Fire Island: The Giant Playground

Growing up in Los Angeles, there were few opportunities for me to explore freely without supervision. I have fond memories of the liberation I felt on those rare and special occasions when my parents took me to Disneyland. They didn't let me roam around the park, but there was one little area where my imagination and feet could run wild: Tom Sawyer's Island. It was a fantasyland of log cabins, tree houses and caves; the perfect place for tag.

For kids, Fire Island is like Tom Sawyer's Island, but real. It's a place where they can follow their playful intuitions without limitations. It's common to see children as young as five or six strolling down the sandy paths alone minding their own business. They're eating ice cream, humming to themselves, skipping or going to their friend's house to set up a lemonade stand. During the day, you'll see big groups of kids biking in single file lines. Their agendas reminiscent of Peter Pan and The Lost Boys as they march with comical intention to their games. Meanwhile, parents are summering somewhere else on the island trusting that worse case scenario their son or daughter will be escorted home by a neighbor with a scraped up knee.