Spring field needs to offer kids more outdoor choices

To the Times: Stop me if you’ve heard one of these (or muttered it yourself) before:

“Kids today never play outside.”

“They just sit inside on their phones.”

“In my day we played outside until dinner and then again until dark.”

Sound familiar? Parents today love to criticize their children for living 6 inches from a handheld screen when there’s a whole world to explore outside. On the eve of my son’s second birthday, I find myself already making plans to lock him out of the house, sans technology, on future warm summer days.

And so it was with mixed feelings that I listened to the chief of police’s recorded message about how Springfield’s 12- to 15-year-old population has been wreaking havoc on the town. (“Springfield chief to rowdy youth: Knock it off” 4/19/17)

Don’t get me wrong, I do not condone throwing rocks at trolleys, littering, or playing chicken with cars. I also agree strongly with Chief Daly that parents can help by teaching their children to avoid these habits and those who live by them. But I encourage the township to consider how it is complicit in this problem.

In short, when our teens do manage to make it out the front door, where do we expect them to go? The parks are wonderful for families of young children (I thank you), but my local options offer nothing for our next generation of young adults.

Allow me to make some suggestions:

• Put decent WiFi in all parks. As mobile technology advances, this is a reasonable expectation. And locationbased augmented reality games (remember the Pokemon Go craze?) are making sedentary people active, even if at the expense of their eyesight. Who knows? Maybe even some young students will take to doing their homework in public.

• Make parks more grown-up. Put in some basic exercise equipment, install bike racks, put in a zip line, climbing ropes, rock walls, or other items that require a little risk.

• Provide more intergenerational activities. Teach kids to fish in a local stream. Create a vegetable garden run by teens. Start beekeeping. Run lessons on how to mow a lawn (and how to make a business out of it) and care for equipment. Have a local chef teach how to grill the best burgers.

• Consider access. The driveway to the local Springfield Swim Club is run over by the creek in two locations, so only cars can get by without requiring boots. If one wants to walk to the Drexeline Shopping Center, the only options are to brave the sidewalk-less State Road or to time a quick walk down the trolley track.

• Food trucks. (OK, this one might be for me.)

It’s easy to blame “kids today” for not being good community members. Let’s see how they live in a community that treats them like citizens instead of burdens.

“In short, when our teens do manage to make it out the front door, where do we expect them to go?” — Terry Casey