Ann Althouse has a post about a byegone day.

I didn’t like playing outside that much myself–I’d always rather stay inside and read a book, but I did have a good time, generally, when I did.

We overtoy our kids. At the risk of sounding like a codger, or worse, Grandpa Simpson (“Let me tell you how it was in my day, sonny”), we used to go over to my grandmother and grandfather’s house to visit. In the basement he had taken a steel rod, bent a handle at one end, and on the other, put a wagon wheel (a children’s wagon, not a Conestoga). He made two of them. One would grip the handle end, and push it up and down the driveway, sidewalk and street, often at high speeds. One would also attempt to do it on the softer lawn, but this was a rapid education in physics.

We used to fight over them. One of them, for reasons long forgotten, was considered superior. We had a great time. And turned out all right, I think, comments from the anonymous loons here notwithstanding.