The "old" days

[teriaki]

Sorry for the long post- this came to my inbox this morning, and it made so much sense, I had to pass it along.

Hell, I'm only 27, and I remember most of this crap!

How Did We Ever Survive Our Childhood?
My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting
board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food
poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw
sometimes too, but I can't remember getting E-coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a
pristine pool (talk about boring).

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a
pager was the school PA system.

We all took gym, not PE ... and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes
with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any
injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we
are now. Flunking gym was not an option ... even for stupid kids! I guess
PE must be much harder than gym.

Every year, someone taught the whole school a lesson by running in the halls
with leather soles on linoleum tile and hitting the wet spot. How much better off would we be today if we only knew we could have sued the school
system?

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem and
staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention.

We must have had horribly damaged psyches. I can't understand it. Schools
didn't offer 14 year olds an abortion or condoms (we wouldn't have known
what either was anyway) but they did give us a couple of baby aspirin and
cough syrup if we started getting the sniffles.

What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.

I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, PlayStation,
Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital cable stations.

I must be repressing that memory as I try to rationalize through the denial
of the dangers could have befallen us as we trekked off each day about a mile down the road to some guy's vacant 20, built forts out of branches and pieces of plywood, made trails, and fought over who got to be the Lone Ranger. What was that property owner thinking, letting us play on that lot?
He should have been locked up for not putting up a fence around the property, complete with a self-closing gate and an infrared intruder alarm.

Oh yeah... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that
bee sting? I could have been killed!

We played king of the hill on piles of gravel left on vacant construction
sites and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48 cent bottle of Mercurochrome and then we got our butt spanked. Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we did, we got our butt spanked (physical abuse) there too ... and then we got our butt spanked again when we got home.

Mom invited the door to door salesman inside for coffee, kids choked down
the dust from the gravel driveway while playing with Tonka trucks

(Remember why Tonka trucks were made tough...it wasn't so that they could take on the rough Berber in the family room), and Dad drove a car with leaded gas.

Our music had to be left inside when we went out to play and I am sure that
I nearly exhausted my imagination a couple of times when we went on two week vacations. I should probably sue the folks now for the danger they put us
in when we all slept in campgrounds in the family tent.

Summers were spent behind the push lawn mower and I didn't even know that
mowers came with motors until I was 13 and we got one without an automatic
blade-stop or an auto-drive.

How sick were my parents? Of course my parents weren't the only psychos. I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the
front stoop just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could
have owned our house. Instead she picked him up and swatted him for being
such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were
from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that we needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes?

I suppose there are a couple of other things I've noticed as well- the rapid climb in the number of kids on Ritalin or some other drug to curb "ADD" (which I believe is just a fancy term for a hyper normal kid), tanbark and swings being replaced by padded mats and "safe" playgounds....

Makes me scared to have kids, even though I'd like more mini-me's out there someday....

[ShaniFaye]

I'm 35 and BOY did you just bring back my childhood......ahhhh those were the fun days

[Seaver]

Amen. I have 27 scars on my body pre-peuberty. I was always doing something stupid, god I'm glad I didnt grow up today... I'd be labeled ADHD and stuck with pills and excuses for the rest of my life.

If I did something stupid that got me hurt I'd get a band-aid and a "guess you'll know better now" reply. Not that my parents didn't care, they just understood I was really into exploring and trying new/stupid things.

I have 27 scars over my body from back then, I have 36 scars now. Each one is a lesson learned, and a good story. It hurts for a bit, but as I said, I thank god I was allowed to be a kid.

[CinnamonGirl]

Sigh...those were the days.

[raeanna74]

I spent half my childhood in a tree or on a roof and I haven't had one broken bone. We didn't have bicycle helmets and I make it through knocking myself out. Had a black eye or the remainder of one for 3 years though. I have learned the value or protection against head injury but the fear that parents have for the children is amazing today. If they let their kid get hurt they can get charged by the state for neglect. I scalded myself on many of a metal slide and haven't a mark to show for it. I was spanked even when I was a teenager and smarted off. Mom walloped me when I turned in a huff to walk away. My psyche is not damaged from that. Amazing how we work so hard to protect our kids and for some reason it's caused more problems. Let kids be kids. Don't over-obsess.

[teriaki]

Well said raeanna74.

