When Children were Children
Working out life on our own
By Sharon Hopper 

This time of year was always my favorite. First of all I was in the band so I learned all about football from going to all the games. I even like playing around with the game. I remember coming home from school about 4:15 every day and running into the house, dropping my books, changing my clothes, and heading outside with my brother, his little friend and two neighborhood boys about a year or two younger than I. I was probably about 12, 13, and 14. I had the big back yard so we had a field of sorts marked out for the evening game. We would play a tag game of football and we would do this about every night that it did not rain. No parents. No Coach. Just us kids, the football, and the yard. 

Remember in the early 50’s few of us had television and none us had those darn computers. So we played, and that caused us to exercise, and that resulted in lots of thin girls and strong boys. Wow! We were some generation. After about an hour or so we would be called in for supper. Then dishes, practicing and homework in that order. Then a radio show and off to bed. Remember Only the Shadow Knows? What about Mr. and Mrs. North? 

I do not remember being idle for very long. Now a days if you ask children what they do after school all I hear is homework or play computer games. When I ask my students how long they practiced, they look at me and shrug their shoulders which tells me not too long. I wonder. Are the days shorter than they used to be, or have children become slaves, constantly supervised, shadowed, and worse, conditioned not to think but programmed out of existence? I drive by neighborhoods and rarely see children outside playing. 

I don’t think I want to be a child today. Too hard. All structured. No fun, no imagination and just too much stress. Man I really appreciate the freedom I had to just be me without having to prove myself. And I really appreciate the fact that my parents were happy letting us work our life in our own way. I learned to be creative, self sufficient and competitive. That my friends was a great gift. One that money cannot buy.