Explore a construction site...
Oh yeah. They built a house next door, and of course we couldn’t resist exploring once the stairs and floors were in (but no walls).
My brother and a friend built a rickety little shed/clubhouse with lumber they stole from that house, then proceeded to lock me in it with a padlock.
I got out by using the head of a nail I found as a screwdriver to undo the screws that held the lock loop to the door frame. I got out and replaced the screws. I could have kicked the door open, but it was more fun the way I did it. It took me no more than 10 minutes to get out.
I don’t think they ever figured out how I escaped.
I lead a Trail Life USA troop of boys. About half the stuff mentioned we’ve done with the boys.
One thing I have seen is that boys don’t just naturally explore anymore.
This list is entirely correct.
When we teach a boy how to use an axe, sometimes we snap a photo and send it to his mom.
Did about 20 of these things, growing up. My kids did about 19 of these things.
You ain’t lived a real childhood unless you have a four-alarm fire to your credit. LOL.
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Left off BB gun wars, creating tunnels in snow banks, X-game type snowmobile jumping, building a treehouse way up there, catching hay bales as they were shot at you from the baler, seeing if the new unbreakable bottles would break if thrown from a very fast moving care against a guardrail post, playing mumbly peg, shooting arrows straight up into the air and seeing who would not run (O.K. that last one might be a little foolish).
——Hammer a Nail-—
I watched the extensive construction of my neighbor’s new deck last week. No nails......
The fastening was totally with screws installed with cordless screw guns.
The nearest school to my hood is four miles away down a curvy two lane road. So no.
Most of the other stuff in the world today - OK but with adult supervision.
Well maybe not:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACtiDeZRe-w
Caught a small snake, tied a shoelace around its neck and put it on the handlebars of my bike(dad saw it after awhile and realized it was a copperhead. I handled every snake even back then like it was poisonous unless I knew for sure.
Road my bike (no handed) for miles. Road to the next town many times. Explored woods, picked more ticks off myself than the dog sometimes.
Aww freedom!
In other words, a normal childhood.
May want to rethink the car thing. From our local news (BTW, check out dad’s age):
NEW HAVEN, CT — A 25-year-old father suffered life-threatening injuries after his daughter, 11, accidentally backed a car into him during a driving lesson Wednesday evening, according to media reports. The father is currently listed in critical condition, reports Fox 61.
Police say the father was a passenger in the car as the daughter was practicing driving in an apartment parking lot on Grand Avenue just after 5 p.m. But the child ended up hitting reverse instead of drive, and began to leave the parking lot, Fox 61 reports. At this time, the father jumped out of the car in an effort to get control of the car but he ended up pinned between a tree and the car, Fox 61 reports.
The car ended up striking a house, according to reports. The father was conscious at the scene and he was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital but his injuries became more serious later on, WTNH News 8 reports. The child was also taken to the hospital as a precaution, according to reports.
My father didn't fish at the time, but I got a split-shot mold for my birthday once; my dad got a small ingot of lead, and showed me how to use a blowtorch and a ladle to melt the lead, and pour into the mold. I did this in our unfinished cellar, and never once came close to burning myself, or the house. My wife still can't believe it to this day, that a child would be allowed to do that.
By giving them the responsibility of using a knife safely, Hewitt’s kids became responsible.
You teach responsibility by giving responsibility - a concept that is as true in the workplace as it is in grade school. Many Americans have never been given any responsibilities, and these keep voting for Mom in the form of the Democratic Party to handle all of their problems for them.