Posted by Peter Willis on July 02, 2003 at 16:14:58 from 195.92.168.166 user PeterWillis.
In Reply to: what would they be like today? posted by Jonathan Labaree on July 01, 2003 at 19:27:25:
Paradoxically, there are probably MORE opportunities for young people to get out and have adventures today, what with Sail Training on Tall Ships, Duke of Edinborough's Awards etc (and not forgetting TARS camps)-admittedly these are organised, safety-conscious, pre-meditated and, often expensive, and thus in those respects quite different from the spontaneous self-generated adventures of the S, A and Ds. However they do provide scope for self-development and growth (that is their intention after all), and they are justly popular (though there is a common complaint these days that recruiting children is not as easy as it once was, given the alternative 'distractions' available.
I'm not at all sure Wild Cat Island was ever a realisable option for many children. Someone, possibly Victor Watson, has suggested that it, and the whole milieu of the S&A books was an idealised environment created to meet the author's requirements, and as a setting for a piece of children's fiction, it is actually no more 'realistic' than Narnia (or, I suppose I'd better add, Hogwarts).
One other point. Parents themselves can do a lot to create the conditions for their offspring to enjoy the outdoors and have adventures, in terms of the lifestyle they develop, the type of holidays they choose and so on.
Even in S&A there is a sense of them (well, specifically mother and a team of natives) waiting just off stage to make sure they come to no real harm.