Kids these days spend all their time playing games online, rather than outdoors. Given the range of choices, who can blame them? We spend so much time playing to the tune of political correctness that we forget just how we all got to the point of where we are in life. We forget how much the lessons that we learned in the playground affect what we do today. Bull Rush has been getting a lot of attention these days because it is too rough for some. I remember playing Bull Rush as a child at school during lunch time with lots of kids. Sure, I received a few injuries during my time playing, but I never thought that it should be banned.

I remember seeing a story a long time ago about banning the lolly scramble because it’s not fair on those who miss out. To be honest, when I was involved in lolly scrambles I never felt like I was missing out. Growing up for me was not very difficult. I lived in a good neighbourhood and my parents struggled just like everyone else. So when I didn’t get anything from a lolly scramble I just got on with things.

I have two children. They are, right now, the centre of my universe. They play computer games both on a home computer and also on a Sony PlayStation 3 connected to a modern TV that has access to a couple of online content-streaming providers, NetFlix and LightBox. They also have bikes and more toys that I can list here. They have a good collection of Lego that they don’t play with as much as I would like, but then again it’s a different world for them. Lego for me is one of the things that I can attribute to my engineering work that I do today. It gave me the skills for creative thinking, and for diagnosing problems which I use these days.

Both of my children have tablets that are connected to the Internet through our home wireless and they use them to play games at home and offline while in the car on travels. But we still play Eye Spy while on the road. My oldest son seems to have taken on some of my computer passion and has reminded me that with a bit of trial and error and determination you can still piece together a workable machine that will play most games you want. But that's not to say that he is on it all the time.

Just this weekend past I had to say to my kids that we couldn’t go to Avalon Park in Lower Hutt with their bikes because we didn’t have the petrol to drive all the way from Johnsonville to Lower Hutt. Avalon Park has a great little setup for riding around on. It’s a road area that is sealed and painted and even has a train track that runs most Sundays running through it. This was the first time that I had to say this to them; normally we would have been able to take them.

The point I’m trying to make is that your children will take their cues from you. I still spend time playing computer games on a PC and console. I also ride a bike from time to time. More so now after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. Watching TV, and playing network games with the kids is also among the things I do, while I encourage them to play on a local network rather than online – but that will contribute to another story, about online gaming. My children follow both my wife’s and my example, which is greatly influenced by the way that we grew up when we was their age.