Jumping on the running board at the end of the block and riding home with dad when he came back from work, climbing up the rocks to the top of a waterfall, floating down the river on an old tire inner-tube were life experiences.
These fun moments can no longer be experienced by today's children due to design and technical changes as well as parents' ever-present fears that their child might be hurt.
Maybe that's why people don't take risks when it comes to other areas of their lives.
Pre-boomer, those born between 1930 and 1945, grew up in a time when bumps and bruises, including those to the ego, were part of the maturation process.
The boys often resolved their differences by having a fist fight after school on the playground, which didn't last long and no one got hurt too badly.
Short of this, beating someone in a sports activity was a way to determine who won.
This was the way many of us dealt with bullies.
Girls had their own ways of working out their differences, which the guys never quite understood.
For either of the genders, we did not need adult supervision or intervention to establish and keep law and order.
Today's kids are protected from all harm, real or perceived.
A game of dodge ball is not a violent activity.
Falling and scraping a knee or and elbow does not exempt a child from participating in future physical activities.
And, being picked last to play on a team is no reason to cry.
If it bothers a child so much, let them practice more and get better.
This goes beyond sports.
Playing the piano, dancing, reading and math all require practice to get better.
What's wrong with that? Isn't this how life works? My kids, now in there late thirties and early forties grew up this way.
Partly because I did not spend a great deal of time with them and partly because I believed they needed to be self-reliant.
It seemed to serve them well when circumstances affected their careers, finances and relationships.
Sure, they suffered physical or emotional discomfort along the way, because life deals these things out without regard to the individual.
I found the best preparation for unexpected problems was for them to experience as much as possible, and try not to restrict them from doing the things they deemed to be important.
By not trying to keep an eye on the kids every step of the way, they learned on their own about success and failure.
If they got hurt, it was up to them to get up and back in the game.
They weren't told they had to, but they were encouraged to finish what they started and be the best they could at what they did.
I'm grateful the grand children are being given the same opportunities to participate in life.
Although, I must admit, they have the protective gear and the state-of-the-art equipment my generation never had.
As a grand parent, I have the good fortune of being able to share the enjoyable moments of my childhood with them as well as some of the more difficult ones where I learned some of life's most important lessons.
This is my primary responsibility today.
That and savoring the time we spend together and can see firsthand how they are learning and growing into the kinds of kids they were meant to be.
Is life good or what?