Posted on 08/15/2014 9:54:14 AM PDT by Drew68
The way things are going, every kid is going to go to school wearing bubble wrap and a helmet. Back in the 1970s (and earlier), parents didn’t stress about our health and safety as much as they do today. It’s not that they cared less – they just didn’t worry compulsively about it.
Parents of 2014 need to be reminded of how less restricted, less supervised, less obsessively safety-conscious things were… and it was just fine.
1. JARTS: IMPALING ARROWS OF DEATH
Can your mind comprehend a more deadly toy than a weighted spear that kids hurl through the air like a missile? No one ever obeyed the actual manufacturer’s rules, we just flung these damn things everywhere. We threw them. They stuck where they landed. If they happened to land in your skull, well, then you should have moved.
After roughly 6,700 emergency-room visits and the deaths of three children between 1978 and 1988, they finally outlawed Jarts on December 19, 1988. I suppose it needed to be banned, but a part of me is sad that kids today won’t have the battle scars and Jart survival stories we had. Goodbye Jart – you were an impaling arrow of death, but I loved you anyway.
2. LOST AND NOT FOUND: SEAT BELTS
Cars came with seat belts in the 1970s, but no one used them except maybe out of curiosity to see what it was like to wear one. Of course, you’d have to fish them out of the deep crevice of the backseat cushion where they often came to rest, unwanted and ignored.
The only “click” heard in the 1970s automobile was your dad’s Bic lighting up a smoke with the windows rolled up. (cough!)
I should also mention that, not only were there no seat belts, child seats were nowhere to be found. Whether it was the front seat of your mom’s station wagon or her bicycle, chances are, you were entirely untethered.
3. SEMI-LETHAL PLAYGROUNDS OF HOT METAL
Remember when playgrounds were fun? Sure, there was a pretty good chance you’d be scalded by a hot metal slide, or walk away with tetanus, but that’s what memories are made of.
The ground wasn’t coated with soft recycled rubber or sand as most are today – they were asphalt. Remember being hurled from a spinning merry-go-round, then skidding across the gravel at full speed? Good times.
I remember my school playground had a metal ladder “wall” that I swear went up three stories – it didn’t connect to a slide or anything. It was literally a ladder to the sky. I remember fully believing the oxygen was thinner at the top. One false move and I’d have been a flesh colored stain on the asphalt.
According to the New York Times we are making playgrounds so safe that they actually stunt our kids’ development. So, while blood was spilt and concussions were dealt on the playgrounds of the 1970s, we were at least in a developmentally rich environment – and we had the bruises and scabs to prove it.
4. PRECIOUS LITTLE SUN PROTECTION
Back in the 70s, your goal was to get as brown as your skin would permit. Sun BLOCK or sun SCREEN was basically nonexistent. You wanted to AMPLIFY your rays, so women typically lathered on Crisco and baby oil to get that deep baked look.
For the kids, SPF numbers hovered around 2, 4 and 8. The idea that you would spray an SPF of 50 or even 30 wasn’t even an option, except perhaps from medical ointments prescribed for albinos.
5. HELMETS: FOR THOSE WITH MEDICAL CONDITIONS ONLY
Whether you were riding a bike, roller skating, or skateboarding, one thing was for certain: you were not wearing a head protection. You would have been looked at as a sideshow freak by other kids, and parents would assume you had some kind of medical condition.
6. IGNORED AND UNATTENDED ON THE REGULAR
Hey, who’s watching the kid in the stroller? YOU MUST HAVE YOUR EYES ON THE KID AT ALL TIMES OR ELSE HE WILL DIE!
My mother routinely left me alone in the car at a young age while she ran errands. Today, this will literally get you arrested. You see, once upon a time it was okay to leave your kids for long periods without supervision (remember the so-called “latch-key kids” of the 70s?), or let them free roam without constant surveillance. Today, parents won’t let their kids go out to get the mail alone, and any fun with friends has to be scheduled, closely monitored “play dates”.
On summer break or weekends in the 1970s, parents kicked their kids out the front door and didn’t let them back in until the sun went down. “Go play,” were their only words, and you were left to your own devices for hours upon hours. Neighborhoods looked like Lord of the Flies.
7. ROUTINELY ALLOWED TO GET SERIOUSLY HURT
This poor kid is about to get rammed in the nuts by a goat, and the nearby adult isn’t the least bit concerned. In fact, he finds this all incredibly amusing! As hard as this is to believe, but when kids got hurt back then, adults didn’t come running with first-aid kits. More than likely you’d be left alone with your pain, with no alternative but to get over it.
In the 70s, parents watched their offspring fall from trees and fall off bikes with a smile.