I was spanked, had broken bones, and always had the obligatory scabbed up knees and elbows. I was hyperactive, my brother was hyperactive....it was called "being a normal kid"

Curiosity, and the lessons learned from trying out some stupid "I bet I can jump that on my bike" trick, can't be taught, you have to learn from your own mistakes.....

[Monre]

I might be a bit younger but I never once when to the hospital(other then birth and all that mojo) for scrapping my knee...Hell i took a inch deep peice of skin out of my mouth and my dad just told me it would heal and to not drive fast.

[World's King]

I still try to live my life like that.

I don't own any fancy high tech video game machines... I own a laptop and a DVD player... that's about it. When I'm bored I right my bike. When I get hurt I put a bandage on it and keep going. I really don't like this fast cyber life... I'll stick with my PF Flyers and a tree house.

[~springrain]

Originally posted by The Original King
I still try to live my life like that.

I don't own any fancy high tech video game machines... I own a laptop and a DVD player... that's about it. When I'm bored I right my bike. When I get hurt I put a bandage on it and keep going. I really don't like this fast cyber life... I'll stick with my PF Flyers and a tree house.

no wonder i have a crush on WK... my kind of man...

[sapiens]

Some of the passage resonated with me (playing in empty lots, getting hurt and not worrying about suing), but other parts I don't look back on fondly. I also think that the passage reflects a "Norman Rockwell" childhood that didn't exist for many people.

Originally posted by raeanna74
Amazing how we work so hard to protect our kids and for some reason it's caused more problems. Let kids be kids. Don't over-obsess.

Very true, many parents do over-possess. Industry catering to parents preys on parents' insecurities (Oh my god! My kid doesn't walk yet and he's already 9 months! I better buy this book so my kid develops right. I need to buy the special overpriced water from babies 'r us to feed to my child or else he'll become sick from the fluoridation, etc.). Still, I wouldn't under-obsess either. Children are physically abused and it does cause damage. There are "dysfunctional families". These environments do have an adverse affect on those stuck in them. I've run into too many people who when confronted by a troublesome kid have the attitude: "I was whooped as a child and I turned out great. All this kid needs is a good whoopin'". Wrong!

[Fearless_Hyena]

i used to drink straight from the garden hose and ride my bmx bike without a helmet!!

...and i'm mostly fine, now

[amonkie]

All we owned for 10+ years was the original nintendo set as far as games go, and we were only allowed to play with it on rainy days. Hmm... Az has 340ish clear days a year. my mom was a smart woman.

[Nefir]

Yea, that sure brings back memories.. back in the land where I was born, a bunch of us kids used to go out into the dark forest near a local village, and sing patriotic songs loudly, as we passed bent mutant trees (which were great for climbing) and scary abandoned water pump towers. We'd imagine that those large boulders were spaceships, and play hide-and-seek between tree trunks.

Didn't even consider the possibility of running into bad people or dangerous animals. Even my dog was just as wild as us - he'd run off into the forest without a leash, and then meet us back home hours later.

Those were good memories....

[Mizizing]

Good memories, very good indeed. We lived in a couple of big maple trees in the front yard, a fall would have at least broken something; but everybody including parents thought it was a pretty good place to play. After a supper of fried chicken, real mashed potatoes, gravy, and corn on the cob, again with real butter, and lots of salt...we would skinny right back up those trees and stay outside till the moms started calling.

[maleficent]

We played king of the hill on piles of gravel left on vacant construction
sites and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48 cent bottle of Mercurochrome and then we got our butt spanked. Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

This one was absolutely my life -- and my dad was/is an attorney- suing someone because I was a dumbass? Oh please....

The lady down the street, who my parents never met, would bake the kids cookies and give us lemonade, and let us bicycle up and down her driveway -- had a killer hill with bumps. I broke my arm one summer. My parents asked if i thanked mrs whatever her name was for the lemonade and cookies? Sue her? Not a chance.

Anyone remember halloween getting home baked cookies or mmmmmm -- popcorn balls from the neighbors?

[animosity]

hmm... I am 20 years old and I grew up like this...

I did have a nintendo growing up, but I really didnt use it. I would go out into the woods/creek and build forts, play in this old garbage dump that I found one day, swing arcoss the creek on a rusty metal cord, crimb trees, then fall out of those trees.

I never worried about being kidnapped.

When I would come home breeding from every part of my body I would get yelled at for being careless & get a nice little bath in hydrogen peroxide or rubbing alcohol.

