Darrell Davis: Playing catch in the park

Driving by a city park the other day, I noticed two pre-teens throwing around a football. It didn’t seem that unusual until I started thinking about it.

When was the last time I saw two kids tossing a ball?

It has been a couple years, for sure. Of course, there are organized sports, with adults supervising as coaches. But the days of a youngster ringing a neighbour’s doorbell and inviting his or her friend to play catch are basically gone.

Kids don’t even ring doorbells anymore — they text back and forth. That means, if you’re a parent, because of those cellphone invitations, you rarely get to meet your children’s friends. And nobody has to visit a buddy’s house because they can hide in their respective rooms, turn on their video games, lock into Fortnite or Grand Theft Auto and play against opponents next door or from anywhere in the world.

My car didn’t interrupt a single road-hockey game all last winter, so it was nice to see that game of catch. And I hope it wasn’t the last one.