Colorado, After Years of Hem Hawing, Finally Makes It Legal For Children To Play Outside or At Home
Brinley Sheffield and her mom had run the route several times together and tracked the mileage — two trips around their neighborhood block made a mile.
So when the 7-year-old who wanted to become a faster runner set off on her first solo run, her parents had no concern that she would get lost. Besides, they could keep her in their sights for about half of the jog.
What they hadn’t considered is that someone might call the police.
The fact that a police officer knocked on the Sheffields’ door minutes after Brinley finished her run is one of the reasons behind a bipartisan plan to clarify Colorado’s child abuse laws. Lawmakers from both parties are wholeheartedly backing the proposal, even while expressing bewilderment that Colorado needs to specifically state that it’s not illegal for kids to play outside by themselves. Or go to the park. Or ride a bike to school.
“I regret that we have to make this a law,” said Rep. Mary Bradfield, a Republican from Colorado Springs. “There is a portion of our society that is pretty uptight and can’t allow a kid to be a kid.”
On podfathers, we often lament about how differently our kids have to grow up from yesteryear. Honestly, the 1st year of the pandemic was probably the closest to my childhood that either of my kids got. My kids played with their friends in the front yard (we had the HOA called because groups of like 10-15 kids would be hooping it up in our driveway and near the road. It was great). We had kids exploring ditches with metal detectors and all kinds of shit. It was awesome. The other people without kids could be dicks from time to time but fuck em. Don't let those weirdos rain on your parade especially if it's parade day in the neighborhood. Hell, we had this box of treats on our front porch with like granola bars, gushers, capri suns and shit like that. Any of the kids were welcome to come and grab a snack.
I would hear of these stories and see them on Nextdoor. Olds. The olds were the worst. They would complain and complain that the kids were outside. "The kids are riding their bikes over and over in front of my house and being loud." Sorry, bro. The kids are outside. People arent gonna stop being people because you are firing through Squid Game when you should be on a zoom call.
It is weird though, right? Even now when I see a group of kids playing outside… like legit playing.. running, jumping, or playing tag or a sport, it catches my eye. It's like… huh… that's weird. It shouldn't be that way.
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When we moved into our new spot, the homeowners were mostly older and the lots were more spread out. We are back to mainly inside playing, Roblox and Fortnite. I would love for the whole squad to be in a place where they could play outside again. I'd love for the neighborhood kids to be building bike ramps or forts or having a spot where football, kickball, or dodgeball games took place. I'd love for that place to have legalized weed and great public schools. Colorado is legalizing playing outside AND has some of the best weed laws in the country. Get High and Get Outside. It's a God bless, Colorado.