and Cops and Robbers
Too PC I guess.
I think there were only eight on this list that I didn’t do as a kid: no sledding (deep south, y’all), roof standing, cliff jumping, bow n’ arrow, penny squashing, ride a bike off a ramp, making a fire and explore a tunnel (mind you, if my friends and I had found one, we’d have checked it out).
I actually went door to door and asked strangers for candy.
Play with Mercury from the Chemistry Set you got for Christmas.
Build a Treehouse out of old lumber and whatever nails your Dad had in the Garage.
Build a Coaster with rope steering, only a 2x4 as a Brake and coast down a steep Street.
During the Summer, leave the House in the morning, be gone all day with your friends and get home in time for Dinner, or else...
Did all of the above. I have fond memories of my dad handing me his lit Marlboro to light off fireworks. Good times.
Did all of the above except the cliff jumping...no cliffs or quarries where I grew up...
My mother on a Saturday morning would make us breakfast and then kick us out of the house with a little lunch money and tell us to come home when it was getting dark...I was nine, big brother eleven, little bro 6!
All the kids in my neighborhood grew up like this...we’d be out all day everyday during school vacation...
Rode my Schwinn Stingray everywhere without a Bike Helmet.
Oh the horrors.
Good list full of fond memories, both of my own childhood and of parenting. Each of my kids did almost every one of these. Exceptions:
- none had much interest in fireworks.
- two never jumped off a cliff that I know of
- none put a penny on railroad tracks that I know of
- the same two who never jumped off a cliff also never shot a slingshot
- one never road a bike off a ramp that I know of
Otherwise, I did pretty well as a parent. I feel bad for kids whose parents are too protective when it’s not needed.
and Cops and Robbers
Too PC I guess.
I grew up in a third-world country. My brother was 9 and I was 7, and we rode the bus by ourselves across town to hang out and play soccer with the other kids. This was often morning to night. They didn’t know where I was, and there was no way to even call them during the day. I got in fights, went hungry often, but had a very good time. I’m in a professional career now.
I can’t believe how much of a wuss our society is here in the U.S. regarding this issue.
I remember when Dad would take me up in Grizzly country and rub bacon grease on me and tell me to go play with “Those big, furry dogs”.
Good times.....good times.....
They ‘forgot’ a couple of things...
Ride in back of pickup
Ride in rumble seat
There was no sledding in south Louisiana, but staying upright while paddling a leaky old pirogue is a sufficient substitute.
My 12-year old grandson just visited me for a week...first time solo, without his parents. I bought some fireworks (mortars) from another state, made a bonfire for a cookout, and shot ‘em off when it got full dark. Took him to the races at a short, high-banked track. Also taught him how to drive my car. I’d appreciate your help in thinking of stuff for next year.
One of our favorite things was jumping off the roof of the barn into a pile of hay...
We were pretending to be "superman", (of course)
I grew up in the country. We got to do things that the "city kids" didn't have access to.
I'm in my late 70's and I'll say this.....
Todays kids are a bunch of "wimps" compared to the things my generation did...
Just sayin'......
I did all of the above as a child.
I clearly remember sitting on my Dad’s lap in the car in 1955 as he let me steer the it down the road near our house while listening to Elvis Presley’s first hit on the radio: “I nee, nee, nee, need you. That’s alright my mama...”
In 1982, me and my family moved to New Zealand for a two year stay and shortly after coming there, it was Guy Fawkes week, with fireworks. The first time I ever bought fireworks involved me going to a corner store to buy a flowerpot (small version of a Roman candle). Took it underneath a bridge over the main river nearby and with a friend, set it off with a bright display of white sparks and smoke (it was a “Bridal Veil”). Good old fashioned fun, lol.
Hahahahahahahaha!
I’ve done fourteen of those things in the last couple of months! Just shot a slingshot two weeks ago at squirrels (to knock em off my bird feeder)
I think boys should be allowed to be boys. Some of us don’t make it, and coddling and wrapping us in bubble wrap or medicating us down to avoid those things that might hurt us does worse things in the end.
Life was really fun. WE often walked that mile to school, even ice-skated when the sidewalks were frozen solid. We also loved construction sites and one night discovered the workmen had left the keys in a forklift kinda thing, so I drove it around the half-finished house, even tho my friends were saying NO. I think I was the only little girl in the crowd. My mother would have had a cow.
My 24 yr old son just moved to Kauai to apprentice with my brother making custom windows, doors and cabinets. He has a flame thrower to tame the elephant grass in the garden, jumped off a cliff into the ocean, he’s growing mango/avocado, papaya trees and bought a school bus to convert into his living quarters (on my brother’s huge property). Can you say Heaven on Earth???
Oh, and I forgot one. Model rockets. Oh hell yeah...