topic Re: Do you remember? in Community Chat

Do you remember?

gramgrandkids1 — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 03:27:40 GMT

Do you remember doing things as a child that you would not let your children or grandchildren do now? I remember in the summer playing outside with my friends and not having to come in until it was almost dark. No worries about any danger from anyone. Going trick or treat with friends and could eat what we were given. We did live in a small town, not a large city.

Re: Do you remember?

bathina — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 03:38:56 GMT

We took off on our bikes (no helmets) and were gone until the street lights came on. We did go home for lunch. I was in 5th grade.

Re: Do you remember?

Eileen in Virginia — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 03:40:11 GMT

I remember walking to see movies with my friends when I was 8 or 9 years old. The movie theater was about 2 miles from home and no one thought anything of it.

During the summer we'd play flashlight tag in the back yards and back drive. We probably didn't stay out much past 9:00, but it seemed much later.

We always went trick or treating after dark and thought one friend's mother was crazy for inspecting her candy before letting her eat it.

We lived in a blue collar suburb of Philadelphia that's probably bigger than a lot of small towns, but we knew most of the people in our neighborhood.

Re: Do you remember?

Catiele — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 03:43:53 GMT

My growing up was the same as yours. Went home when the street lights came on. So different now. We moved to the country. Actually we lived in the woods. It's my granddaughters that I am concerned about.

Re: Do you remember?

gramgrandkids1 — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 04:13:51 GMT

Oh how could I forget this one...doors were not locked all day, only locked them at night. I loved eating lunch with a certain neighborhood friend because her mom always had Jello chocolate pudding (the kind you had to cook). My parents were not friends with her parents, but the kids on my street were always eating at each other's house for lunch. It was soup or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, or grilled cheese sandwiches nothing fancy or expensive but we were kids and it was fun to eat someplace other than home. This was pre fast food days!

Re: Do you remember?

spiderw — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 04:23:14 GMT

My friends and I speak of this exact subject often. We had a lot of freedom and were always outside playing , going to the park which was blocks away, walking around and just being kids and teens. We did it all without phones too and survived, imagine that!

Of course now it is a different world and children are glued to technology and are not out and about with friends. They have to be driven to activities and sports. Because of fear and the violence that goes on, I understand why children cannot have the freedoms I did. I made so many friendships and still have them, it makes a difference in my life as an older person.

I know the world wasn't perfect growing up but my parents didn't worry about safety when we were out with friends. Different world, different times.

Re: Do you remember?

blackhole99 — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 04:33:47 GMT

I grew up in the 50's, unfortunately for we kids, my parents were irresponsible. We ran wild in the streets from the time we could walk, we had no guidance from my mother, she never knew where we were after we left the house and she never asked where we were going. We were always left to our own devices,we played hide and seek till 10 pm in the summer and it was nothing for me as a 7 year old to walk across town alone, to visit my grandmother. We were the kids on the block who ran around with knives and blew up stuff in our basement. My siblings and I today would have no doubt been removed from the home, I still wonder how most of us survived, my 4 year old brother did not.

Re: Do you remember?

jellyBEAN — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 04:46:31 GMT

I grew up when cars didn't yet have seatbelts. Would ride on my Mom's lap in the front seat so I could see out the window.

Neighbor across the street - her father had a pickup truck, and we'd ride in the open bed in the back if he had to run weekend errands and then he'd stop at Carvel and we'd get ice cream.

Like everyone else, out from morning till evening just playing, riding bikes, walked to and from school (just shy of 2 miles each way) and walked pretty much everywhere else. As teens we'd go to a bus stop and ride the bus a few towns over to go shopping in the department stores and cool head shops. Fun fun fun.

Heres something funny: My other neighbors a few houses away would be given cash to ride the train into NYC, and then get on the subway to Yankee stadium to watch a game and then come home - 2 girls 1 boy - all by themselves - all before they were even teenagers.

Re: Do you remember?

