City kids are seriously deprived

I almost hate to do this, but I'm about to write about someone else's kids. I love this person dearly, and her kids are good kids. This is nothing personal. Now that I've backtracked before I've even written anything, maybe I have room to move forward with my thoughts!

This family, who will remain nameless, lives in suburbia. They run around in a minivan to school, church, and grandma's. OK, I know minivans aren't designed to go off-road like SUVs, so no complaints there. However, this family went to visit friends who lived out of the city. They had to *gasp* drive down a dirt road. The kids got really upset and were nearly crying, freaking out, asking if they were supposed to be there. They are currently 5 and 7 years old.

This is how you know you've been in the city too long. This is how we get kids and adults who don't know where milk or eggs come from. To be fair, these kids do. But many others don't and never learn.

I'm always amazed at the world in which we live now. Kids intuitively know much of our technology, because they are raised around it. But get some of these same kids around animals and they haven't got a clue which ones are likely to hurt them and which are useful. Get them on a farm and they can't figure out how to entertain themselves without video games.

I know I sound like an old fart. I'm just nostalgic. I miss the simple life without the chaos of the city. Of course, when I'm away from the city too far, I miss being two seconds from entertainment. When I put them on a balance, however, my desire for country living far outweighs my need to be passively entertained.