What happened to the friendly neighbourhood?

Why do you think neighbourhoods are not the friendly, connected communities they used to be? Glenda misses the good old days of fun and friendship

Life for me when I was around eight to ten years of age was all about having fun. I did suffer from asthma, but that didn’t stop me.

Every day in the school holidays and every afternoon after school I would be outside playing, either by myself on my swing or more often than not with the neighbourhood children.

I would just shout out to mum that I was heading down to my friend’s house to play and she would just yell back to be home in time for tea.

We would play chasey or hopscotch on the footpath out the front of our homes, or the fad schoolyard game at the time called “elastics”, where you jumped and did tricks while your friends had big elastic bands tied around their ankles or knees. Some great, simple, fun.

In our backyard, dad would fill up the wading pool when it was hot, and I can still remember the smell of the plastic on the shady grass beneath the almond trees. If I wasn’t swinging or splashing, or playing cowboys and Indians (yes I was a tomboy), in my Indian tent, I was climbing the almond trees, chasing the chooks, running under the sprinkler in my undies or riding my bike up and down.

No television for us in those days. There were no iPads or iPhones or computers. We just had fresh air, grazed knees and the occasional broken arm or two (actually I had three, but as I said I was a tomboy).

These days I live in a small country town up the road from a farm with cows, horses and sheep. Our town boasts an oval and a school, and there are quite a few young families living nearby.

However, I very rarely see the kids just running about on the oval kicking the footy or practising their batting, unless it is organised with coaches and parents.

We also live between two families, both with young boys around six or seven years old. I know each of their names and sometimes chat to them over the fence as they both throw the ball to our dog.

What fun they could be having, as they both have big backyards with trampolines and dogs.

But do you know what? As far as I know, they don’t know each other’s names and have never played with each other.

They do go to different schools, but for some reason, their parents have kept them isolated and confined to their backyards. I find this so sad, compared the happy times I had with my neighbourhood friends back in the late 50’s.

Why do you think this is? Do you think it’s a good thing or a sad thing?

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