And to be clear, some of the things I "enjoyed" were just plain stupid and are rightfully frowned upon. I miraculously escaped injury in a crazy dirt bike wreck and somehow didn't lose fingers or hearing when an M80 or some similar explosive went off way too close one 4th of July. Also I was lucky not to get in a wreck on numerous family vacations where I rode (slept) unrestrained in the back of various vehicles.
Hitchhiking.
I won’t go into details, but I will say this: Thanks, Bill Cosby!! :(
retired guy here wrote:
Some of these things may have been dangerous or improper but they didn't seem wrong or bad at the time.
1 Slip and Slide - my kids loved doing this on a hot summer day.
2 Jarts - it was a fun family game.
3 Riding in the back of a station wagon - loved doing this when I was a kid.
4 Harmless mild sexually suggestive banter with coworkers. You knew the people you could do it with and often it was initiated by the female.
Slip and slides are still very popular.
Mild suggestive banter is still very popular. Unfortunately, so is obscene sexual harassment (see: Activision).
gdfgfgggjgjg wrote:
It's funny how older/boomers people cite this "playing outdoors without adult supervision" as something that happened "back in their day" and bag on millennials for not doing this. Yet, it's these very same boomers who were the ones who raised children *with* supervision...
Interesting point. Sport participation with adults were very different back in the day. We would have just one short season of an organized league with adults. When my kids grew up it seemed to be constant adult organized sports (year round). And there were always tons of parents cheering and yelling during the games.
I think it would have been better for the kids to play without an adult audience and sometimes even without adult umps or refs. Like the kids learn how to problem solve without adults making the decisions.
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the macdaddy og wrote:
retired guy here wrote:
Some of these things may have been dangerous or improper but they didn't seem wrong or bad at the time.
1 Slip and Slide - my kids loved doing this on a hot summer day.
2 Jarts - it was a fun family game.
3 Riding in the back of a station wagon - loved doing this when I was a kid.
4 Harmless mild sexually suggestive banter with coworkers. You knew the people you could do it with and often it was initiated by the female.
Slip and slides are still very popular.
Mild suggestive banter is still very popular. Unfortunately, so is obscene sexual harassment (see: Activision).
My last years before retirement, I wouldn't engage in that kind of banter at all. There were some clever lines I could have said but didn't. They would have been very acceptable and funny 20 years ago but too risky today.
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gdfgfgggjgjg wrote:
It's funny how older/boomers people cite this "playing outdoors without adult supervision" as something that happened "back in their day" and bag on millennials for not doing this. Yet, it's these very same boomers who were the ones who raised children *with* supervision...
In many ways parents are much more protective about physical safety but in other ways kids are exposed to much more. When I was growing up it was kind of a big deal to get ahold of a Playboy or Penthouse at age 9 or 10. Now kids that age can easily find explicit content online I never even imagined at that age. Kids now are exposed to a lot more sexual stuff at a young age than kids in the 50s and 60s.
Another thing I remember from growing up in that era is burning trash in the back yard. And this was in the city. All the houses in the neighborhood where I grew up had clotheslines and concrete incinerators in the back yard. One of my chores was to take out the trash and burn it everyday between 4 and 5pm. That seems crazy now. We also had a coal burning stove on the back porch.
retired guy here wrote:
Some of these things may have been dangerous or improper but they didn't seem wrong or bad at the time.
1 Slip and Slide - my kids loved doing this on a hot summer day.
2 Jarts - it was a fun family game.
3 Riding in the back of a station wagon - loved doing this when I was a kid.
4 Harmless mild sexually suggestive banter with coworkers. You knew the people you could do it with and often it was initiated by the female.
2 - Jarts look super fun. I never played with real ones, but you can buy blunt-tip versions (less cool, admittedly). It's all fun and games until someone spears their kid sister in the head, apparently.