Mersha — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 04:58:40 GMT

Yes, I was also the kid who had to be home when the streetlights came on. They had no clue where we were or what we were doing. We lived fairly close to a cemetery and would go there to ride bikes, walk and tell great ghost stories.

I can't believe the busy road that my friends and I walked to school on....no sidewalks and we were in the road half the time, and that was first grade.

Occasionally, we would head to school, leave our books in a sewer drain, and hop a bus to hang around downtown for the day. (Unfortunately, we were eventually caught and it ended, and not in a good way).

When I was older, 14, my boyfriend was 16 and had a motorcycle. He would stop by and I would hop on the back and off we would go for the day.

I am not sure how we survived all of the above but my children were never allowed to do anything like it and I am certain the same will be true for my grandchildren.

Re: Do you remember?

SandySparkles — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 05:57:59 GMT

I had very little supervision as a young girl, unless I had to watch my little brother and sister. Sometimes, I would let them tag along with my friends and me. When my mother YELLED out my name at night, I knew it was time to go home. If I didn't respond in a timely manner, I was grounded big time. Sometimes, my mother became Mike Tyson.LOL In fact, I think he learned some of his famous moves from HER! Needless to say, I was USUALLY within earshot of my mother's yell when the time came. On rare occasions, I would hang out a little too late, and did a slow walk home while planning my funeral, because I knew she was going to keeeeeeel me LOL. I was not allowed to tell her NO, because if I did, my friends would be asking what time were visiting hours over. Those were the days ( singing like Edith Bunker ). That was a wonderful memory.😊

~~~All we need is LOVE💖

Re: Do you remember?

Carmie — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 06:09:02 GMT

I grew up with strict older parents and we were not allowed to run in the streets. I had to stay on the sidewalk on our side of the street and was given boundaries.

My mother had to be able to see us when she looked for us. My best friend lived at house #201 on the opposite side of the street than I did at #260. If we visited, our mothers would watch us cross the street and watch until we disappeared from view. When we arrived, we had to call home and say we got there safely. There were actually very few cars on our street.

We had to be home for lunch and dinner and on the porch when whistle blew for curfew..our town had a curfew.

I remember upsetting my mother two different times and she thought I was kidnapped. Once I crossed the street to visit an elderly neighbor. We sat on the porch talking, then she invited me inside to look at some pictures. My mother couldn't find me and was crying when I got home.

Another time, I had some money and walked to a neighborhood store a few blocks away to buy some soda and candy. When I got home, I remember my mother sitting in the kitchen crying. She was really happy to see that I was alive and well, but I received a few slaps on my behind for leaving without permission. I never did that again.

I was around 13 when I was allowed to cross the street and ride a bike more than 1/2 block from home. I still had to tell where I was and call if I was at a friend's house.

I was, as were the kids in my neighborhood on a tight leash. I grew up in an Italian neighborhood and went to an Italian school. All the kids were raised that way. Our neighborhood was safe.

When I went to high school with kids from other neighborhoods, I was shocked at their freedom. I never knew that other kids were raised differently until then.

Re: Do you remember?

CrazyKittyLvr2 — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 06:07:41 GMT

I grew up in a suburb of a good size town. There were quite a few kids in the neighborhood. In the summer we went from back yard to back yard playing. Sometimes we went to the playground at the elementary school on the next block. Everyone's Mother had the authority to yell at anyone who misbehaved and you knew your parents knew before you got home. We played until dark.

I babysat at 11/12 yrs. old for my 3 cousins, the youngest was a year old. It was only 3 blocks from home. Needless to say, I was a responsible. I remember talking to my Aunt (by marriage) one night when I was 15. The next day she told my Mother she couldn't believe how mature I was for my age.

Re: Do you remember?

Azcowgirl — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 06:14:11 GMT

I grew up spending summers at our beach cabin, and my best friend was a boy. We always had lunch at each other’s cabins and slept out on the beach together as kids in our tent and sleeping bags. All the kids did.

Re: Do you remember?

FastDogWalker2 — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 13:54:42 GMT

