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?
You have to wonder how many of those finger grip trigger guards Mossberg made over the years. I’ve seen them on .22’s, and their bolt action shotguns. It has to be millions.
They had a patent on it, since 1938, so it most likely was well into the millions.
The only Mossberg I have right now is a TR42 smoothbore .22. They made a miniature clay bird thrower called the “Targo Trap” that bolted under the barrel and chucked these 2 9/16” birds. The barrel was threaded at the end so you could screw on a rifled section and shoot it like a regular .22.
Lucked across the gun, finding the trap gadget and a hand full of targets took a lot longer.
Interesting and very collectible hardware:
http://www.box54.com/46-cat-9.jpg
I do buy some weird stuff.
If you’ve got enough clays and shells, that gun’s a party in itself. Very nice purchase!
In the 50’s we loved a broken thermometer, since the mercury was cool when it broke up into little balls. Then we’d use it to polish nickels to look like new. Should have all long ago dropped dead from such exposure.
I accidentally got a big glob of that stuff onto the front fender of my grandmothers brand new 1974 Malibu.
The stuff was like Kryptonite, many years later when she got rid of the car the exact same glob was still there like it had happened yesterday.
Thanks for the link to this - good for the new year!
My step-brother fell out of a moving Eldorado convertible, rolled right over the trunk onto the street. When the kids in the back seat finally got Mom to understand that Richard fell out we ALL ended up in the front when she slammed on the brakes!
Fortunately for him no cars were directly behind us and he was just scuffed up.
We lived on a busy secondary street, chased Super Balls across it, climbed trees to get mistletoe, built our own Chopper bikes that were nearly impossible to steer, took off on bike rides taking us sometimes 10 miles from the house, got bruises playing with “Clackers”, played with fireworks with real gun powder holding in your hand when lighting the fuses. Yeah shoulda been dead. lol.
Oh yeah! BACTINE! I haven’t thought of that product in years.
Wow, that’s quite a story. Had to be an old Chrysler. We also had one with the push-button transmission. Seemed kind of goofy even back then.
Bangsite (calcium Carbide).
Lighter fluid tennis ball cannons.
Crossman 760 BB guns pumped up until you could barely close the pump.
Horse chestnut wars with slingshots, including those that still had hard dried out spike exteriors. There was nothing like getting hit in the back and having it stick.
Fun with Red Dot powder swiped from shotgun shell reloading.
Estes rockets launched horizontally from a paper tube.
Potato cannons using right guard.
Yeah, we should be dead
Look closer (camel toe)
My 6 year old Grandson was eating and teasing our 10 year old Boxer that he’s been around since he was born and she got pissed because he was teasing her with chicken nuggets and she barely bit him in the upper lip and for some reason mom and Grandma took him to ER for 1 YES ONE Stitch !!!
(Some ice and a dot of super glue would have fixed it)
Anyway the ER contacted Doggie cops and they demanded Vaccination proof for Savanna and came to the house several times in 2 weeks to see/checkher out. Every time she was the Deaf from birth Wiggly Goofy Slobber all over you Boxer She is. They finally decided that she was not a high risk dog !!!
She’s the White Boxer on My Homepage.
“I can’t remember what we ate for lunch.”
Someone’s mom always provided…manna from heaven.
Born in 1960 - all sorts of similar stories. Summer days were usually spent down at the creek about 2 miles from home with my friends - no parents. I know for sure I was in the fourth grade doing all of that on my bike, and perhaps earlier. Ride to the indoor mall, etc.
Your arrow story - a buddy had a big “rubber band” - I have not idea what it really was, but it was big and strong. We tied it around the two light posts at the end of his driveway and got it really tight. Put an arrow on it to see what would happen.
That arrow went across the street, across the neighbor’s front yard, over their one story house and then disappeared. We assumed it landed in her back yard (spinster widows actually) - but we never heard more about it - so who knows where it went.
She and her sister were still there during my college days. She had a pristine 1954 Chevy BelAir that was garaged and she drove maybe twice a month if it was sunny out. When I would come home from college I would ask her if she was ready to sell it, and to keep me in mind.
One Christmas I came home and she told me “I sold it to a nice Christian man from my church.”
Probably for the best. I would not have given it the care it deserved. Hopefully he did. I can just imagine him giving her $500 to “take that old car off of her hands”.
“As I was reading through this thread, what I noticed was all the high-level creativity and innovation that went on with kids during the 60s and 70s. This is what kids did then, played creatively - and yes, some of it was very dangerous, and yes, it is what took us to the moon and back.”
Our house was built in the 1970’s and is about 1800 sq. feet. Lots of homes near us were built in the 60’s and are smaller ramblers - say 1200 square feet.
Those smaller homes are now being bulldozed and in their place are 5,000 sq. foot homes or larger. Many of the new homes have 5 bedrooms and 7 baths! (I have no idea why every child needs their own master bath, but...)
And the house covers most of the lot. I asked a builder friend about them. “Well, with land being the most expensive part of the price, folks want a bigger house for that price. And they don’t need a yard because nobody uses them anyway. The kids are either on their devices, at school, or some organized activity.”
We built a huge fort in the corner of my child-hood back yard and added onto it over the years. Mostly done with scrap lumber. (Okay - it seemed like scrap to us, but looking back, some of it probably wasn’t. Heck - even at the time we didn’t think it was scrap. “Yeah - but it’s got dirt and concrete all over it - and just laying here in the dirt. It’s not over in that pile of new stuff.”
Bactine! My gosh, I was beginning to think I imagined the stuff. Nobody seems to have heard of Bactine, but I keep it on hand FOR ME.
I hope they still make it. I brought my trusty spray bottle out last week, only to discover it expired in 2009. I deserve a new fresh bottle.
I threw myself on the ground crying when I had to come in a take a bath....
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