I got a spanking or a good smack at least 3 times a week. and generally in public.

Sitting in my room all day was a punishment.

.... I wish life was still like that. damn computers... thats it, I'm going for a hike, you people have a nice day.

[MageB420666]

19 and my parents raised me in that manner as well, except I didn't pray at school, but I did do the Pledge of Allegiance. when I was nine my family built a house on 11 acres of wooded hills and I would go out and play all the time, I would get scratched and cut, but I never broke any bones until I was in a car crash at 16. The neighborhood I lived in before that had lots of hills that I'd ride my bike down with my brothers and friends, my parents let us ride all over the place and never worried about us being kidnapped. We would go trick or treating at night. When I was really bad I was spanked and being sent to my room consisted of several hours of boredom, not tv, computer, phone, nintendo. we did have a nintendo though, but it was in the living room.

I just don't know what so many people are worried about these days.

[inharmony]

Those were the days...no seatbelts and mom driving 70 mph and us laying in the back window. Should've been killed time and time again. Lighten up people!!

[maleficent]

There's a piece that's very similar to the one above -- that gives all the reasons why those of us that grew up in the 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's should never have survived:


According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's probably shouldn't have survived.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking.)

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors! We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones. Unthinkable.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms. We had friends! We went outside and found them. We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in and talked to them, didn't have "play dates".

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. And you're one of them!

[the_marq]

This is kinda the plot of the new Mike Judge (Beavis and Butthead and Office Space) movie coming next year: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

As society tries to make life easier and safer, people get dumber and less self-reliant.

[ShaniFaye]

I remember sitting in my great grandfathers lap when he drove is big 1950's something car

I remember my father giving me a hundred dollar bill when I went to florida the day after graduation (in 1986) and him telling me, if I got in trouble it better not cost more than that because if it did I'd be sitting in jail for a VERY long time

I remember that the atari was for rainy days only

I remember taking baby asprin and Creamultion (sp?) cough syrup

I remember meat tenderizer for bee stings (I am kinda happy about benadryl now though considering I have to carry an epi pen with me all the time now)

I remember mercurochrome AND methylade

I remember playing "cheerleader" in the vacant lot across the street from my house when the boys would do those great tricks on their bmx bikes

I remember my driveway was the one with the streetlight and during the summer we were allowed to sit there under that light for an hour after it came on...then our parents would flash the front porch light in the "parents morse code" that meant be in your respective houses in 10 minutes or your but will be sitting in your room the next nite with NOTHING to do but stare out the window at the other kids that had gotten home in time.

I hope I never ever forget these things

on a side note...my parents have retired to another part of the state...their current house has the streelight...and for old times sake I take my daughter out and sit under it and wait for my mother to "flash the porch light"

[alicat]

Mecurochrome! I haven't thought of that stuff in years. Do they even make it anymore? I used to love how it felt cool going on and of corse the neat neon orange on your boo boo for a few days.

I experienced the same things alot of you posted. I remember when I was 4 or 5, I rode my Sherlock (a hound dog caterpiller looking riding toy with a Sherlock Holmes type hat, been trying to find one on E-bay for yrs.) around the block and was gone doing my kid thing for about an hour before my mom noticed I was missing. She was hysterical until she found me but not a thing happened to me and we lived in a pretty bad area of Detroit at the time. I wasn't abducted, molested or raped.

I broke my arm when I was 7 trying to ride my bike no-handed like the big kids. I shattered my elbow and broke the bones in my forearm. Our downstairs neighbor who was a total ditz, heard me screaming and ran out to me. She proceeded to grab my bent and broken arm and yank it straight out away from my body causing me to scream bloody murder in pain until my mom got outside. The doctor's thought she compounded the damage for which I had to have two surgeries. Did my parents sue her? Hell no, the thought probably never entered their minds. They just racked it up to yet another idiotic thing she'd done and we went about our business.

Yup, things were much simpler and safer back then. I do miss the good 'ol days.

Ali

[Mephisto2]

This thread is so cool.

At 34 I'm not that old (am I?!!), but remember many of the things listed on that list.

I used to play in building sites and would have gotten a bang on the ear if I'd hurt myself. No civil actions in my house.

I was spanked as a kid, and didn't try to emancipate myself.

I used to eat the worst, most horrible things, played with bugs and dirt and lived to tell the tale.

