Posted on 01/27/2026 10:27:50 AM PST by MayflowerMadam
I was the middle child of five, growing up in Ohio during the 1960s. My father worked double shifts at the factory. My mother stretched every dollar until it squeaked. And most afternoons, my brothers and I roamed the neighborhood unsupervised until the streetlights flickered on.
Looking back, I realize our childhoods looked nothing like what kids experience today. There were no smartphones, no helicopter parents, no curated activities designed to optimize our development. There was just life, unfiltered and unscheduled.
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Boredom, failure, waiting, consequences, entertainment are discussed. I remember all of it!
1) Boredom was the birthplace of creativity
2) Failure was allowed to sting
3) Waiting was simply part of life
4) Unsupervised play was the norm
5) Adults weren’t always available
6) We witnessed real consequences
7) Resources were limited, so we got resourceful
8) We learned by doing, not by being told
9) Community was a safety net
It was a great time to “grow up”. I think smart phones are good and bad, taking them away from kids while in school is a great idea. Also limiting use when at hope is smart. Also, parents being “friends” doesn’t work. I’ve seen it with my friends who treated their kids like that, too many failures.
The transformation of sexual morays and limits in the 1970s are what changed most of that; i.e., one generation after they were introduced by Alfred Kinsey.
Boredom was the birthplace of creativity and imagination.
You solved problems and entertained yourself without constant supervision or technology.
You learned to wait, be patient, and accept that you could not have everything instantly.
You respected rules, boundaries, and other people’s property and space.
You worked for what you wanted and understood the value of money and effort.
You learned by doing things in the real world instead of just consuming information.
You accepted that life is not always fair and developed resilience and grit.
You valued real‑world community, relationships, and face‑to‑face connection.
You understood that life does not need to be optimized and constantly improved to be meaningful.
Yah. We used to put ladders and tarps together and make a “submarine” and sink Jap ships by the hundreds. Mom would kick us out of the house and say “Come back for dinner.” Cops didn’t give a shit. No social workers to screw up normal families.
Thanks for sharing!
I am the last of 8 children.
Dad had polio and got a small check from SS. He found antique autos in the dump, brought them home, fixed them up and sold them for a small profit. Mom worked at the local shoe factory.
Us kids grew up working on the neighbor’s farm (for free) so we could use some land for a garden.
I thought we were dirt poor but we were dirt rich!
I see the lessons you mentioned in my life, a good portion of it how, after two near death experiences, I have survived.
Thank you for doing a better synopsis than I did!!
Bfl
Closing the mental hospitals made the streets less safe for your kids. Those people have always been around, but it’s gotten worse.
Right there with you. They deride us as “boomers” but we were blessed to experience an America that is gone forever.
Good read, thanks.
Boredom did result in creativity.
We had maple trees around the perimeter of our large yard that dropped a ton of leaves. I’d get a rake and form the leaves into “walls” of floorplans.
I still wish I’d have become an architect. I did design and built two houses.
I honestly can’t remember ever being bored in my life...we had inner lives and lives of imagination that lots of kids don’t seem to have now.
40’s, 50’s, 60’s?
It was the birth control pill that changed thing. Until Herpes and warts became a threat, there were no real consequences any more
“I honestly can’t remember ever being bored in my life.”
Same here. I’m pushing 80 and have SO MANY THINGS I plan to do that I couldn’t finish them if I lived to 100.
I think that’s why I get up so early — TOO early — every morning. I want to do stuff!
In my neighborhood in West Nashville, we didn’t SEE adults during the day really. Us kids roamed the neighborhood, dug through the business dumpsters, played in the creek, jumped things with bikes, had crashes. Shoot, I remember wiping out on my bike and having to pull gravel out of my knee.
Some good lessons there!
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