Those good old day’s choices

There are many reasons seniors like myself, recall with fondness those proverbial “Good Old Days,” but for me it was the variety of choices which were available to kids back then.

Unlike today’s world where seemingly every youthful activity or sport is planned and regulated to the N-th degree by parents, organizations, coaches, and traveling teams, my boomer generation was more often than not, left to our own devices when it came to summer fun.

The Nevada of my youth did have little league baseball, but at most we played about two games a week for a couple of months. Conversely, all over town, there were baseball games of some sort being played daily by kids with no — I repeat no — adult supervision or involvement.

Riding bikes was a daily practice for every kid. Nevada offered many options for kids, but we rarely expected to get car rides to our fun events. Bike riding is rarely seen now.

In the summertime in the Nevada of my youth, we were not expected or encouraged to spend much time inside our homes. If you are a fellow senior I am sure you will recall hearing something like, “I’ve got things to do, go outside and play!” If there is one thing that is so missed in our society of today, it is kid-safe neighborhoods like those of my youth. A time when kids roamed all over town, cocooned within an atmospheric feeling of total safety.

This is not the first time I have asked you to gaze back to those days, but here again are a few typical forays we enjoyed. In the Nevada of that era there were a dozen or more small grocery stores. The one in my neighborhood was Cox’s Market on South Main.

In the summertime we slept in a bit longer most mornings, but by around 9 a.m. you could generally find several of the neighborhood kids sitting on the front porch steps at Cox’s. It was here that the day’s events were discussed and planned and we definitely had choices.

Several days a week, we played workup baseball on the open lot behind Amos Wight’s house on South Cedar, but that was far from our only summer daily choice. On Tuesday afternoons there was a free movie for kids at the Fox Theater, sponsored by Maxwell’s Supermarket. We either walked or rode bikes in groups to the theater and what a spectacle that was.

I’m not sure how many kids were packed into that theater, but it was nice to get inside an air-conditioned facility for a movie. In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, there were more homes without air conditioning than those that had it. One more note about the choice of Tuesday movie day, it was not uncommon for some rowdiness to occur during the movie. Mr. Fryer the theater owner would sometimes have to stop the movie and come out to get things back in order. He didn’t threaten to tell our parents, he just told us if we didn’t calm down he would just send us home.

Another choice we regularly made was to go to Radio Springs to swim. My memory of those times always brings back the issue of our bike rides there and back. The trip to the pool was easy, as the steep hill let you coast all the way down to the bathhouse. After a long day of swimming, that return uphill climb seemed to take forever. Still we continued to make swimming a regular option.

Another choice for us was to make bike trips to Lyons Stadium. There were little league games for every age all day long back then. There were a few parents at the games, but by and large it was mostly kids playing. The bike trip to Lyons Stadium offered a different challenge. Both the coming and going trips included a steep downhill section followed by a long uphill climb. Speed was a must on the first leg if you wanted to make the next hill.

We liked variety. We never wanted to get bored doing the same thing over and over. Instead of baseball, we might enjoy a different neighborhood event like whiffle ball.

In the evenings we would continue to gather with our friends until we were forced to go home. One nightly game we played after dark was the legendary chalk chase. Only baby boomers will remember that activity.

Yes we had choices in my youth, and most of them were made by and for us. The only traveling team I knew of in my time was the American Legion baseball team, and that was only for boys 17 and over.

I recently visited with a modern day parent. When they told me of all their kid’s games and practices, I wondered if either the parents or the kids had time for anything else.

Today seemingly every sport or activity is planned and organized by adults. The parents attend every game and practice. Often the kids are encouraged to concentrate on only one sport. These activities are not cheap. Not only are there entry fees and uniforms, there are also motels, gas, and countless meals to pay for.

Many kids in my generation got summer jobs once they became teenagers. When I see the game and practice schedules for today’s kids, there’s no time for a job.

The question has to be asked, is all this modern day style of controlled youth activity the best way? The jury is out on that question, but I think that we have likely reached a point of overkill when it comes to this issue.

My generation grew up with lots of choices, but much less organization. We had fun and enjoyed being just kids. Kids today are still kids. Try turning them loose and let them just have fun together. Trust me, they’ll find plenty of fun things to do.