It is Wednesday morning,and the children in our summer camp have a field trip. The elementary school children will be attending a puppet show today. Not all of the children have to go. As for the middle school children, they will be staying at the neighborhood center. If it was up to me, I would have shipped all of the children off on the bus!

"Get on board the bus, everybody! The busman is taking you to the Magical Mystery Tour! Er, I mean the puppet show!"

As I write this, a child is peeking into the window of the neighborhood center, wishing that she was inside in the air conditioning.

I remember when I was a child, my mother had two words that she said often in the summer.

"GO OUTSIDE!"

I also remember that several of my friends told me that their mothers told them the same thing. What a coincidence.

After roll call, the children are assigned to their counselors. Then the counselors take the child to the area they will be. When the counselor tells the children that they will be going outside, there is the biggest protest you can imagine. Children whining. Carrying on as if going outside was a sentence similar to a Russian kulag. And then the children asks why they can't stay inside.

"How come we can't go in the game room?!"

"Because I told you to go outside. Now get your butt out there! Now!"

As I remember, me and my friends had a blast playing outside. Whether it was a ball game or hiking through the woods, we had fun. I remember summer days, picking wild blackberries in the woods. I would then bring them home, and mom would bake a pie. With a scoop of vanilla ice cream? God, it was so good!

Hell, even in cold weather, we were outside playing football or hockey.

"CAR!"

Now, it's "too hot". Yet here are some of the campers having fun,playing games outside. And here is a person standing at the window,whining about how hot it is and how come they can't be inside watching television or playing on the computer.

I got a better idea. Get involved with your group and participate with the other children while they play. You may just forget about that computer or television.

As for me, I am the one who got stuck inside answering the phone on a sunny day.

Training camp for the NFL started a few weeks ago. God, I wish I was out there throwing a football around with the kids. I hear my mother right now, telling me to "go outside". But I can't. I have a job to do.

"All right everybody, today we are going to learn the difference between a 3-4 defense and a 4-3 defense!"