What Is the Difference Between Children’s Pastimes Today and Yesterday?
The primary difference between pastimes in the past and those children enjoy as of 2014 is that children 50 years ago did activities that were primarily centered on being outdoors and active, whereas modern-day kids are more focused on electronics, the Internet, video games and other indoor, mostly sedentary activities. These changes are due in large part to advances in technology, but there are other factors which play a role.
Fifty years ago, children did activities that were focused on being outdoors, such as skipping rope, fishing and playing hide and seek. While advances in gaming technology is partly to blame for this change, parental fear of allowing children to roam freely outdoors is also a factor. According to Willem van Veenendaal, Kompan GmbH, despite studies that show that the world is no more dangerous as of 2014 than it was in 1960, and may in fact be safer, parents have become more wary of allowing children to have free reign of the outdoors.
Children were also given less free time for play in general, as many were responsible for helping around farms and other family businesses in 1960. This accounted for many children being outdoors more often than inside.
