(Slinging dead cats like a boomerang?)
Kids walked or rode bikes everywhere, even from town to town. Played cops-&-robbers and cowboys-&-Indians.
In summer we an out after dark with our jars to catch lightning bugs (fireflies). Played fly-&-bounce alley until dark. Got called home after supper because Amos & Andy was on the radio.What a nostalgic list that is.
Young people nowadays have no idea how much fun it was to grow up back then.
Jumping trains in Chicago....
Playing in abandoned warehouses...
Playing on the recently dumped slag piles from the steel mills...
Clamp on roller skates — with key — no helmet or knee pads!
Even as a female , did a quite a bit of that. Climbed fences, climbed trees, built forts, went crawdad fishing at the creek, played outside in the front yard all day long. And when I was being super rebellious, I had a lemonade stand without a permit (apparently you have to have one now)
Well everyone has fond memories of childhood, because that was the last time you didn’t have to work and pay bills.
But before we get too misty-eyed and sentimental about past decades, may I point out some of the disadvantages - worse medical care, worse cars, only 3 channels on TV (which went off-air at midnight), unreported rapes (cuz women weren’t believed), and free reign for pedophiles.
Some things are better now, some are worse - probably a valid truth for any point in history?
They left off a big one, lighting firecrackers. Also playing with chemistry sets.
Yes, having bottle rocket fights, Burning ants with a magnifying glass, eating grapes off the vine, wild raspberries and tomato’s without washing them.
When I was on active duty in the 70s, I had a brand new 2LT for a roommate. Boy actually didn’t know how to boil water to heat a hot dog, couldn’t fry bacon, or scramble eggs. Just hadn’t been taught. Taught him to cook burgers on grill and BBQ chicken.
These days there'd be helicopters and a swat team.
When we were even younger mum would knock us up a coupla Vegemite sandwiches and point to the front door saying "make sure you're home before dark" Our lives revolved around our bikes back then (and making 'bolt bombs')Great days!
Explosives: Firecrackers, Roman candles, cherry bombs, M-80s, sparklers, etc.
Diving into the rock quarry pool. We said it was bottomless.
Playground fights were no big deal...unless some teachers pet or momma’s boy squealed.
BB-gun, pellet gun.
Trick-or-treating alone after dark.
Riding in the car: Lying on the bench that’s below the rear window and behind the back seat.
Setting up ramps and jumping our bikes like Evel Kenieval, rope swings over the creek that ran through town, jumping from the hayloft into the hay pile below, driving ATC’s (the trikes), BB gun wars with friends, my dad setting us on his lap so we could drive the car up and down the alley behind the house, all sorts of dangerous things we did.
The driver cause the stack to fall once and I fell between the tractor and wagon while it was going across the rows, rather than along the rows. Luckily I landed on a bale and bounced sideways away from the wagon--otherwise I would've been run over.
I know at least two parents who were still cutting their kids’ toenails in college.
Seriously.
Disgusting.
Did most of the stuff on the list, early 60’s to early 70’s. Also made gunpowder, smoke bombs and fireworks, some of which went BOOM :). 5 pounds of saltpeter/sugar makes one helluva smoke cloud.
Carried my .22 rifle & ammo on a plane as an unaccompanied minor. We kids were free to roam my grandpa’s 90 acre farm and shoot when we got there.
At home, I made a target in the basement from a bunch of old phone books. Shoot, then look up the bullets in the Yellow Pages.
One favorite was putting a polyethylene bottle on a stick and lighting it. It would burn and the drips make the most unusual sound, VOOP, VOOP. We would set up army men in the sandbox and simulate napalm attacks.
A 50 gallon trash burning barrel full of cattail catkin fluff really goes up in flame fast.
I did pretty much everything on that list, so did my kids, and thankfully, so will my grandkids... Other than the school stuff, because they won’t be going there at all...
Throwing rocks at living things was verboten unless it was for defense.
I got my rifle (.22LR Single shot bolt action) at the age of eight.
I was so proud I took it to school to show the Nuns. They all loved it. Even the Mother Superior wanted to see it.
Its a felony today.
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Great memories! I grew up in a small town called Castle Rock and when I was 12, three buddies and I went on a three day hike in search of a local missing kid. We followed a train track - and almost got ran down by a train while trying to take a shortcut across the trestle! We also waded through a pond and about got eaten alive by leeches.
Haven’t seen those guys since then. It happens sometimes. Friends come in and out of our lives, like busboys in a restaurant!
I have played with lawn darts. And the rule was it was your own fault if you got pinned to the ground with a dart because you were supposed to be paying attention.