Things you did in your childhood

jag101 · May 2014

DH and I were discussing things that we were allowed to do as kids, that there is noway we'll do with our kids, for example, we lived on a farm and if we were going to do something around the farm, we would ride in the box of the truck. Very unsafe. Another thing that was common was that when you went to a birthday party, they used to put money in the cake. What kind of things do you remember from your childhood that make you look back and think "what were our parents thinking?"

lala5507 · May 2014

I grew up in a city setting so I would walk to the playground with a friend (no parents), climb fences, my mom would send me to the store, I would walk a couple blocks to my friend's house. I don't remember what age I was but I know I was younger than 10. I don't know if I would let my kids do any of that, but we do not live in walking distance to any of that.

Money in the cake? I've never heard of that. Seems a little unsanitary.

MomIn2013 · May 2014

I totally remember money in the cake. - that was so cool! (The coins were all wrapped in waxed paper or something, if I remember correctly.)

When we were little kids they didn't have car seats, and no one really wore seatbelts either, so we were just sitting loose in the back seat of the car. This boggles my mind.

My friend and I used to walk quite a long ways alone, to go to the store or whatnot when we were pretty young (I want to say about 10?). I don't know how comfortable I'd feel with that today.

dizzycooks · May 2014

We were regularly sent a mile up the road for milk or to get a hair cut. I could actually see sending dd to do that, but there's a sidewalk to whole way. Maybe I was naive, but I swear we were sent out and told to come back at lunchtime. We knew the boundaries, but still I don't remember an adult poking their head out to check on us.

Mrs.Hizzo · May 2014

I was allowed to walk 1/2 mile to kindergarten by myself, down a busy street that had no sidewalk, just a soft shoulder.

From the age of 8 on, I'm fairly certain my mother had no idea where I was between the hours of 9 and 6, unless I was in school. I'd say, "X and I are going to ride bikes" in the morning and then show back up for dinner.

No one ever made me wear a seat belt in the car. I didn't wear a seat belt regularly until college, because it was one of those automatic ones. I remember a road trip we took to Montana, in my dad's 280ZX (tiny sports car). My parents folded down the bucket seats in back for the luggage and left another third of it for me. I spent the whole trip stretched out on my stomach reading. My dad got pulled over for speeding and the cop didn't say a thing about it.

Disneygeek77 · May 2014

My mom was pretty overprotective, at least for that era. Or perhaps I was one of those kids that would rather play in my back yard as opposed to riding around on my bike. So it is hard for me to think of things I will be doing differently. Maybe wear bike helmets, but that is only because no one really required kids to wear helmets back then.

jensriot · May 2014

I was given free run of the neighborhood until dinner time. I could ride my bike (no helmet) all over creation as long as I was home on time. That included going to the swimming pool, the store, trailblazing through the woods, whatever. I was about 10. I remember walking to my friend's house by myself at 5, but she was just a block away.

We always wore seatbelts, but no car seats. I do remember riding in the floorboard of the backseat on long trips.

Lawn darts.

We used to hit tennis balls at each other in the street because they bounced better there than in the grass.

I also stayed home by myself after school with my little sister for a few hours in late elementary school through high school. That was after walking home. I was also expected to start dinner.

Craziness

chickaboo1974 · May 2014

I do remember riding standing up in the backseat of my parents' car- and riding in the bed of my Dad's truck while going down gravel roads. We were restricted to our "yard" as kids- however that yard was 10 acres with horses in a pasture. So we were all over the "yard" and I do remember riding one of our horses bareback (but my parents did not allow that). we also climbed trees- like 80 foot trees as high as we could go. We played in the creek unsupervised too- which it wasn't deep all the time.

thechickencoop · May 2014

Riding in the trunk of my parents jeep. I swear they would purposely drive crazy to throw my sister and I around.

Sleeping along the backseat for road trips - we would each get a side and share that armrest thing that folds down in the middle for our 'pillow'.

Riding in center of the front bench seat of my grandparent's car. I was young.

No seatbelts. And my mom said that she turned our carseats around when we were a few months old because she hated not being able to see us.

Riding bikes around the neighborhood. Especially in the summer - "See ya!" in the morning and my parents wouldn't see us until dinner. Unless we all ended up there for lunch or something haha.

No bike helmets until it became a law.

