Preface
The stories and the discussion in this book are about unstructured time-----time that a child might have when not directed by an adult. Urbanization and changes in the social environment have caused a significant reduction in unstructured time in the last 60 years for most children.
The authors had a lot of unstructured time in their youth. We spent much of that time exploring the world around us and learning from those experiences. Our world was rural, mostly farming country, located in Ada Township. The time was the 1940s and 1950s.
The centerpiece of the book is a collection of short stories written with the objective of capturing those experiences 70 years later. We believe that these experiences were important for our development into adults.
Ahead of the stories, we discuss the concept of unstructured time by providing our assessment of its value to the development of children. The discussion following the stories section is our opinion of how unstructured time was as successful as it was in the 1940s. For those who care to dig deeper into this subject, rest assured, there is no lack of opinion by others as well.
The book was edited by typical readers who gladly volunteered their work to help assure a readable text. Thanks to them, the text should be both enjoyable and informative.
