You're only young once so enjoy it while it lasts

Kids these days. I don't mean this in a jokey, roll of the eyes, shake of the head, little chuckle kind of way.

I mean kids these days, fold of the arms, deep sigh, sharp intake of breath and big tut and huff.

They don't know how good they've got it and are quite possibly doing themselves out of a good old fashioned childhood. They just don't seem to know they're born. (Proper over 80s-style talk going on here).

Well some don't anyway and these are the youngsters that should be embracing life while it's fun and relatively trouble free and not hindered by those worries that creep up on you as you approach the teenage years.

With all this glorious weather what could be better than getting outside and playing in the sunshine. Apparently staying inside in a semi-dark room, curtains drawn, in a trance playing on the Wii, glued to the TV or totally hypnotised by the latest shoot 'em up on the Xbox. Even if they do venture out into the daylight, you'll more than likely find them sitting slumped under an umbrella furiously tapping away on their iPads, iPhones or plugged into an iPod listening to deafening tunes. Me, iDon'tgetit.

Let's roll back the clock a few years (okay decades). In my day (again with the old 'uns chit chat) we used to love the summer. Making dens in the back garden out of deckchairs, Wendy house poles and old sheets. A good old game of Swing Ball (although in our garden it sometimes became a weapon of torture, that's big brothers for you!). Making perfume with a big bucket of water and flowers. Pulling all the petals off the blooms that my mum had carefully nurtured didn't going down too well but hell, I thought I could be the next Chanel.

Even when it wasn't sunny and I was forced to play inside there was still loads to do. What could be more fun than making a library out of all my favourite tales on the bookcase? (I can see the kids wrinkling their noses at this one). Admittedly the only customer was my mum and she frequently got fined for late returns. My entrepreneurial skills knew no bounds, even if it was toy money.

In those days, my time was spent being creative and arty, writing stories or poems and making up dance routines in my bedroom. Not plonking myself in front of technology for hours on end, slowing turning my brain to mush. And not exposing myself to some things that are frankly best left for later in life. Please don't get me started on the internet, Facebook and Twitter and what horrors children could access. With the current age limit at 13 years old, is that really a responsible enough age? I think I was possibly still writing diaries (that only I could see and not hundreds of followers) and taping the charts on a Sunday evening. I mean, they call them social networking sites, but conversing over a computer to hundreds of people in one go doesn't require the same skills as interacting face-to-face.

And mobile phones. Children who have them seem to be obsessed with them, fingers constantly attached to the keypad. I challenge any youngster to arrange to meet their mates using the 'land line' and just turn up on time. Could they do it? Could they refrain from the theatrics of texting their every move: 'on bus cant w8 2 c u'; then 'stopped at lights'; followed by a run of 'at bus stop', 'getting off bus', walking towards you', 'waving at you' and finally, 'hello im here'. Basic grammar and spelling. . . let's not go there.

Times change, that I understand, but what's the big rush to grow up? Let's face it, children are only young for a short number of years in the great game of life. It's not that long before they become adults facing all those daily dilemmas that keep you awake at night.

So children embrace your youth, enjoy it and most importantly cherish it because you'll never get it back. From what I see these days youth really is wasted on the young.