I remember being SO jealous of my friend's Atari home video game system. The technology!!!

Wow... happier times, safer days...


Mr Mephisto

[maleficent]

Originally Posted by Mr Mephisto

I remember being SO jealous of my friend's Atari home video game system. The technology!!!

I'm a show off -- my family was the first one on the block with Oddyssey - or however that was spelled -- now this was a happenin' game.

It had static mats that you put in the screen to emulate a ping pong table, or a tennis court, it also had roulette, never was quite sure how you could get Pong to play roulette?

Oh - and television sets before Remote control -- for a while, I thought my name was maryellen, could you change the channel please

[Scorps]

Originally Posted by teriaki

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring).

I still like a the lake better then a pool....you have to clean a pool

[THGL]

I'm 34 and remember all that stuff, too.

When I was growing up, we had a huge back yard. All the way in the back was a giant oak tree that was perfect for climbing and just off the back patio was another oak that was a little smaller. Every summer my father would string up a rope (1" thick at least) from the tree in the back to the tree in the front and hung a pulley w/ rope seat on it. Every kid in the neighborhood would be in our backyard flying down this zip line! Not only did you have to climb half way up this huge tree to get into the seat, if you didn't put your feet down and stop yourself you'd end up kissing the tree at the end of the line... but no one ever got hurt. When my father wasn't at home, no one used the zip line, period.

We moved when I was 9 and the new neighborhood didn't have any trees suitable for this. But a few years after we were there the city started installing sewers in our neighborhood. That was the best summer for playing "Army" as I've ever had... trench warfare!!! Surprise, surprise, no one got hurt!

I just pray that my 2 daughters grow up "normal".

[Scorps]

Originally Posted by THGL

I just pray that my 2 daughters grow up "normal".

They will be normal....


Well besides having huge breast by the time they are 12 (there has to be something in the water)

[Paq]

hmmmm
I remember most of those things....I did play vid games when i could, i wasn't the most active kid, etc..

but i do remember not worrying about suing or getting hurt or being kidnapped or whatever. I didn't eat at strangers houses, personal preference, I did get spanked if i deserved it, nobody questioned it, nobody screamed child abuse, most people just got over it and got on wtih their lives....

no prayer in schools, we did have bible study for a semester in 5th grade before a LOT of parents (i'm in a southern baptist area, 315 protestant based churches for a population of 35,000 at the time) complained..I mean, a LOT of parents. apparently, most people felt church was a better place than school to learn that....go figure...sorry that sounds more jaded than i really intend, but a lot of people were offended that the school would take time out of the schoolday to teach somethign that was supposed to be separate...but i digress...

I never broke a bone, but i've been lucky...very...very...lucky in that regard...Seriously lucky....

I do miss the days w/out cell phones. i don't carry one for the very reason that if i am away from a phone, generally, i want to be away from anyone who can contact me on the phone.....I miss the days before bottled water....seriously, how hard is it for the most prosperous nation on earth to have clean water???? E coli? isn't that something you heard about in biology class that may or may not have been on a test....

I miss the days where you could walk across campus and talk to a stranger bc you were both walking the same direction, now everyone is on a phone talkig about plans for tonight while missing out on something that may happen for the weekend

I also miss not having to wait for an hour to get seated in a restaurant....

[Mephisto2]

Originally Posted by maleficent

Oh - and television sets before Remote control...

LOL. God, that brings back memories.


Mr Mephisto

[inharmony]

Atari? We only had PONG

[adam]

I remember PONG. I couldn't see why people were into it. (Didn't really start playing video games until I was past 30...)

For the most part, I'm glad things are different now. Most of us have good memories, but we aren't the ones who got killed in car accidents because there was no child seat, or had a brain injury from having no bike helmet... the dead never complain.

[Paradise Lost]

Dudes, I'm only 18 and I did all this stuff when I was younger. In my old neighborhood up
until we were all about in 7th or 8th grade, we were outside, especially during the
summer, a whole hell of a lot! If we heard a kid outside, we went to them. Sort of
like Field of Dreams minus the whole Field and James Earl Jones. Me = Never biked with
helmet, why? because none of my hick-Pennsylvania cousins did and I didn't want to
look like a jackass.

