Parental regulation in the old days was telling kids to get out of the house, and don’t come back in until whatever the next meal was. I’d leave on my bike in the morning, with no idea where I was going, so my mom certainly didn’t know. Or care.

I’d leave with empty pockets, no money, no ID, no phone, no watch, nothing. If I got thirsty, I’d knock on a door and ask for a glass of water. Sometimes a kid would knock on our door and ask for a glass of water. Or the time. That was parental supervision on the old days.

I actually bought a video game console, and we played some. He was in Cub Scouts, and all the kids there were fanatics. They would even have Cub Scout parties where the kids would bring their consoles and favorite games and play, and he couldn’t really participate, because he was the only kid who didn’t play video games (I was trying to get them to get together for star-watching parties with telescopes, but they all though that was dumb, including the parents. Scouts has changed a lot).

He loved Legos, and he loved Star Wars, so I got him a Lego Star Wars game, and he played to the very end, closed it, and walked away. Didn’t ask for another one, didn’t start looking into what other games they had, etc. Just stopped. I kept playing for a while (I like shoot’em ups like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor), but I like video games too much, I could EASILY get hooked, so I generally avoid them. We still have the console in a box somewhere. I recently asked him if he wanted it, and he said No.