THEN versus NOW

[Racket_Man]

I remember back in the mid 1960's being able, as a 6 year old, to go to the corner Mom and Pop store and buy cigarettes for my parents.

bike helmet????? Knee pads???? those things were very unknown back then.

My HS in 1978 (my senior year) had a dedicated smoking area out back.

We used to walk about a mile to the local municipal swimming pool in my late single digits (7 - 9 usually with a couple of friends) to early teen years.

During the summer my friends and I used to leave the house on our bikes mid morning and not return until dinner time. sometimes we used to ride bikes to a couple of county parks about 4 - 7 miles away.

When I was about 8 or 10 years old I rode the bus to and back from the YMCA for summer swimming lessons.

We frequented a city park in small groups ALL summer long.

[corwin02]

As kids
Play cowboys & indians shooting eachother in the streets
Got to the pool with a bunch of 12 yr olds without parental supervision
Have a wrecker of a car w/o an engine as a toy, we all pushed one steered
Have open fires in the wild to roast potatoes
Buy cigarettes for my mom and dad at age 10

just to name a few things I remember

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Riding my bike without a helmet. Now I think I might have to get a helmet if I were ever to get my bike out of storage--might be a local law or something.

I had archery in PE in 9th grade (this would be 1996).

[taxguykarl]

I was born in 1964
Walking at all hours of the day (well returning home when the street lights came on)...not to mention walking to and from school in all weather
Riding a bike without a helmet
Drinking water from a garden hose
Playing with fireworks
Accepting short rides from whoever didn't look like an extra from The Warriors
The courtyard of my high school was designated for smoking students (the teachers had their lounge)
Rifle and archery lessons in Boy Scout camp...not to mention using axes

[sms001]

Born in '60.

Just the bike stuff alone - Sting Ray! Sissy bar, banana seat. Something that may have been local, idk, but we would "chop" them. Most common was to slide old metal tubes onto the front forks and attach a really small wheel to the ends. If you didn't have a snug fit and popped a wheelie, you'd be lying on your face. When unmodified, the horribly dangerous jump ramps we'd build - old plywood on top of broken bricks. Riding triple - one sitting forward in between the high rise handle bars, the second pillion on the banana seat. (Oh - and no reflectors, but lights w/ a generator were cool. And a transistor radio (Made in Japan!, so CHEAP) Electrical Tape (No, we didn't have duct tape) secured to the handlebars.)

Other stupidities: discarded fluorescent tube light 'sword' fights , blacktopped playgrounds, slingshots, jarts, streetlights as dinner bell, construction sites, fire...

Found similar:

[Sheldonrs]

Being able to sit in a movie theatre all day long, seeing the same movie over and over during the summer (Theatres only had one screen back then!), in air conditioned bliss. :-)

[KellyHabersham]

I remember when my sister and I were in Girl Scouts, we went door-to-door selling them........get the feeling that is NOT encouraged/allowed now.

[ADeMartino]

I remember when my sister and I were in Girl Scouts, we went door-to-door selling them........get the feeling that is NOT encouraged/allowed now.

I get the feeling that selling Girl Scouts was discouraged even then.....

"I'll take two, please. I know they're a little out of season, but they'll ripen nicely....."

Okay, it's official. I'm going to hell. Or Cleveland. Whichever is worse.

[Kit-Ginevra]

Or selling sisters? or perhaps 'them' is something else....

Let's have a competition-£1/$1 a guess. What is the 'them' that the girls were selling :P*





*And I can tell you-NO!It wasn't that!Bad CSer-wash your mind out!

[ADeMartino]

One of my earliest memories is of walking several blocks to/from school, solo, in Chicago in the late 1960s. 'School', incidentally, was Kindergarten.

My family moved to Dubuque, Iowa in 1970, where my walk to/from school was extended to just under a mile. Rain, snow, or shine. School was seldom canceled due to weather.

By second grade, I had a bike, and I rode it freakin' EVERYWHERE. No helmet or safety equipment. Hell, during the warm weather, I usually didn't even wear shoes or a shirt. I'd often end up MILES from home. I'm sure my folks had absolutely no idea where I was, but there wasn't a whole lot of concern, either. So long as I was home when the street lights went on.

Both parents worked, so I was a 'latchkey' kid even in first grade. I'd come home from school, make myself something to eat (no microwave, so I learned how to use the stove). I was also aware of how to clean up after myself, and the requirement to do so. I'd then do whatever chores were expected of me, and my homework, by which time usually at least one of my parents was home.

By third grade, my chores were expanded to cutting the grass during the warm season. This, too, was usually unsupervised. I learned how to gas that machine up, start it, and operate it, even when nobody was home. I was also taught what NOT to do. To my parents' credit, the mower was a self-propelled, and I was under strict instructions to never ever EVER attempt to cut the grass on that steep hill in back. I know that might not be so odd today, but bear in mind that mowers in the early 1970s seldom had any sort of safeties on them.

Halloween was a laid-back funfest. We weren't concerned with anyone tampering with the goodies, and parents were usually not present during trick-or-treat. And it didn't start until DARk, and it went until like 10:30.

Fireworks. Oh, wow. You could buy them almost anywhere, and you didn't have to be a particular age, either. Bottle rockets, cherry bombs, firecrackers, Roman candles. Didn't matter.