I'm so disappointed these days that doing stuff is going to the freakin Mall or a
god-damn movie. Sure, me and my friend(s) do that sometimes, but we're usually
in 10-15 places when we're out. It's also sad when I road my bike, every SINGLE
day in the Summer, for at least an hour, in the freakin evening, and NO_ONE was ever
out. Hell, our Church Softball team had trouble getting just 9 people to show up for
games when there are over 300 weekly-active members! Just sad.

Start a trend - Go outdoors!

[Scorps]

Originally Posted by Paradise Lost

Dudes, I'm only 18 and I did all this stuff when I was younger. In my old neighborhood up
until we were all about in 7th or 8th grade, we were outside, especially during the
summer, a whole hell of a lot! If we heard a kid outside, we went to them. Sort of
like Field of Dreams minus the whole Field and James Earl Jones. Me = Never biked with
helmet, why? because none of my hick-Pennsylvania cousins did and I didn't want to
look like a jackass.

I'm so disappointed these days that doing stuff is going to the freakin Mall or a
god-damn movie. Sure, me and my friend(s) do that sometimes, but we're usually
in 10-15 places when we're out. It's also sad when I road my bike, every SINGLE
day in the Summer, for at least an hour, in the freakin evening, and NO_ONE was ever
out. Hell, our Church Softball team had trouble getting just 9 people to show up for
games when there are over 300 weekly-active members! Just sad.

Start a trend - Go outdoors!

Going to the mall is the thing. But here people only go there when the weather is pissy if it is sunny and hot everyone is downtown. I remember riding my bike when I was younger with no helmet, but when I went to the bike track I would put it on because a light bike and air time don't mix with high across wind's.

[viejo gringo]

I am now 71, and we lived on a farm for many years---yea the old out house...

and rideing to school in the winter, in a one horse sleigh---dad loved to
show off that pony and the sleigh....and all the neighbor hood kids got to ride
the two miles up the old back roads of Illinois to school...

[oberon04]

I remember alot of those from my earlier years. The things I remember most are: playing hockey on a pond across a main road till we could no longer see the puck. We looked both ways and no one ever got hit, the only injuries were bruises from someone lifting the puck too high(wore only shin guards, typically soccer ones). Now I never ever see anyone at the pond when I go by there. We played almost every day after school till dark and ever saturday afternoon.

We played baseball(as well as lacrosse, frisbee and what ever else we decided) in the commons area during the summer (used a tennis ball) and never broke a window, hit them many times though. We'd all run away for a few minutes so the owner wouldn't catch us in the act, then later resume playing. Now I see No Ball Playing signs there, I heard some kids were using a baseball and broke a few windows.

Sledding down a hill with a 2 foot or so drop on to a pond. Building jumps where ever we decided to sled.

Climbing as high in to trees as the branches would hold, in some trees you could see buildings miles away. No one ever really fell except off the lowest branch when starting a climb.

[Squishor]

What?? Are you telling me kids don't climb trees anymore?

I am really feeling "old" now listening to all you people talking about how you only had Atari or whatever...I remember seeing my first Pong game on a ferry when I was about 12 and just being blown away. We were lucky to have a tiny little old black and white TV with no antenna, but that was just my mom being a hippy I guess. She kept it in the closet and only pulled it out for I Love Lucy.

[Fremen]

Originally Posted by maleficent

Anyone remember halloween getting home baked cookies or mmmmmm -- popcorn balls from the neighbors?

Mmmm, colored popcorn balls. *drools*
In later years as a teen, that's the only reason I looked forward to Halloween.
Mom's friend made the best.

We were welding chopper bicycle frames when we were pre-teens.
You won't catch kids doing that now.

If we had a baseball game across town, and no ride, we walked! *gasp*

We didn't have a color tv 'til I was 14. (mid-80's)

Was given a Pong system when friends down the street upgraded to Atari.
(that Pong gun was frikken HUGE!)

If we had problems with a kid at school or in the neighborhood, we didn't knife 'em or pull a gat, we picked a time after school or on the weekend and beat the everlovin' shit out of each other 'til we were friends.

We didn't off our school mates if we were teased or picked on. We dealt with it.
Our teachers hugged us, too.
Principals knew our names without us being in trouble.

/ideas peter out

You know, with all the talk of bad things that should have happened, its amazing that any of us survived to adulthood. Proud to sat that I pulled some really stupid and crazy crap as a kid, but never broke a bone, the only time i got sick from food was a Chinese buffet....