Oh I know there are a ton of more things though and I'm not that old!

magentawarped · May 2014

So, random story: We used to have free roam of the neighborhood all summer. There was a neighborhood playground, and one day this old clunker car rolled up. There were like 10 kids there, not a single parent in sight. The guy rolled down the passenger window and asked for directions. I was the oldest, so I went over, keeping a safe distance.

Dude had no pants on. Naked from the waist down. Total perv. He probably got his rocks off from making me see his junk.

Being a kid, I just thought he was a weirdo. I never even told my parents about it until a few years ago. Apparently, the good old days were not as safe and carefree as we like to think.

Keeptruckin · May 2014

We were basically allowed to play all day outside in the summer. I can't see me allowing DD to be on her own for 10 hours without checking in but that's how we did it. We had a river behind our home, and from about 7 on we were allowed to stay and explore the forest and river until we felt like going home. I just can't see me doing that with DD.

caybeh · May 2014

I grew up on a farm. I would sit on the cover of the wheel of the loader with no cab with my dad while he drove around. I was told to be very careful as the wheel was below and just to sit still.

Dad would also take us kids out to pick rocks and would take the loader tractor with us three kids riding in the bucket of the tractor.

We had pop daily. Not a full can, but a small glass of pop and young. I have pictures of me around 2 drinking pop.

When I was like 4, I walked out to a field by myself. I didn't tell my mom where I was going, and I think she figured it out. My dad and siblings were out there picking rocks and evidently I felt left out. I'm pretty sure I got in trouble.

A lot of the stuff we did was dangerous, but we were always told about the dangers and to be extremely careful.

spring_time · May 2014

Sitting on my dad's lap while "driving" the car.

Putting the seats down in the minivan for long road trips and playing games without seat belts.

Walking/riding my bike 2 miles to the pool and my tennis lessons. My mom got sick of driving us twice a day.

Babysitting twin 3 month olds and a 3 year old starting at the age of 11/12.

Climbing on the roof to fish tennis balls out of the gutters because we weren't supposed to be hitting them against the side of the house. In fact, my favorite room in our new house has a window that opens onto a small roof. We gave our kids the smaller rooms just because we thought the roof looked too tempting.

Riding on my cousin's motorcycle with no helmet.

The real scary thing is that I was a very cautious kid. I can't imagine what my sister's list looks like.

Linnea503 · May 2014

Playing outside (not in our yard) unsupervised at age 4/5 in the city.

No bike helmets.

Unlimited TV.

Babysitting other kids when I was 12.

Walking to and from elementary school alone.

zbeesma86 · May 2014

we would play outside all day. we lived on a court- there were 3 of them in a row and we would run and play throughout all 3 with neighborhood kids all day. We were only home and inside for meals and bedtime.

we'd walk/ride our bikes to the pool and swim (it was super close, right by our school)

used to walk up to UDF (farther away) and buy candy/ice cream with friends.

mommyginab · May 2014

I totally remember riding in the back of my dads truck. Even at one time my friends and I would STAND UP back there while riding down the road. I honestly don't know how I survived childhood.

HBirdie · May 2014

We ran all over the place in our neighborhood, though I don't think it was dangerous and I hope when my kids are older, they can do the same. We checked in every few hours and we always wore helmets on bikes and were careful in streets.

I babysat a lot starting in 5th grade, sometimes for 3-4 kids at once. Now I look back and think, "Geez, that's a lot of responsibility for an 11 year old." I remember in particular in fifth grade, I babysat a woman's 2, 4, and 5 year old daughters pretty often while she was at work on Saturdays, for like 8 hours at a time. She was our neighbor so most of the time my mom was across the street, if I needed anything, but... wow. I was making them mac and cheese for lunch, giving them their antibiotics when they were sick, walking them down the street to the playground... I wouldn't let a kid that young watch my kids now!

fintin · May 2014

My list is about the same. No seatbelts. No helmets. Free reign of the neighborhood. We also went to the grocery store for our mom because it was behind our house and we just went through the back alley. The only rule on sodas was that dad got the last dr pepper.

I remember all these things and sometimes let my son do some of the smaller things. Let him drive on dh's lap from our house to my parents (we live like 2 streets over) and give him soda now and then. Most of the time he prefers water or milk though. I also let him play outside "by himself with his friends" (our doors are always open and I check on him about every 5 minutes without him knowing haha) Call me a bad parents but the things I did as a child made me feel independent and I want him to have that feeling too.

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