lotstodo
aka "The Jackal"
So says Steve Hummer in today's AJC. Steve bemoans the loss of the sandlot. The sandlot was a place where, as Steve tells it, and I am paraphrasing, rosy cheeked kids used shopping bags for bases on lots adorned with neither chalk lines or boundary flags. It was a place where kids negotiated their own rules, called their own balls and strikes, and argued constantly about the score. It was a place where they were left to referee their own activities except the one rule that said they had to all be home before the street lights came on. He related a conversation he had with a friend who was a PE teacher who went so far as to say that kids nowadays don't know how to solve their own problems and negotiate settlements peacefully, and that is partially because sports and after school recreation are now highly structured competitions controlled by adults. He blames the adults for not allowing children to function socially amongst themselves in competitive situations.
I am going to agree with him, but I don't have a child in today's league sports. Back when I was a kid, we did have dirt however, and we put it to good use with impromptu games that involved an on the fly set of rules like counting to three before rushing the quarterback and two trees as the end zone. Out of bounds changed with whether or not the majority thought a kid was running too far horizontally to keep from being tagged. Time out was to tie a shoe, pull up your pants, or go pee behind a bush. It all worked out, we all had a good time, and nobody got hit intentionally. That is unless the street lights came on.
I am going to agree with him, but I don't have a child in today's league sports. Back when I was a kid, we did have dirt however, and we put it to good use with impromptu games that involved an on the fly set of rules like counting to three before rushing the quarterback and two trees as the end zone. Out of bounds changed with whether or not the majority thought a kid was running too far horizontally to keep from being tagged. Time out was to tie a shoe, pull up your pants, or go pee behind a bush. It all worked out, we all had a good time, and nobody got hit intentionally. That is unless the street lights came on.