8. SECONDHAND SMOKE EVERYWHERE
From airplanes to your family car, it seemed the world of the 70s was shrouded in a haze of cigarette smoke. It wasn’t just the fact that many more people smoked, it was the absolute 100% lack of concern for those that didn’t, including children. Teachers smoked, doctors smoked, your parents smoked…. and they didn’t take it to a secluded smoking area, they did it right in your face.
Please don’t interpret this as condoning it. There’s no question that engulfing your child in a thick carcinogenic cloud isn’t a good idea. I’m just stating facts – this is the world we lived in. It was full of adults who didn’t seem to have anxiety attacks over our safety, and we turned out just fine…. right?
Across the street from my high-school some enterprising guy cut a drive-thru style window into the side of his house and sold hoagies during the lunch hour. I personally found his wares greasy and disgusting, but most kids preferred them to the school lunch.
those type of toys, usually in the 70s, were made in Hong Kong or Japan. And back then, those two cities couldn’t build anything but crap.
most toys like that helicopter, or race tracks lasted a month at best.
bttt
About 45 years too late for me, but that is cool.
I have fond memories of Jarts, and the family set was still around long after most people - excuse the pun - tossed them out (though the "target" rings had long since been punctured into oblivion). We had a brief interlude during which my friends and I heaved Jarts over the house until my dad saw it and blew his stack. I don't think he would have considered me or any of my friends any great loss, but he was not about to repair the shingles if a Jart fell short.
As for seat belts, one of my earliest memories is standing in the center of the front seat of a '58 Dodge convertible, trying to brace myself by grabbing the top of the windshield frame while my mom was driving frighteningly fast down a hilly rural gravel road. High speed and loose gravel combined with a wallowing, steel-dashboarded, bias-ply tired convertible with no seat belts… what a recipe.
Semi-lethal playgrounds? Oh yeah! I got my first serious injury thanks to a steel merry-go-round whose centrifugal force shot me head-first into a nearby post. I used to have traces of that incident on my skull, but lost track of them as other things knocked me silly. Those industrial-grade, steel diamond plate merry-go-rounds bit me more often than any other piece of playground equipment, although unoccupied swing seats with lots of momentum weren't far behind… always with the corner or the attaching hardware making contact.
Regarding the photo in #5, all I can say is that in my small-town Iowa of the '60's and early '70's, I can't remember anyone's mom out on the sidewalk in short shorts and heels; given the cast of candidates, I don't think anyone would have wanted to see such a thing, either.
Mr. niteowl77
Remember this stuff? It contained polyvinyl acetate dissolved in acetone, with ethyl acetate plastic fortifiers. I can't even put that stuff in my lab without a whole book of MSDS.
The worst merry-go-rounds weren’t the metal ones, they were the ones made of wood with just the bars made of metal. You’d slide on those and end up with wood slivers stuck in your legs and backside, cuz they only repainted them once a decade.
Yeah, no hobby shops any more. You have to go to A.C. Moore for that stuff now.
I remember eating school cafeteria pizza that was so greasy, that you could literally squeeze a pint of oil out of every slice. But you could always wash that down with those little half pint cartons of milk. I still wonder how I managed to survive the 70’s as a kid. BB guns, big wheels, and BMX bikes, that’s how we rolled.
Yeah, I think you are better off skipping the toy stores altogether nowadays. Go to a hobby store, or better yet, find some retro toys at a collectible shop or on ebay, if you have the money to burn.
My son was equally disappointed he could not find anything worthy of stimulating creativity..and he’s an artist ta boot!
His solution...he went to Amazon and other used merchandise sites and found those items he once enjoyed...many in perfect shape. Actually found the chemistry set he had as a child in mint condition. Same with books etc.
Um... yeah, my first thought.
I remember my parents going out for the day ans leaving us money to go to McDonald's or wherever on our bikes. If we could get others to chip in we would go get pizza.
Ah, metal garbage cans. You could take the lid off and use it as a shield when you had stick fights.
Preach it.
putting nine volt batteries on the tounge....
We also used to drag match box cars behind the station wagon hanging out the the back window with kite string on roadtrips. Always awesome when one fell off.
And when you were done with your soda, throw the can out the window at the car behind you.
Those are available again. Granddaughter had several tubes last weekend. I love them.
That is a thing of beauty.
We used running chainsaws and called them Charts.
Those wonderful lazy summer days...
Momma would usher us out the door by 7am and we’d hear the lock click as we headed off. Sometimes, around mid-day we would come back looking for some food. The kitchen window would open up and out flew a box of saltines and a finger pointing to the spigot. :-)
Six of us kids in the family. We had our own filing cabinet down at the hospital. Stitches? Just another day in kid paradise...
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