Posted on 11/03/2020 3:14:07 PM PST by WhattheDickens?
Safety mandates taking the fun out of childhood
I grew up in the Wild West of childhood playgrounds (mid-50’s to mid-60’s). There were teeter-totters, open metal slides, merry-go-rounds, swing ropes over a canal, BB guns, and much more. It was fun. But, more important, it was instructive. As kids we were allowed to get hurt and we learned risk-taking while doing mostly kid things. In today’s kid cocoon environment, kids aren’t allowed to get hurt or take risks. As a result, I think they fail to develop a healthy notion of risk so they engage in risky behavior as older teens and young adults when the risks and injuries are significantly higher. Crashing on a bicycle as a kid is much safer than crashing in a vehicle later on and daring each other to eat a bug is much safer than daring each other to take a drug.
The milkman used to let us ride in his truck! With real ice in it, you could sit on the ice blocks.
Sounds like the playground near my home back in the ‘50’s....
Lord, we loved it!!!!!!
I remember playing lawn jarts with my mom. When it was her turn, we’d clear out by 30 feet because you never knew where that thing would land. But it was a fun game.
Sit on ice now and you’ll get piles.
“We had a set of Jarts with the metal points on...I could see how they could pierce someone’s skull but they were fun!”
We used to play catch with them. You had to grab them from the side as they flew past.
We even used to pole vault with a curtain rod onto the grass. No mattress, air or otherwise.
We had an ice cream man that had a cart pulled by his horse and dry ice to keep the ice cream cold...He was a cool guy!!!!
Last time I used them...last year...the plastic on mine was okay. Probably depends on brand.
I loved my BB gun.
Stole my line!
Wham-O Slip-N-Slide with a Water Wiggle thrown in for good measure!
Same here. I was the youngest brother so I usually lost though.
In elementary school we had a steel slide about 8 feet high and about a 45 degree angle. We would put sand on it to slide faster. Wooden swings you could jump out of onto a rock hard eroded clay schoolyard. Those were the days!
Jarts were great fun
I remember rolling down hills in old refrigerator boxes. I’d definitely be bruised from doing that today.
And let’s not forget tetherball!
One kid started a bucket brigade (it was close to one hundred that day). You filled up your bucket, climbed the ladder, emptied your bucket and slid down into the mud.
Great Fun! Of course when his dad found the outside water faucet going there was heck to pay.
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