I think it's more important now than it was when we were kids and a ton more than when Grandpa was a kid. When we were kids everybody would end up at the park and basketball games would appear on their own. Football games just happened. Now the kids won't go to the park unless an adult goes with them. The adult has little interest in being there and just stands around while the kid plays alone. God forbid the kid try to play with some other kids. They are expected to play near the other kids but not actually with the other kids. I think this becomes how the kids think and then when they're older and can roam they have no idea how to just join a group of kids and merge into their activity.
I've seen it a hundred times at a campground. 20 kids just milling around trying to find something to do, and every time they go near an adult, the adult tells them to go find something to do. But the kids don't know what to do because it's a strange environment with strange rules. They have no idea how to find the open space, set up a game, pick teams, and play a game.
What happens is I go to the common area with my boys and we'll start a game. Touch football, wiffle ball, something simple. The other kids see that an adult has started a game and that is what they are used to. Adults running any activity. As soon as there's an adult running the game every kid in the area ends up there and before long our 3 person game is an 8 person game. Then it's an 8 person game with a team awaiting their turn. I generally have no problems with this because I was a youth coach for years and I haven't forgotten what it's like to be a kid. Most adults have.
The thing that I will never understand is why so many parents will notice this, come over to watch, and then have no interest in joining. It's your kid, pal, maybe you'd like to come play with him too. I'm just another dad. I'm not a camp counselor.
