“Due to the economic recession the United States is experiencing this year, thousands of families will have to budget their presents this Christmas. The most popular gift of the holidays amongst parents from the makers of Stick and Rock comes: “OUTSIDE,” an enjoyable and affordable game for all ages.”

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

My cousin Eric Robinson, one of the people I give credit to for helping me master my sarcasm, made that statement after realizing that a major thing is lacking in children’s lives these days: being actual kids!

Not that anything is wrong with playing video games on rainy or sick days, but staying inside all the time to watch a mind-numbing television show or to try to get the princess past the dragon in a video game (yes, I’m way behind the times) doesn’t exactly scream great childhood memories.

Whatever happened to playing actual soccer with a real soccer ball or playing dodgeball to dodge actual balls?

Or actually running all over the yard with real people, formerly known as “chase”?

Luckily, I never had video games to keep me occupied or parents that let me have video games that put me in a trance-like state in front of the television set.

No, my siblings and I, and all of the other 10 or so children on the street, would be outside — technically, kicked outside by our parents — until it was either dinner time or bedtime.

I can’t even count how many games of baseball, football and hide-and-seek we played or how many countless clubs we invented.

Just to name a few, there was the club where we had to bring a slice of bread as our admission fee; the “Penny Club,” when there was a 1-cent admission fee; a “Smiley Face Club,” where pictures of smiley faces were drawn and which began after one half of the neighborhood kids decided to go off on their own out of retaliation against the other half; and last but not least, the “Nike Club.”

Yes,even in my younger days, I already was carving out my career path.

Eric, always the club president, taught us how to draw the infamous Nike “swooshes” — which lasted for a day, along with every other club we ever invented.And if those summer days became too hot or too boring, we either made a lemonade stand, ran through a sprinkler in our front yard or rummaged our houses to sell any items that were unfortunately not put away.

So, parents, before you decide to empty your wallet even more on pointless video games or additional TV channels, take a look out your door.

There is a free game waiting for your children.

It’s called OUTSIDE.

-Mary Catherine Holcomb