>I managed to make it to adulthood with no broken bones and very few scars - with no seatbelts, helmets, or padding -playing baseball in the backyard, football (not soccer) in the street, basketball in the driveways and skateboarding on the sidewalks - as did a lot of people. What was wrong with us? (grin)

Someone ran statistics on football (soccer) for number of leg injuries, and guess what - the least injuries happened to guys who began exactly that way, playing barefoot in the street. They learned to keep their feet in one piece and not rely on any protective gear, and learned that early on, before they tried any advanced stuff.