3 - I also enjoyed this. I think the main issue here is that no one wants a wagon anymore, and in taller vehicles (Crossovers/SUVs) it's feasible to have the third row face forward. Mercedes will still sell you an E-class wagon with rear-facing jump seats.
4 - Banter is great when everyone accepts is as such, but we've learned that many folks are not great at identifying "the people you could do it with".
old codger wrote:
WiTuLo wrote:
Not wearing a seatbelt. No one wore seatbelts when I was a kid, though they were required in all cars.
At least you cars had seatbelts. Here are some things I remember growing up in the late 50s and 1960s.
Drinking out of the hose
Walking or riding a bike to the store with friends when I was 7 or 8 to buy bubble gum or candy
Riding in the back of a pickup
Playing in the gutter after a heavy rain
Holding on to a car bumper on a snowy road
Lighting firecrackers/fireworks on the 4th (not possible in CA where I live)
Playing with toy guns/BB-guns
Riding a bike without a helmet
Playing games like dodge ball with no adult supervision
After school fights with no adult around
Learning to drive on a three on the tree in a car with no blinkers
Drag racing
Not carrying a phone everywhere I went, even on long hikes or runs alone
Traveling to another country without an itinerary and no way to contact anyone I knew
All of the safely rules and adult supervision around today are mostly just in economically advanced countries. In most developing countries kids are still on their own a lot with freedom to wander and older siblings watch out for the younger ones. And things like crosswalks and safety rules for bikes and scooters etc. largely don't exist.
Child of the 90s here (born mid 80s). I've also done most of these. Still do some.
Drinking out of the hose - In the words of Costanza, was that wrong? Should I not have done that?
Playing in the gutter after a heavy rain - never did this. Not sure I understand the draw TBH
Holding on to a car bumper on a snowy road - Never did this. Sounds like a blast though.
Riding a bike without a helmet - Still do. One of life's great simple pleasures (unless I crack my head open I guess)
After school fights with no adult around - Uncommon at the schools I went to.
Learning to drive on a three on the tree in a car with no blinkers - I learned on an auto, but once had the pleasure of driving a late 70s F100, with a 3 speed column shift manual
Not carrying a phone everywhere I went, even on long hikes or runs alone - I still never run eith a phone. Hike, yes, but no guarantees there will be any service.
Traveling to another country without an itinerary and no way to contact anyone I knew - I did some solo international travel before I had a smartphone. No desire to go back to that setup. Its much easier nowadays to wing it with no itinerary when you have the internet in your pocket.
retired guy here wrote:
Some of these things may have been dangerous or improper but they didn't seem wrong or bad at the time.
1 Slip and Slide - my kids loved doing this on a hot summer day.
2 Jarts - it was a fun family game.
3 Riding in the back of a station wagon - loved doing this when I was a kid.
4 Harmless mild sexually suggestive banter with coworkers. You knew the people you could do it with and often it was initiated by the female.
+1000 on Jarts, it was a blast at backyard neighborhood picnics but unbelievably hazardous; not a chance you could put out a product like that today unless it came with helmets and body armor. Never personally saw anyone get hit but there were plenty of close calls. Closest of all was the Saturday the dads were teamed up against the kids; of course the dads all have drinks going, not paying super close attention. My next door neighbor Todd launches one sky-high; came down about 2 inches from my dad's foot, really close to hitting him in the head. That was enough for my mom and out went the jarts!!
Born early 80s.
-making joey guns with friends and shooting stones at each other
- making various recipes in Jolly Roger cookbook for homemade fireworks etc (parents greenhouse fertiliser supplies came in handy)
- taking dinghy out fishing as 10 year olds without adult supervision
Freedom of speech. Freedom of the press. Humor. Sarcasm. Any thought critical of the liberal dogma.
you asked wrote:
Freedom of speech. Freedom of the press. Humor. Sarcasm. Any thought critical of the liberal dogma.
This could easily delve into politics which would consume this thread, but very related to your post, just being able to discuss politics at work or family gatherings. There used to be some generational political arguments that could get heated but today's political divisions and animosity are deeper and really more hateful.
