Very well said. Parents afraid of losing influence are the fucking downfall of so many great things.

Not if they don't get the physical ones back either.

Nope.

I have so much depression that no one irl ever sypathize with, everyone just blame me for it.

Even randos online are much more sympathetic.

If I tell my mom I wanna kill myself, she'd tell me to hurry up and do it.

If I tell a therapist, they call the fascist pigs to lock me up.

If I tell an acquaintance, they just stop talking to me

Nobody fucking cares, yet they have the audacity do say "mental health awareness"

This world is cruel, let me yell in the void of the internet ffs.

1. Have rich parents
2. Now you have endless activities to do!

every school has a playground.

The elementary school I went to as a kid took the playground out about 5 years ago and has no plans to replace it... The yard also has a fence around it and is locked up when school isn't in session so they can't even just run around in the grass outside of recess time.

Not all towns are like this. In addition, the combo places you describe can be cost-prohibitive, or depending on their rules, kids might not be allowed without a grownup present.

I'm very fortunate where I live that my kids have plenty of options, but there are plenty of places that aren't like that.

Same here, and we're lower middle class. Sounds like we're in the minority from the replies tho.

I'll contend that there are somewhat fewer places for kids to be kids cost-free - when I was young we had the run of the streets (within reason) and played in a lot of green spaces that are now at least half gone - backfilled with housing/developments. But they're certainly not gone entirely, and the playgrounds that do exist have better quality equipment, there's heaps of skate parks (very few when I was a kid), etc.

Alternatively, my parents had CPS called on them because I went to the grocery store by myself to buy a soda.

I think a lot of these replies are by 20-30 year olds with no kids who think that because they don't see the same places where they hung out as kids mean they don't exist for some reason.

Sure, malls don't exist anymore. But a lot of the places you hung out as a kid was the park, spending a few bucks at a coffee shop, parking lots, libraries, hell, just plain-old wandering around sidewalks. The places you hung out at are "not there anymore" because they're invisible now that you're an adult.

https://www.parents.com/mom-arrested-for-letting-her-kid-walk-alone-8747874

Unfortunately this didn't happen too long ago. At that age my friends and I spent all day on our own with no cell phones or any device to let our parents know where we were. A lot of parents that I know are too afraid to let their kids outside by themselves with smart phones or air tags today. I'm not going to say all physical spaces for kids don't exist anymore, but there do seem to be more limitations than in the past. Of course I'm just speaking of my own experience.

I don't get the downvotes, or the doomers. You are absolutely right.

There's plenty of things to do for kids, half of them free. I complied a whole list in an old comment I'm too lazy to find now, but parks are top of the list. Greenery, shade, playgrounds and other kids to play with. Hiking is also free, if you have a bike or a public transport card. Sports centers, libraries, etc, etc. If you want to spend money: zoos, pools, lessons, jump parks, kids cinemas, etc, etc.

If course it's easier to stay in the basement, complain online and downvote, than to go outside and try things.