McCready: Born to be wild (some of the time)

As summer draws to a close, our family decided to revisit nostalgia one last time by watching “The Sandlot.” While entertaining and funny, the film made me realize that most kids today have never experienced the simple joy of gathering with a large group of friends to play outside freely by themselves.

Nowadays, questions arise such as: “Where are the parents or coaches?” “Who would allow children to play unsupervised?” “Did they fill out a ‘Facility-use Agreement’ and schedule the field just to play on their own?” The innocence and spontaneity of such play is gone.

I recently read a book by Steve Magness that addresses the decline in unstructured, unsupervised outdoor play. Magness cites one survey that indicates “a decrease from 80% of children in his parents’ generation playing outsid