My stepdad was telling me that in his youth, the neighbourhood kids would get together to play hockey at makeshift rinks by the nearby ponds that would freeze over.

Can& #39;t do that now because of muh safety regulations & a lot of these areas being fenced off as a result.

Think I& #39;m amongst the last gen. who occasionally observed neighbourhood kids playing hockey & basketball in the streets (didn& #39;t grow up with pond access though & the nearby forests and woods were gradually restricted to the kids as I was growing up).

Anyways, I do often wonder how much the amt of by-laws/safety regs (amongst other trends) have to do with recent observations that low-income kids are being excluded from sports & outdoor activity.

^ Want to retvrn to when this stuff wasn& #39;t largely confined to the hyper-bureaucratic, exclusive, and $$$ rec centre pass.

Kids should be able to play outside organically, explore local nature, skate through the ponds/lakes―even if that entails some risk included as a result.