"MaryL" > wrote in message
...

> I do think technology has a lot to do with how little exercise many people
> get today. We did not have TV in our house until I was a senior in high
> school, and cell phones had not been invented. TVs had been around for a
> long time, but my parents were "hold-outs." Even when they did get
> television, they had a strict limit on the amount of time it could be used
> (which affected my younger brother and sister more than me because I left
> for college a year later). I did spend a lot of time on sedentary
> activities because I was a true book-worm and I had a lot of homework, but
> that was primarily done in the evening after sunset. I was on swim teams,
> did a lot of horseback riding, roller skating, bike riding, walking, etc.
> I walked almost a mile to school until we were shifted to a school farther
> away, and then we used the school bus. In addition to technology, I think
> parents today are so fearful that they drive children everywhere from a
> very young age--a real loss of independence, in my opinion. I used to
> ride my bicycle or horse to my grandparents' home in the summer, a
> distance of about 4 miles each way. Today, many people would claim that
> it is "neglect" if my mother did not keep her eyes on each child "every
> minute." I understand the fear that people have, but I think
> overprotection has brought some real costs. Ironically, one of those
> costs is loss of exercise, and that means poor health.
>
> MaryL

We had a TV and we did watch it but rarely just sat and watched it. I was
either jumping rope using the ankle thing...not sure what it was
called...had a loop that went around the ankle, a cord and a plastic lemon
on the end. You made it spin around your leg and hopped over it. Or I was
tumbling, dancing or just plain stretching.

I was just reading something in a magazine but can't remember which one. It
said that these days kids often reach their teens and have never been away
from their parents or some other adult. Someone is always there to manage
things for them. That is pretty true with my daughter but not for the lack
of trying on my part. I tried for years to get her to do things on her own.
Like go into a store and buy something. But she was fearful, most likely
because of the way other people who shall go unnamed had treated her and
still do. You're too young to do that! Something bad might happen!

But now all of a sudden she is wanting to do things on her own but doesn't
really know how to do them. When I was a kid, my mom would give me money
and have me walk to the store to buy things. That couldn't happen here as
there is no safe way to walk to any of the nearby stores. I could get her
to go into two businesses where we knew the owners and she would shop in
there for presents and such. But if I were to sit outside of the drugstore
and tell her to go in and buy something, she would refuse. Terrified of
some unknown thing that might possibly happen to her.

I was also reading that the world now isn't really all that more dangerous
for kids than it was when we were kids but our perceptions of it is. Most
likely to TV and the Internet. We see that something bad happened to some
kid and all of a sudden we see danger lurking at every turn.