School break and the return of childhood

The girls have the next two weeks off from school for Autumn Break. I love having a break at this time of year when the weather is so nice.
I was asking our neighbor what she planned for her children to keep them busy during this time off. She told me aside from a few day trips and hikes that she really did not plan anything. The children are happy to just play with the other children in the neighborhood all day.
This response is so different than what we experienced in Boston. During the summers in Boston children are so scheduled. There is tennis day camp and swim day camp (not just lessons), and music camp, and reading lesson and math lessons. Not that there is anything wrong with this, our own girls started day camp at three. But Mike and I noticed that this was so different from when we grew up. When we were younger, parents let their children play outside from morning to night, only calling them in for meals. Children were left to wander, imagine, get dirty and play make believe. Your neighbors were an extended family. If giving the option between television or being outside, the outside always won.
Maybe times were more simple then but certainly you never heard of ADD or Internet addictions or childhood obesity.
Needless to say, I am grateful that is neighborhood is an extended family. Where the swing set is more than just a slide but it is also fortress. Where everyone has a fence with a gate between the neighbors' yard. And where television is "boring". I love hearing the girls play tag and watching the parade of neighborhood children come in and out of our house.
I love the story time that happens on our trampoline when the girls and their friends gather to hear the older girls read books and pretend that they are teachers and our daughters and their friends are their students. But mostly I love the spontaneous laughter that seems to ring all day long.
I guess childhood is making a comeback. I couldn't be more happy.