glowingfish

>> I do remember, in the 1980s, feeling a little bit jealous of the kids who did Little League soccer, because that was just starting to be a thing? <<

My sympathies. I was never into sports.

>> Also, part of this was that I transferred schools to the other elementary school in our town, that was slightly more affluent, and so the kids there were doing more things like that.<<

That sounds frustrating.

>> At my end of town, we were still digging holes in the dirt for fun, so we got into this separation between my school life and my home life.<<

I did a lot of backyard archaeology. My parents were public school teachers, so we didn't have a lot of money. They did scrape together enough for some lessons. But a lot of it was simply that back then, more people were middle class and not living hand to mouth. Even some of the trailer park kids were in band at school. Another thing is that in a college town, lessons are often cheaper because there are more grad students or professors looking to pick up extra cash.

I think kids learn things from messing around outdoors and making their own toys or games than they do from playing with commercial toys designed to do a specific thing.