You used to be able to make a good nature tease about someone's political orientation. Its too intense to do that now. The subject is taboo. You can only discuss politics with those who think like you.
Eating things out of the hedges (e.g. berries, small fruits)
Hitting someone in high school (probably legal action now)
Riding loose in the back of cars/jeeps
Getting a job with a one piece of paper CV as a teenager
Going around looking/asking for jobs in person instead of it being online
Various playground games that are probably banned now
Haven't had the thrill of jarts
old codger wrote:
WiTuLo wrote:
Not wearing a seatbelt. No one wore seatbelts when I was a kid, though they were required in all cars.
At least you cars had seatbelts. Here are some things I remember growing up in the late 50s and 1960s.
Drinking out of the hose
Walking or riding a bike to the store with friends when I was 7 or 8 to buy bubble gum or candy
Riding in the back of a pickup
Playing in the gutter after a heavy rain
Holding on to a car bumper on a snowy road
Lighting firecrackers/fireworks on the 4th (not possible in CA where I live)
Playing with toy guns/BB-guns
Riding a bike without a helmet
Playing games like dodge ball with no adult supervision
After school fights with no adult around
Learning to drive on a three on the tree in a car with no blinkers
Drag racing
Not carrying a phone everywhere I went, even on long hikes or runs alone
Traveling to another country without an itinerary and no way to contact anyone I knew
All of the safely rules and adult supervision around today are mostly just in economically advanced countries. In most developing countries kids are still on their own a lot with freedom to wander and older siblings watch out for the younger ones. And things like crosswalks and safety rules for bikes and scooters etc. largely don't exist.
1) Who is going to stop you from drinking out of a hose? I still do it sometimes when I'm watering the plants on a hot day.
2) My kids did that all the time.
3) Riding in the back off a pickup has always been stupid. Years back, some frat guys were riding in one, the driver lost control, rolled the truck and two guys died. I would go berserk if I found out that one of my children had ridden in the back of one.
4) Kids can still pkay in the gutter during a heavy rain if they qant.
5) Wearing a helmet is a good thing. I rarely see a rider without one on the American River bike trail.
6) I live in California so don't know about that hanging on to the bumper in the snow thing.
7) On the 4th of July, I see kids all over the place lighting fireworks. Maybe it's illegal, but the police can't be everywhere, the kids aren't going to have ID'S and most officers would have no interest in doing anything about it.
8) Nothing good comes from children playing with BB guns. My dad use to take me to the shooting range but there is absolutely no way he would have bought me a BB gun.
7) Dodge ball requires adult supervision? We only played it during P.E. anyway.
8) When is an adult invited to an after school fight? Sometimes I'll pick up my daughter at an adjacent park to avoid the traffic jam in front of the school and one time there was a fight going on. There was no adult present but there were about 100 kids, all with their phones out, recording the show.
9) I miss my old car that had a handle that I needed to crank to start the engine.
10) Drag racing has never been acceptable during my lifetime. A year after HS, five guys I had ran against in school were killed in a horrific accident caused by two punks that were drag racing. At the time I considered it to be murder one.
11) You don't need to take a cell phone with you on a hike. If there is no reception or you lose the charge, it will be just like not having one.
12) Since when do you need an intenerary to travel overseas?
Driving on acid or mdma. It might not be for everyone but I was so good at it, best times of my life
Playing with matches.
RIP: D3 All-American Frank Csorba - who ran 13:56 in March - dead
RENATO can you talk about the preparation of Emile Cairess 2:06
Running for Bowerman Track Club used to be cool now its embarrassing
Hats off to my dad. He just ran a 1:42 Half Marathon and turns 75 in 2 months!
Great interview with Steve Cram - says Jakob has no chance of WRs this year
Rest in Peace Adrian Lehmann - 2:11 Swiss marathoner. Dies of heart attack.
