pleasent memories from childhood?

[Mr. 16 gauge]

I never see kids playing outdoors anymore. I suppose they are too busy with video games and texting, etc. What a shame.

Yes, Adam....I agree. Kids today have too much technology to "play" with.....I don't understand why my daughter has to text her friends 5 minutes after seeing them or 5 minutes before seeing them.....drives me nuts!

On the other hand, is it just me or does it seem like there is a HUGE increase in the number of child abduction/molestation cases in the news nowadays (as opposed to when we grew up)? I don't remember it being like that when I was a kid......there might be one or two cases a year of some pervert trying to get a kid to come to his car with candy or some such thing, but I don't remember anything like the volume of cases in the news today.
As a parent, it made me more than just a little paranoid.....I let my daughter play outside, but only if one of us (wife or myself) was out there with her. Shot hoops with her, or let her ride her bike/roller blade while I cut the grass, washed the car, ect.

I've thought of two more things to add to the list:

- Green plastic army men

- cap pistols

I know that the common belief by the liberal social scientist of the day is that if you let your kid play with cap guns, they will turn into monsters and shoot up the class room or mall......I had a Mattel "fanner fifty" and I used it to hold up the milk man (there something you don't see anymore nowadays, either!)....my buddies and I pretended he was the stage coach, and when we demanded all the money, he gave us a big chunk of ice! We thought it was great.....we pretended it was a diamond (until it melted!).
I must have seen the error of my ways & repented, because I haven't been in another stick up since!