boys must be boys

I keep wondering what's to become of this generation of boys growing up with parents like me. And I'm not even one of the most protective parents I know.

You always hear stories, in books and in movies and from all the guys you know, that involve things like swimming or playing in a nearby body of water, riding bikes for HOURS at a time, hanging out in a clubhouse or treehouse, etc. You know, the stuff of postage stamp designs!

Well, I don't try to overly baby my 8- and 6-year old boys, but I can tell you that neither them or any of their friends that I know of (and I talk to lots of mommas of boys) ride bikes all over the place or get into any number of messes while playing outside for hours having boy adventures. And I'm just wondering what this lack of opportunity for childhood shenanigans will do for my sons and their friends.

Will they one day hit an age where they (and I) are ready to spend lots of time outdoors on their bikes, finding and making their own trails? Will they ever have the chance to hang out at one of the area creeks without the nosey presence of mom and dad? How can they learn the hard and fast lessons that come from a scraped knee or a flat tire or a lost dollar when we're always a holler away and they're money is never far from the safety of home. Why do they need to keep their money handy anyway? There aren't any cool corner stores or soda shops for them to walk to and waste away their afternoons. Wally and Beaver left the scene long ago!

And even when we don't try to keep them ultra busy, they end up with full days. Music lessons, after-school practices, baseball. The things that make a childhood, right?

I plan to keep my eye out for opportunities so my sons can experience some of this freedom I hear men my age talk about. I'm worried that they might not know what to do or how to handle it when life gets messy because they will never have had the forced chance to walk home with blood dripping down their arm from a banged up elbow. I don't mind them arriving at adulthood with a few bumps and bruises if it means important lessons also were learned. But between all the family time we want to spend with them and the constant reminders of how unsafe our world is, I'm just not sure they'll have that chance any time soon.