Come Home When The Street Lights Come On

"Come home when the street lights come on." Does anybody say that any more? Does anybody do that anymore? Years ago…many years ago…It was the universal signal for all young cowboys, indians, cops. robbers and future Mickey Mantles to call it a day. "Come home when the street lights come on." It’s one of the original Baby Boomerisms. Long before drive-by shootings and dirty bombs…Enron and Gen X …networking and email…the Taliban and AIDS…9/11 and crack. "Come home when the street lights come on." It was the simple command of parents who felt that when night fell…there was no good reason for you to be out running around in it. You couldn’t see the baseball…It was too dark to figure out who was "It"…The hiding and the seeking got a little scary…and Mom and Dad wanted to know you were safe, sound and in the house before they settled down for an evening with Ed Sullivan, Lucy or the Beav. You know…maybe that’s one of the problems with this world today. Not enough parents told their kids to…"Come home when the street lights come on."