I grew up in the 50’s in Manhattan. Upper East Side,also known as Spanish Harlem. Nobody had much money but our parents saw that we had the things we needed. Not to romanticize it but for a kid it was great fun. Once the homework was done we all spilled out on to the street to play. Ring-a-levio, stoop ball, stick ball, carpet guns , pea shooters, hand ball, and roller skating. Not all at once but each in its ‘season’. You didn’t fight with carpet guns (a stick with a rubber band stretchered around it and a clothes pin trigger to shoot little pieces of linoleum) when it was roller skating time.
Good clean violent fun. Cops and robbers with stuff that actually shot. We played with each other every day, out doors. All sorts of games. Our block was especially safe as the 20th precinct and 52 fire engine company were there. A block with both a police station and a fire house was safe as could be.
The point is we had friends that we saw all the time! No play dates, no calling to see if they could come over, just go outside and they would be there. Children today don’t have this kind of freedom. Everything has to be planned, organized, driven to, and scheduled. We played traditional games that went back to the turn of the century. Watch an Our Gang comedy and see the games we played. Not so elaborately but in essence.
Even when my boys were growing up they would see their friends on a daily basis. Bike a few blocks, join up with your pals and have fun. This is missing in the suburban life my grand children know. It is beautiful here, but they see their friends only in school in an organized sport carefully scheduled play dates. Free imaginative play is rare, I wish it wasn’t.