No helicopter parents watching every move you made. No cell phones that tethered you to them either. I remember when I was in Little League, I walked to practices myself and my father came to just one game. It was not expected back then. You went outdoors, met up with other kids your age, and found things to do, whether it was exploring abandoned houses, catching frogs and such at the marshes, or getting up a pickup baseball game.
Almost every kid had his own bicycle, like the banana bike down below and we fixed them up ourselves.
For most of us, sitting inside and watching TV all day was not typical. Only a handful of broadcast stations, most of which showed soap operas and games shows during daytime. No video games. No internet. So we really only had the option of going outside.
On rainy days, we'd go to the movie house, for a couple of dollars, you got the Saturday matinee that usually had a double feature, kids could spend all afternoon at the movie house. Almost every kid over the age of about 12 had money in their pocket, usually from paper routes, mowing people's lawns, skimming their pools and what not. Some small businesses would hire you "under the table" to do various scut work for a dollar or two.
You never really wanted to hang out at home though. In addition to there being very little to do there, you mom was likely to thrust a broom in your hand and put you to some housecleaning chores. So we typically stayed outdoors until dinner time.
