Cowboy and Indian Days....

Just finished watching an old John Wayne western on TV and it got me to thinking... What ever happened to the carefree days of childhood? Now, I know that I am incredibly old ( at least to my high school students ). But when I was a child, it was always fun to play for hours away from the house. We would make up amazing tales of the Wild West. There were cowboys and indians and the Cavalry on horseback, of course. We would make forts in the woods and play for seemingly endless hours without anyone missing us. We made bows and arrows from twigs and sticks. We made pretend rifles from old pieces of lumber.We didn't have watches on of course, but we knew when to go home for dinner.

Grown ups did not worry about us and there was little or no fear of anyone harming us. People harming children was something that was not even in our national consciousness. When did we as a nation, or as a world, lose our innocence? When did it become almost impossible for children to play and pretend without a grown-up there to direct the play? How I long for my grand children to be able to experience the old Cowboy and Indian days of so long ago.

PS We should point out that the horse is a REAL horse only stuffed! The picture was taken at Storybook Land somewhere near Miami Florida, circa 1955! No really it is a REAL horse- posed and stuffed! ahhhhhhhh!