Vacant Lots

There are several vacant lots waiting for commercial development in my neighbourhood in  UltimateSuburbia.  I never see anyone in them - except the guy in the black SUV who threw bags of garbage in one and when I followed him he did a U-turn and sped away.  

Way back in the day (!) the vacant lot down the street from where I lived is where I learned about spit bugs and praying mantises, and where I closely examined a dead mouse. I remember its long, very yellow front teeth.  I learned how it's some insects' jobs to eat these dead creatures so that they become part of the earth again. I remember having to deal with a bossy kid and that other people's little brothers were somehow not as annoying to me as my own.  We made maps of where the best wild strawberry patches were. We made milk-weed wishes.  We collected and compared rocks.  We hunted butterflies and moths.  We became familiar with several types of thistles. We learned that some birds build their nests on the ground. All that went on in some nearby lots that didn't even have any trees. 

A child-free, vacant lot.  So much potential.

Where are the kids hunting for bugs and snakes now?  Playing hide and seek?  Making forts?  I think I know where they are actually, they are inside learning about snakes of the far-off rain forests on their computers.  They are virtually building structures for the Sims and their ilk. They are inside their homes, safe from crazy, wandering pedophiles, (but maybe not the online ones or family members). They are not looking at garter snakes, nor figuring out how to make a structure out of boards and grass and how to have cool picnics in there. Nor are the children wondering about why they have pre-wrapped sausages and not pre-wrapped bacon (as the Bare Naked Ladies did in their tree-fort of If I Had a Million Dollars).  They are more likely being driven to their organized sports, private tutors, or music lessons, safe and risk-free.