Community Chat

[gramgrandkids1]

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.

[bathina]

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. 

[Eileen in Virginia]

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.

[Catiele]

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. 

[gramgrandkids1]

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!

[spiderw]

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.

[blackhole99]

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. 

[jellyBEAN]

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. 

[Mersha]

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.

[SandySparkles]

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💖