My kids each had a friend spend the night on Friday. My 15 year old daughter and 13 year old son have a very close relationship with each other. They share many of the same friends and get along oddly well together as siblings and in their group of friends. In this day of video games, computers, myspace and online IM-ing, I was pleasantly surprised when my kids and their overnight guests grabbed baseball mitts and a couple of softballs out of the garage and walked to a nearby elementary school to play.

My kids are involved in sports about 3/4 of the year so I've never been real pushy about "making" them go outside to play. They swim almost every day in our pool during the summer. As a family we play volleyball, basketball and 4-square often together. But to see these kids get together to walk and play something, uninspired and uninvolved by us, is sadly a rare occasion.

I can remember gathering neighborhood children to fill the baseball diamond at the local elementary school with two FULL baseball teams. We played hide and seek, red rover and rode our bikes all the time. We'd be gone ALL day long, often skipping lunch because we were simply having too much fun to stop and eat...only returning home for a brief dinner... then back out again past daylight. The kids in our neighborhood just don't do a whole lot of that. Up until very recently, I wouldn't "let" my kids out of my sight to go and play. My husband and I would play with them or go with them to play together. We live in a safe neighborhood, but that means nothing these days. Folks just don't feel the same about letting their kids run the neighborhood all day long like we did as kids.

And so... on one hand it was nice to see the kids "go play". But, on the other hand ... even though my kids are 13 & 15... and even though they had their cell phones with them... and even though there was plenty of daylight left... and even though they weren't that far away... My husband and I got on our bikes "just to check" on them after they'd been gone about 1/2 hour. We rode up to school to find them playing catch together in the school yard. They were laughing and having a great time, rolling around in the grass after making tough catches, encouraging each other's fabulous athletic abilities.

My husband and I stayed with them until the kids decided they were done playing and we all went home. I can't tell you how good it felt to be "running" the neighborhood with our kids and their friends. It made me want to stay out past dark.