Yep, when the street light came on you had to come in.
We played jumprope (I’m a girl), May I, I Declare War, Foxes and Hounds, Hopscotch, Hand Clapping Games, and rode bicycles EVERYWHERE in a way that would be shocking to people nowadays.
Chalk, a ball, and a bicycle. Nothing else was necessary.
“Chalk, a ball, and a bicycle. Nothing else was necessary.”
But - I’ll bet you had an EasyBake Oven :-)
(Even as a boy I was secretly jealous of my sister - how cool to create tasty little cakes with a 60-watt bulb!)
I was a child/preteen in the 80s (I turned 13 in 1990) and this was still common but just starting to be replaced by the “stay inside in the A/C and play Nintendo/Atari” mindset. Granted I was never an active kid even back then...I had the coordination of a blind paraplegic, so sports just frustrated me.