Yes, great memories! I walked alone to school - no adult in sight! We could ride our bikes, too, in nice weather. When we were older, we would walk to "town" to buy candy and soda. I also walked or rode my bike to my piano lessons. In the winter, our parents would drop us off at the outside skating rink or sledding hill and we would stay for hours and in the summer at the local pool - no cell phone! When we were in middle school, we would ride the city bus down town and shop and get lunch. Definitely, a safer and less restrictive childhood and I miss those times.

Re: Do you remember?

gramgrandkids1 — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 14:13:57 GMT

@SandySparkles LOL...I feel your pain! I think my mom learned a few moves from being Mike Tyson's sparing partner. One of the few times she showed her moves it was over scrambled eggs. I never liked eggs and she fixed them for breakfast. She went out the back door to hang clothes on clothes line (no dryer). I thought that would be a good time to get rid of the eggs. I went out the front door and threw the eggs under the bush that was next to the house in the front yard. She came back in and there I sat at the table with my empty plate. Thought I was home free until some birds started making a racket. She went outside to see what all the fuss was about and I was busted. She came back inside and I knew it was not going to end well for me. She gave me an big time spanking all the while telling me "we don't waste food". To this day I try not to be wasteful.

Re: Do you remember?

LindaSal — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 15:15:48 GMT

I have a lot of similarties of childhood with you all. We grew up in the country and would go for long walks in the woods, sometimes even getting lost!! I never would have let my kids wonder off like that but you could in those days. We did always have to go in when the streetlights came on too. We had a happy childhood and would never give my mom any backtalk either........being slapped upside the head (lightly) was probably not a good thing but I have to say, it made for extremely well behaved kids!!!!! Had a stable childhood though,

so I cannot complain as many were not so lucky.

@blackhole99 I am sorry for your childhood, your story made me sad.

Re: Do you remember?

lovesrecess — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 16:27:53 GMT

We had no seatbelts in cars...now we must buckle our grandkids into car seats. Our safety system consisted of my mom putting her right arm out in front of whoever was riding in the front seat each time the car was stopping. We even piled into the back of our neighbor’s pickup truck to go for rides and to see fireworks on the 4th. Can’t do that anymore. And when I think of how far and the places we rode our bikes...😬

Re: Do you remember?

kelsey17 — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 16:24:10 GMT

@gramgrandkids1 wrote:
Do you remember doing things as a child that you would not let your children or grandchildren do now? I remember in the summer playing outside with my friends and not having to come in until it was almost dark. No worries about any danger from anyone. Going trick or treat with friends and could eat what we were given. We did live in a small town, not a large city.

I could have written your same memories.....what a different world it was...

Re: Do you remember?

Laura14 — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 17:32:21 GMT

The funniest thing I've seen lately round my neighborhood with the exception of the postwoman bathing in my lawn sprinklers was a little girl and a bike.

I was so shocked to see a kid being a kid and actually out doing what we all did. It warmed my heart that a parent was doing it old school with their child.

Then she got closer and I noticed she wasn't on the bike, she was walking the bike. I looked to see if her chain had come off but the bike was fine.

She was just pushing the bike with one hand and staring at her cellphone with the other. At least she has learned not to text and drive a vehicle but really? Childhood has come to this?

My smile faded and I walked back in the house and lost all hope in the younger generation again. These kids just don't know what they are missing.

Re: Do you remember?

PamfromCT — Thu, 09 Jan 2020 18:19:05 GMT

I have fond memories of growing up in a small town. Now in my mid-70s, it was a long time ago! I had good and caring parents, but it was a different time and place. My parents never locked their doors, and we would walk to movies with friends, take off on long bike rides, etc. I also remember bomb drills in early elementary school, where we were taught to hide under our desks in case of an attack. WWII was over not that long before.

We have young grandchildren, and life has so dramatically changed. Their parents are strict and proactive, and so are we when the kids stay with us. It is just a fact of life.