We'll pretend to remember when everyone used to play outside all day, riding bikes, baseball, kick the can, catching fireflies, climbing trees, sneaking in the neighbor's yard for crab apples, riding motorcycles, racing canoes and hunting. And forget all the kids who stayed inside all day watching tv, reading, doing little nothings, because the people posting all those memories online were the ones doing it and the people not posting it (among others) didn't. There have always been the sloths, and now with the allure of the new brain-stroking activities, indoors and online, a larger percentage of today's kids are doing it. So it's not a matter of quality so much as quantity.
How do we get young people to get their asses out there and do things that are challenging, active, enriching and fun? Simple. We take them in some cases. We let them in other cases. We set the example and we live it ourselves, and we drag them along, and fuck their protests, because they will more than thank us when they grow up. They'll perpetuate it, they'll appreciate it deeply, they'll perform better and live a better life. Let them bitch and moan while they're hiking up a boring old mountain. Let them pine for their iPhones while they try again to get up on one ski. Let them wish they had a wireless connection and device while they sit around the campfire and recall the first time they caught a fish and catch a glimpse of a shooting star and the Northern Lights. Race them across the field, throw the football with them and shoot some hoops, take them to the firing range and show them how to get the fire roaring with a single match (or a couple sparks). Quit your idiotic lamentations and start an adventure club where you actually share some opportunities with the local youth, partnering with a community foster-care support non-profit and be part of the solution instead of a squawking tree, rooted to your easy chair, like I am now.
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