When I was a Child...... - Page 4

janeec · ‎02-17-2013

Do you remember "fizzies?" You would drop them in water and they fizzed like alka selter but tasted almost like koolaid? How about all the neighborhood kids chasing lightning bugs and putting them in a jar to glow?

Or how about being able to play outside with our friends and the mothers were inside. Today the children have to be watched all the time for fear something will happen to them. We had much more freedom.

I think the best was Sundays. Stores were closed, and families rested or visited others, no shopping or errands.

Of course we didn't have air conditioning and summer nights could be hot.

I too was a mimeograph addict.

chihuahuamom · ‎06-25-2015

I'd forgotten about lightning bugs!!! Yes, we had the best time catching them and putting them into jars. That was in the south. I haven't seen ONE lightning bug since I've lived in southern California. Or frogs!!! ?????

Fizzies I remember. Also my parents owned a general merchandise store and at the front was a waist high coke machine. You'd put in your money (maybe ten cents) lift the lid and get a coke. It wasa treat!

Nonametoday · ‎03-09-2010

@chihuahuamom wrote:
I'd forgotten about lightning bugs!!! Yes, we had the best time catching them and putting them into jars. That was in the south. I haven't seen ONE lightning bug since I've lived in southern California. Or frogs!!! ?????

Fizzies I remember. Also my parents owned a general merchandise store and at the front was a waist high coke machine. You'd put in your money (maybe ten cents) lift the lid and get a coke. It wasa treat!

NAT: There’s a special place nobody knows way up on the hill,
Where the moon shines through the tall pines and the whole ****** world stands still.
I’m gonn’a take you there where you can’t be found, put a blanket down and let’s wait.
There ain’t nothing on this mountain but us, lightning bugs and rain.

AS AN ASIDE: Lightning bugs and frogs are dimiishing in some areas due to pollution. We still have them in my area but I hear from my children and sisters who live in California or the Northeast where there is more pollution that they don't have them either. My children spent summers at my mother's, loved to catch lightning bugs, see it raining frogs in summer, hear her tell tales (about me, my siblings, her and her siblings). They would work in her business just for the pleasure of the lazy summer evenings by her side watching nature and hearing her stories (she was a great storyteller).

qualitygal · ‎10-04-2010

WE had floor registers, and after my hair was washed and set by mom, she'd have us put our heads over the registers to dry the hair. That was the original hair blower. LOL

Our radio flyer red wagons, we played with those till the wheels fell off. They were anything from stage coaches, to racing machines or cars, etc.

Candy: red wax lips

training wheels on bikes, I had a favorite tree that was like a magnet. Glad we weren't near a lake at that time.

but chairs turned over with blankets on top, became hiding places, forts, caves, etc.

We were allowed to let our imaginations go crazy. Loved my childhood.

AuntG · ‎03-09-2010

We put Elmer's glue on our hands and then peeled it off during the bus ride home.

jubilant · ‎06-10-2010

I tried very hard not to step on a crack and break my mother's back.

gmkb · ‎07-29-2012

I grew up in Pittsburgh when the steel mills were all in business. There was an odor from the mills that my father described as 'rotten eggs.' As a child I loved that odor and would open the car window as we drove by. My parents would just chuckle and shake their head.

GRACIE · ‎04-14-2010

As a small child I love the taste of dirt,I would put in my mouth then spit it out. Did not like milk,ate my cornflakes with water. Love vegetables,still do.

ptagirl · ‎07-12-2010

@qualitygal wrote:
WE had floor registers, and after my hair was washed and set by mom, she'd have us put our heads over the registers to dry the hair. That was the original hair blower. LOL

Our radio flyer red wagons, we played with those till the wheels fell off. They were anything from stage coaches, to racing machines or cars, etc.

Candy: red wax lips

training wheels on bikes, I had a favorite tree that was like a magnet. Glad we weren't near a lake at that time.

but chairs turned over with blankets on top, became hiding places, forts, caves, etc.

We were allowed to let our imaginations go crazy. Loved my childhood.

Us kids always had a "fort city" when my mom scrubbed and waxed the kitchen. The chairs were moved into the living room and we'd cover them with blankets and play fort.

Also remember we had a fan that sat on the floor (ma used it to dry the floor after waxing it) with no protective cage, just the blades hanging out, but they were made out of rubber. You could stick your hand in there, but it gave you quite a sting...ha ha..we all had to eventually try that!

Also had a radio flyer wagon, which was totally beat to ****, with my four brothers constantly using it for something.

My dad made us a little log cabin out back to play in. We were always playing house or something. It was also a magnet for the neighbor kids.

We had a creek nearby and would go down there to jump off "lovers leap" (a high sandy hill), and we'd catch things to put in our aquarium, like little frogs, minnows, turtles, snails, and little algae that floated on the top. Our fish bowl always had something from the creek.

My childhood was wonderful, lots of friends and freedom to explore. Unlike today..scared to even let your children ride their bikes..of course they're probably sitting at their i-pads playing games anyway...don't know what they're missing...

Judaline · ‎03-10-2010

The whole neighborhood would go sled riding on a huge hill at the golf course-we climbed a huge fence to get in, but we all made it. The hill was nicknamed Nutcracker. (I didn't figure that out till I was about 30). One day we stayed too long-day had turned to night. My hands were frozen in spite of my mittens. I was crying they hurt so bad. My best friend pulled me home on my sled (I must have been able to scale the fence) and on the way home we stopped at our church and she held my hands over the candles. I think she saved my life that night! Now that's a true friend.