[SWAMPSNIPER]

We were barefoot, if we weren't in school, and we lived outdoors, as much as we could get away with. We swam in unregulated ponds and creeka. We didn't wash our hands and faces every few minutes. We played baseball and football without benefit of formal organization.

We ate a lot of dirt, it was just part of the day. I wonder if someone from an urban environment can even guess how different life was in small towns and rural areas, in the 40s and 50s. I believe I had a great childhood, and don't know how I could have coped with an urban upbringing. Even now, when I must go to a big city, I'm planning my escape long before I get there.

I might even have a few worms now, LOL. They don't eat much!

[mia]

I had a similar childhood. My brother and I went barefoot most of the summer.

We had cats and dogs, no litter boxes. The cats dug holes in the same ground we walked around on.

Swam in damned up creeks, and played baseball in the local fire department parking lot with whoever showed up to play. Kids of all ages played ball together.

What a great time to grow up.

[Twinkie]

Your life was sort of like mine back in the fifties and sixties growing up; only I didn’t like to go barefoot - did wear sandals. I do remember getting pinworms whenever we moved to another part of the state. They were miserable little buggers. Momma gave me gentian violet tablets to get rid of them, and they were persistent.