It was not so many years ago the playground for our children was anywhere outside.
It was a given youngsters would head to area sloughs, or outdoor rinks to play hockey in the winter.
Any hill, or pile of snow was quickly transformed into a sled hill.
In the summer it was baseball in the park.
There was no concept of Participaction, or advertisements extolling youth to be active, because it was simply part of everyday life.
Twenty years ago you could have driven down most residential streets in a community such as Yorkton in January and find evidence of street hockey games where youngsters daydreamed of being Gordie Howe and Wayne Gretzky.
Today you might burn a tank of gas before finding a street game.
And the idea of outdoor activities for youth seems to be on the verge of becoming fewer and fewer.
We hear of jurisdictions considering banning sledding on community hills, pushed to such consideration by the fear if someone is injured, they will be sued.
Then there are cases where boards in backyard rinks are facing bans for the same reasons.
We also know there is growing concerns about the chance of injury even within organized sport, in particular with hockey and football.
One can imagine both sports facing dramatic changes based on the rulings of the court.
While such decisions are at present isolated, such things tend to have a domino effect. A precedent is set, and others follow the established lead for safety.
So where will such decisions leave our youth?
That is the question which seems to be lost in the current decisions.
We often worry about the amount of time youth spend in front of the television, playing video games, or tapping away on their cellphones using various social media platforms. We lament that youth should be more active.
And there is merit in activity, as issues of obesity and inactivity are cropping up in even the youngest children.
But youth can only be active if there are opportunities to be active.
In a world without sledding hills, outdoor rinks, and whatever is next to be threatened by the idea of being sued, skateboard parks? and park play structures? the options to be active dwindle.
Certainly we want youth as safe as is reasonable when they play outdoors, but they still need the chance to be outside and active. The current direction things appear headed seem destined to chain youth to their couch’s and little more.
