Growing up, I:
- played in the street
- went to matinee movies by myself
- came home after school and stayed by myself
- went out the door in the summer at 9 am and didn't come back til 9 pm
- spent all day at the pool
- didn't know what a "pop" star was
- didn't wear a seat belt
- stuck my head out the window of a moving car
- looked out the window on car trips while maybe listening to AM radio
- went to carnivals with my friend and no adult supervision
- wore Granimals & Toughskins (did you know toughskins are back???)
And the biggy. I went to school each year - blind. I got a letter in the mail that said who my teacher was, and that was it. No "meet the teacher" no "open house" no "trial run"... just, get up on the day after Labor day, hop on the bus, and once you got to school, walk to the right area for your grade, and then read the door labels to find your teacher. And... voila! You have school.
It's a miracle I lived.
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27 comments:
Oh how true. I love the AM radio one!
We used to fall asleep in the back window or on the floor board! My mom said babies were taken home from the hospital in carriers, but they were just placed in the backseat, not buckled in!!
Good heavens woman! How did your parents manage to stay out of jail? My dad tells a story of coming home from school on the bus in rural Alabama, and one day the driver stoppd and everybody got out and picked blackberries. Because they were there. Can you imagine??
Thanks for adding me to your blog roll!
I know...are we preparing our kids for a life of being too prepared? I mean, are we teaching them to expect the unexpected or just spoon feeding them the answers?
I just dropped my oldest at college yesterday!! I am not old enough to have a daughter in college!! She is freaking out about not being able to find the practice field. But, I know she can do it. I just wish she did.
I used to ride in the "way back" of the station wagon on the 4 hour drive to my grandmother's house. At freeway speeds. Bet that would get my parents in a heap of trouble these days!
Well I didn't read any further then 1972, cause now I hate you for being younger than me! Blah ha ha!
No clue what toughskins are.
But on vacation, I used to ride in the back of my fathers truck in lawnchairs. Days of traveling like that, can you imagine how long my father would get jailed for something like that now.
I was born in 1958...but for me life is better now...I see more advancements...I honestly think my children are better parents than I was.Life is so good no matter how old you are...I am just glad at this point that I am still showing up! But...I am little cranky today...everyone is mad at me!
I think for the most part we are all trying to do a lttle better with each generation that passes.
Amen susta! How DID we ever live? Kids nowadays are (say it with me)...SPOON FED!
Yep... I remember riding in the station wagon unbuckled. Heck, my dad used to let us climb back and forth over the seats if we wanted to change where we were sitting... this was while he was driving! He used to fold the seats down and let us kids "slide" around when he'd go around curves and such!
Those were the good ol' days (sigh).
I was born in 1972 as well...so that is 2 of us that made it! Whew!!!!
Same here, except I was born in 1970. And our kids think THEY have it bad. We had 3 channels to watch and cartoons ONLY on Saturday morning and NOW they have umpteen channels with 24/7 kid shows. Boy have times changed!
Know what this made me think of? The fact that my mom, to this day, still reaches across the car when I'm riding with her, if we come to an abrupt stop. I'm almost 34 years old. Yet she still does this...because back then, carseats were an option.
And I'm kind of sad that I don't have this own reflex. But then I'm glad my girls are safely harnessed in the back.
I'm waxing all kinds of nostalgic here, huh?
Hey...thanks for the hug...I am sending one right back at ya! Thanks for putting a smile on my weary face!
Isn't that the truth! Today's kids don't even know how good and easy they have it half the time and how scary the other have is going to be!
So true. I was born in '68 (I'm so old I'm too tired to type the whole year bwahahaha) And being a farm girl from way back I can add one to your list.....I used to ride around in the bucket of the loader on my dad's little Ford 8N tractor, with the bucket lifted and he'd just drive all over the place on the farm. If THAT wasn't an accident waiting to happen!!! Even all the dangerous things DH experienced growing up on a farm he's amazed my dad did that one with me LOL I'm really lucky that a hydraulic hose didn't blow and flop me right down on the ground only to be run over by the tractor. Not dissing any of the advancements we've made in safety and whatnot for our kids, but I too wonder if things have tipped a bit too far in the other direction and we aren't raising kids that are too soft in some respects.
This just made me laugh. It cracks me up that my father used to drive us from NY to FL as we rolled around on the floor boards of the station wagon and now I get dagger eyes when I drive around the block with my son in the front seat.
OMG, I am dying! That's too funny. I'm a tad bit older than you (BUT NOT MUCH!) and lived a very similar life...except that once we got to 3rd grade, we walked to school (about half to three-quarters of a mile, some of which was along a busy main street).
Interestingly, I don't think, for a moment, I'd allow my kids to walk the same route I did as a child. Life is different. :(
Pretty amazing, you mean your parents didn't dispute every B+ you got?
Sorry, rants of a former teacher :)
Me too! Me too! Me too! I remember riding down the road when we were tiny and my Mom would take the keys out of the ignition and hand them to us to play with to entertain us. Cars don't do that anymore!
Hey i'm 1972, too. I always laugh when I hear the Bucky Covington song, A different world. GO to youtube for a listen.
For me I think of having free range to ride my pink HUFFY all over the neighborhood til dark during the summer.
By the way Granimals are back, too. You can get them at Walmart.
THOSE were the days! How did we make it as far as we did???
First of all, neeeener neeeener, I'm younger than you (1973). but oh yeah, those were the days. I lived in Alaska when I was in elementary school and in the winter we would walk to school in the dark and it would be dark again when we walked home.......one mile each way. Seriously!
And guess what? I sometimes let my boys ride their bikes without their helmets!
Times have changed and not necessarily for the better.
Oh, the other one that gets me is "playdates". I hate that word and I hate arranging or hosting them. Just go outside and play.
Thanks for stopping by today. Funny that we were having the same blog thoughts!
Oh how true. I know what you are saying. I actually rode my bike to the library about 1 mile away, alone.
But seriously, its it kinda sad that we can't or won't let our kids have those same experiences.
having been born the same year, I have many of the same memories. Plus riding in the back of a big Ford econoline van singing along with the cassette tapes of The Sound of Music and Dolly Parton's rose Garden. Yeah. Thanks for stopping by my blog, and for the comment. So good to not feel so alone.
It's really "un"real how we survived.
The stories my parents have are even more "un"real.
I was in born in 1972 too! How cool!!
So true!!
Please tell me that you ARE kidding about Toughskins coming back though!!!!
Those were the worst jeans ever. Felt like they were made of cardboard...yet, somehow the knee always managed to blow out. My Mom would iron on a big rectangle shaped patch and the Toughskins would be as good as new!
Isn't it amazing how much school days have changed? Now, every step of the way is completely micro-managed. And my kids will never know the joy of taking off for the day on their bikes, exploring woods and showing up for dinner hours later. Sigh.
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