Rains bring nostalgia. They also bring fond memories of childhood. At least for me.

Today, as it rained in the evening and I stood in the balcony, enjoying the fresh air. As the petrichor wafted through my senses, I floated back to the past.

Where I come from, rains used to be a welcome relief after the sweltering summer heat. It meant cooler days and the prospect of playing outdoors again.

Not that we children were stopped by the heat to play outdoors. But the play time used to be limited in those months, as most kids were bound inside or traveling during the holidays.

Another factor adding to the fun used to be the timing of our schools, with the initial few weeks of a new session relatively easier to deal with. So, everyone had more time on their hands, and no pressure of tests.

We used to get wet in the rain playing football. Cycles zooming past the by-lanes, riding around was another fun activity. And even though we would get drenched quite often, we enjoyed those days.

So, while winters used to be the prime time for sports and a lot of other activities, rainy season had its own charm. And something to maximise for, in our dictionaries.

Cut to today, I didn’t see any kid playing outside in our community. In fact in my previous ones as well. They were all playing inside, in the games room and were not happy about it. But probably conditioned by their families to not get wet, they were reluctant to venture out.

As I observed them, I realised that we as parents are creating too many boundaries for our kids. We are constantly policing their whereabouts, instructing them to not do anything that we won’t like to do ourselves.

In fact, a lot of kids don’t even come to play outdoors now. Because they have classes at that time. Engaged in extra curricular activities, they rarely experience the joys of being outdoors.

I believe that is a big reason why kids today are more awkward socially than we were. We are restricting them from free flowing natural and serendipitous interactions, and instead creating too many structured paths for them.

Structure is good. In its limits. For, we don’t know how the world will pan out in the next five years, forget in a decade or two.

On the other hand, outdoors teach kids things that they wouldn’t learn in a classroom. Behaviours and attitudes reflect naturally in a field. And playing together creates bonds and memories that last for a lifetime.

By not letting our young ones outdoors, we are putting a lot of pressure on them to succeed in a chaotic future world that will behave randomly and with new rules. Or maybe with none…