Playing outside games such as hide n’ seek and tag with friends used to be a staple in a neighborhood lifestyle because it was easy and fun for children. But because of the rise of video gaming, only “30% of kids today play outside” ( “Playing”). There are plenty of reasons that playing outside is important for children. Outdoor games have been very important in children’s lives throughout history. However, the way youth played games was impacted by their surroundings and relatives. Games were an escape route from the kids' home life. But the games that the adolescents played had an impact on them. To uncover why games are important for children, let’s look back at the Elizabethans, and how they experienced childhood. The lifestyle of Elizabethan children was quite different from today. “The emotional lives of children were highly restricted” because the children were “not shown affection” (Gavitt, 592). The children were treated very poorly by their parents. Their parents swore and gambled around them. So “there emerged an idea that young children needed quarantine from the adults” (Heywood, 428). So the children were left to themselves while the adults were out gambling and playing cards. The children mostly lived in little villages and rural farms. However, the youth's personal life …show more content…
Most of the children in this era were “servants” to their parents. The children were forced to work on their parent’s farms or apprentice at their family business around the age of five. As the children grew into their teen years their lives stayed the same. “Youth was in many ways, an extension of childhood. Just like their younger selves, The Renaissance youth did not have a lot of privileges” (Grendler, 153). Finally, Marriage “marked” the end of adolescence and the transition to adulthood (Grendler, 154). However, the most important part of a child’s lifestyle back then was playing