Family and Reflecting

Okay, so I don't know if any of you are as old as me (35 is approaching the ancient stage with my kids- Doug is prehistoric at 44), but do you remember what it was like without computers? My kids are obsessed with playing on the computer. There are daily fights as to who gets to go first, how long they get to go on, and "why can't we play on your computer, Mom!" (sometimes I give in) And then there is the Nintendo DS.
I remember when I was their age; if I remember right, I was mostly outside and running all over the neighborhood. My siblings and I played games like tag, 4-square, imaginative play similar to "Bridge to Terabithia", or the popular what tomatoes are overripe in the garden that we can hit each other with (much to our Mother's chagrin). We used to walk several blocks to play in the park or go to the Custard Shop to get penny and nickel candy. We used to ride our bikes to friends houses. We walked to school and it wasn't very close by. We had one family TV that was not watched much and a small black and white one in the basement that we played Atari on occasionally. When my Dad finally got a computer, we were not allowed to touch it.
Now-a-days we have to schedule walks and bike rides with our kids and we encourage them to join sport teams to get some exercise. Granted, when we had kids their age in our neighborhood they were outside playing with them a lot and when it gets cooler out here they will be outside playing more, but I grew up where there was snow and very cold winters and we were still outside making igloos and building snowmen. Okay, if we had a pool here in Arizona, the kids would be in that every day of the summer, but still, they'd be fighting over the computer when they weren't. And heaven-forbide when they can't use technology these days (we don't allow TV, computers, or DS on Sunday)! You would think it was the end of the world with all the moaning and complaining of unfairness around here. Don't try and tell them what it was like when you were a kid because they don't want to here it. My older kids are obsessed with playing on Toontown and even my 3-year-old has to have a daily dose of Noggin online. Oh well, on the other side of it, the state of the world now doesn't facilitate allowing your kids to run all over the city and be back by dinner. How scary a thought that is! It's sad but I guess having my kids close by and arguing over the computer is better than not knowing if they'll get safely home or not.