that their attention is on the world around them, not on a digital image that is locked on a screen.
“Can I pet your dog?” one asks.
“Sure,” I answer, and play stops for a minute or two while each moves in to pet Clarence. I have yet to figure out who loves it more, the kids or Clarence.
I love the kids in my neighborhood. They will not allow me to forget what being human is really about!
art by
Kyle T. Webster