Turn off that tablet and go out to play!

HoW leisure time has changed! I can’t help a feeling of sadness when I think what the young ones of today are missing out on. To put it simply — fresh air! I realise I was lucky to have experienced a wonderful childhood, along with my young friends in the late Thirties and Forties, despite the war. We spent most of our time outdoors, weather permitting, of course — and isn’t it odd how it seems to us that in those days the sun always shone? The use of technology by today’s children fills me with awe and admiration, but in my childhood days, computers and electronic gadgets were nonexistent. We just went ‘out to play’, calling on friends to ask if they wanted to join us. sometimes we gathered at the bottom of the street and played hopscotch, hide-and-seek and marbles. The girls had skipping ropes and whips and tops, and the boys kicked a football about. We went fishing for minnows in the local stream, using an empty wine bottle on a piece of string. every saturday lots of us went to the local cinema and joined the long queue of children waiting to go into the matinee. The film show lasted for two hours; the best seats cost 3d and the cheaper seats 2d. How’s that for value! most homes did not have a private telephone or a TV, but any urgent message — a telegram — was delivered by a boy from the post office, who came swiftly on his bicycle to give you the message at your home. no emails, iPads and iPhones then! Tablets were something prescribed by a doctor or you bought from a chemist. so you can see that for us elderly and slightly bemused people, being computer-literate is no easy task, although some of us manage basic skills (and sometimes more) with difficulty. We also get help from young children, whose skills on the computers and gadgets of today continue to astound me. I can give them nothing but praise. But I am still left with the suspicion that we can each learn something from the other about leisure activities today, and how we spent a good proportion of it out in the fresh air in times gone by. so my advice to them is: spend more of your leisure time outside in the open air with your friends and enjoy doing things together, not just using an iPad etc. to keep in touch. You might even find that you enjoy it, too! In the meantime, I will continue to struggle with computer lessons from my grandchildren!

Sylvia Smith, Walsall, West Midlands.