And screwing up was a different experience then, too. If the old man took off his belt, you could be absolutely certain of two things - it would be a long, LONG time before you'd screw up again, and you'd NEVER make the same mistake twice. This wasn't 'child abuse', either. This was simply how it was done back then. And I'll freely admit that I deserved every bit of it - and probably more.

[MoonCat]

Racketman, we used to buy cigs for our mom, too. There was a little mom & pop store near the grade school, and we'd go in there to buy her cigarettes.

I remember a man in there one time was yelling at a couple of teenage girls about wearing shorts. "You wouldn't be dressed like that if you were my daughters!" They laughed at him and called him "Dad." The shorts they were wearing were almost knee-length!!

Once I went to the home of a classmate to play, and her older sister was getting yelled at by their father for having dared to wear nylon stockings to school. I think her sister was in 7th or 8th grade.

[Victory Sabre]

I also remember those cool looking cigarette vending machines everywhere. they were cool to look at.too bad they dispensed utter crap.

[Racket_Man]

Born in '60.

Just the bike stuff alone - Sting Ray! Sissy bar, banana seat. Something that may have been local, idk, but we would "chop" them. Most common was to slide old metal tubes onto the front forks and attach a really small wheel to the ends. If you didn't have a snug fit and popped a wheelie, you'd be lying on your face.

same age as you.

I think at the time the "chopper" bike thing was a bit of a nation wide fad at the time cause a couple of kids in my neighborhood did the same thing.

The jump ramp was a couple of boards nailed together at various heights.

one other thing I thought about was home-made go-carts like in the Bill Cosby routine. EXECPT we did not steal the wheels.

I built a full body including operating doors, plexiglass windows, and a convertible type roof (big piece of cardboard).

*MOD EDIT - Resized out of courtesy to other members. Click on image to enlarge.

[Dreamstalker]

I remember playgrounds with blacktop and mulch, and the bigger play structures were wood. None of this 'My First Playground' molded plastic stuff. The only real safety concession was that the climbing chains were sheathed with rubber; aside from that, it was up to you to figure out how not to get hurt.

[Jester]

Now, are we talking about what we were allowed to do that would probably not be allowed today? Or what we dd do, that wasn't even allowed back then? Because I have stories from both Column A and Column B.

I rode my bike everywhere. This was mid seventies to mid eighties. And I mean everywhere. No helmet, no pads, no parental supervision. And considering my propensity for accidents and daredevilry (often resulting in said accidents), I probably should have had all of those and more.

When I was not in school and had full time, I'd be on my bike exploring the town. Considering how often we moved, there was often much to explore. And we didn't live in small towns, either....I would ride miles upon miles. Not rural areas, either....suburbs, always. Plenty of traffic, plenty of opportunity for death and dismemberment. Plenty of ramps and airborne idiocy. Usually not made from boards, but from the natural terrain, such as gullies, ditches, quarry sites, and even the little dips in the sidewalks where the curb lowered to reach the street at the ends of driveways. Commuting to my first job at the age of 16, I'd even go flying down the lsg hill at a very high rate of speed, and end up playing chicken with cars coming the other way until I veered off at the last minute to turn into the parking lot, slamming on the brakes and doing a lovely rear wheel skid 180. "Ta da! Jester's at work!"

One time, as a teenager, I even rode my bike from where we lived at the time to a town we had previously lived in. In the next state over. 25 miles from where we lived. On a one speed, one gear bike. Called my mom from my friend's house letting her know I'd be spending the night. "Wait, you're at WHO'S house?!?!?" She knew where they lived. She knew how I got there. And the next day....I rode my one speed, one gear bike the 25 miles back to where I lived. And don't recall getting in trouble for it. After all, I DID call.

Even when I wasn't on my bike, my friends and I would often be exploring, climbing, tramping through shit, over walls, up trees, through and across creeks, through other people's property (without permission) and basically everywhere and anywhere that adventurous young boys with time on their hands could go.

Not to mention all the time spent in video arcades. And all the money spent there as well. Which was usually most of my disposable income that I wasn't spending on music.

This all was allowed and known about.

Then there were the other things. The previously referred to stuff from Column B. I other words, the stuff our parents would have killed us for. Like shooting cal guns at cars. Throwing rocks at the windows of the abandoned school. Throwing rocks at the windows of the not abandoned school. Lighting the big metal drum trash cans in public parks on fire, to watch them burn. Shoplifting books, toys, and so on. Watching a friend's day's pornos. Taking parents' cars for joy rides, long before having a license. Or permission. Usually at 3 am. On the highway. No clue what we were doing. Amazing there were no arrests made. Amazing there were no fatalities, actually. And stealing of the parental booze, often replacing it (if it were vodka) with equal quantities of water. Because we thought we were slick and smart. And taking of booze into school, and getting drunk during school. Because we thought we were badasses.

Honestly, the number of things my friends and I did that would probably have resulted in us being arrested then, and charged with more serious crimes now, is kind of staggering when I look at it. And yet, most of us in general, and I specifically, turned out alright. As many of today's "problem children" probably will as well. Or would if they and their actions weren't so focused on. Don't get me wrong, there are felons, thugs, and hoodlums out there, and we should not underestimate or downplay their potential for serious trouble. But a lot of stuff kids are getting in trouble for these days is utterly ridiculous. My own teenage nephew, for example, was not allowed to ride the school bus for a day because he used his hand to form a gun and pointed it another kid. Other children have been suspended from school for similar things.