We gave public roads up to cars and pushed the kids inside to sit in front of the TV.
I was lucky growing up, though. I lived in a rural area without a lot of traffic and could bicycle with my friends safely for miles.
But today, who would let their kid out the door without constant supervision? It's easier to warehouse them in a school drugged up all day.
That is a good point. The best thing to get my 5 boys to be better behaved is to let them burn off energy at the park, fishing, or swimming. My kids also have chores like gathering the trash, vacuuming, washing dishes, cleaning their rooms, and laundry. We also have them involved in martial arts which has did wonders for them where discipline is concerned. I think some people have just simply forgotten what being a kid is. They don’t come pre-programed to sit still but many seem to expect that or they expect little boys to behave like little girls though some little girls don’t behave like little girls are expected either.
Also kids are individuals. My daughter (16) is low maintenance high responsibility. She has always been that way. She is a self starter and self learner and always eager to live up and exceed expectations. My oldest son however is happy to just squeak by even though he is capable of more. Both are very smart but they each learn differently and approach things differently. My son has never had a confidence problem where as my daughter had to learn to be more assertive while my son had to be reigned in.
I think that’s a big part of it. When I was a kid, we would pretty much do as we pleased without constant supervision from any adults. Just don’t do anything to embarrass the family and be back home before dark. Use our imaginations, make up our own games, act out some of our fantasies and burn off all that nervous energy. If they had Ritalin back then, someone would have wanted to put me on it for sure.
RE: “kids have no where to go to safely spend their energy.”
I agree with you. We need sports and exercise. Children used to have a lot of chores, some of which were hard work. I’ve always thought that martial arts would be a better remedy than psychiatry.
But these two problems are on parallel tracks. A child could have enough exercise and still be taught to read it in a way that doesn’t work. At the risk of being simplistic, I’ll say the best prescription for almost every child is: phonics + exercise.
(I often have this fantasy that the best thing a teacher can do in many situations is to take the kids outside and say, “See that fence way over there? Run over there and touch it and then run back to me.” Those kids will be grateful to sit in a classroom.)