# Childhood



## squatting dog (Apr 17, 2021)

Sometimes I'm not sure that we have advanced very much.


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## jujube (Apr 17, 2021)

Playing in the mud. Climbing trees (and falling out of them..)  I'm Superman! I'm Batman! Building tents out of old sheets in the backyard. Running wild through the woods.

Most importantly.....never saying "I'm bored" to your mother or you'd find out real fast that there were worse things than being bored.


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## Pappy (Apr 17, 2021)

I use to line up all the chairs I could lift and play train with them. Bet I traveled a million miles that way.


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## Aunt Marg (Apr 17, 2021)

One classic memory I have of my early childhood, waiting for the street washer truck to visit our neighbourhood, and when the driver would empty the tank, which happened quickly, resulting in a rush of water down the street nearly a foot deep when it was first released, us kids would dart out and run through the flowing water.

What fun we had.


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## Aunt Bea (Apr 17, 2021)

The thing that I enjoyed most about my childhood was my independence.

In those days once you were old enough to cross the street by yourself you could pretty much go anywhere and do anything.


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## Llynn (Apr 17, 2021)

Finding enough scrap parts to keep my old J.C. Higgins bike on the road after all the many crashes it suffered on gravel logging roads.


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## Aunt Marg (Apr 17, 2021)

Aunt Bea said:


> The thing that I enjoyed most about my childhood was my independence.
> 
> In those days once you were old enough to cross the street by yourself you could pretty much go anywhere and do anything.


Boy, hasn't that changed. 

Kids nowadays are contained inside white picket fences (those that dare to venture outside), and otherwise there's an eerie absence of children outdoors playing today, unlike in the 60's and 70's, where everyone was outside (always).


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## Aunt Bea (Apr 17, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> Boy, hasn't that changed.
> 
> Kids nowadays are contained inside white picket fences (those that dare to venture outside), and otherwise there's an eerie absence of children outdoors playing today, unlike in the 60's and 70's, where everyone was outside (always).


We always vanished when we heard these magic words: _"If you're bored I'll find something for you to do!"_


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## Sassycakes (Apr 17, 2021)

* All my memories of my childhood were wonderful. We lived in the city and there were so many kids our age that lived on the same block so you were never alone when you went outside. My Mom had 5 brothers and 5 sisters that lived very close to us and I had loads of cousins. Every summer we all went to the seashore together. One of my Uncles owned a grocery store near my elementary school and he insisted I stop there every day so he could give me treats. They truly were wonderful times that I wish the kids of today had too.*


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## SeaBreeze (Apr 17, 2021)

squatting dog said:


> Sometimes I'm not sure that we have advanced very much.
> 
> 
> 
> View attachment 160225


That's how it was for me too.  I was pretty young when we got our first black and white TV, and was a teenager before we got a phone.  If I was bored, my mother always had some cleaning that I could do, so I didn't talk about being bored too often.  Like Pappy, we used to line up my mother's kitchen chairs in the kitchen, and I used to play train with my brother, had a box of Good and Plenty once to shake like in the commercial.  We made a 'fort' out of sheets in the house, simpler times for sure.


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## Rosemarie (Apr 17, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> Boy, hasn't that changed.
> 
> Kids nowadays are contained inside white picket fences (those that dare to venture outside), and otherwise there's an eerie absence of children outdoors playing today, unlike in the 60's and 70's, where everyone was outside (always).


Perhaps that is how your neighbourhood is....in England there are plenty of children playing outside, and they still play all the old street games as well as have bikes, skates and skateboards.


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## tbeltrans (Apr 17, 2021)

Kids today will be looking back fondly on their childhoods, and askance at the new developments in their children's world.  It happens with every generation.  My parents did it, their parents did it, and so it continues in this thread and similar threads that have started periodically around here since I came aboard and I am sure, well before that.  It is just another part of getting older.

Tony


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## horseless carriage (Apr 17, 2021)

Aunt Marg said:


> One classic memory I have of my early childhood, waiting for the street washer truck to visit our neighbourhood, and when the driver would empty the tank, which happened quickly, resulting in a rush of water down the street nearly a foot deep when it was first released, us kids would dart out and run through the flowing water.
> 
> What fun we had.



One memory that will always remain vivid. Every neighbourhood had a park, sculptured shrubs, flower borders and beautiful lawns. In a corner of the park would be a children's play area with recreational facilities like swings and slides.
We had a slide that was just like the one in the photo. Back then sliced bread came in a waxed wrapping. That wrapping made excellent polish to give the slide some serious oomph. One boy would go down the slide sitting on the waxed wrapper, the next boy would go down without said wrapper, he was doing the polishing. We would alternate each trip down the slide, with the wrapper, then without.
On the day in my memory we had that slide waxed to perfection, the reason I remember was because a young mother allowed her four year old toddler to climb the stairs, at the top he waved at his mother as she waited at the end of the slide. His little hands let go and the next thing you know, he whizzes past mother, clears ten feet and ends up in the shrubbery. Mother retrieves her son, looks around to scold the culprits only to find the play area completely empty. Boy did that kid fly!


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## Ruth n Jersey (Apr 17, 2021)

I had a wonderful childhood, as soon as I could ride my bike the whole neighborhood was my playground.  I'd have breakfast, get on my blue bike with a basket on the handle bars and a bell and in a short time my group of girlfriends were ready for the day.
We would play in each others yard, go to the lake a few blocks away, or the swing set in the park. At noon we headed home for lunch.    
Less than a half hour later we would be together again. 
The last thing my mom would say was, "be home at 5:00 and don't slam the door on the way out." I did both.
None of wanted or expected to go in each others houses. If we got thirsty we drank from the hose. 
I'm not sure we even went to the bathroom the whole day, we certainly didn't use our friends bathroom. Wow! to have a bladder like that today.
Once  in awhile a kindly grandpa would hand us a few cents for ice cream. A real treat.  
;


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## hollydolly (Apr 17, 2021)

We would roam all day long at the weekends , go to the nearby  park and sail paper boats on the lake because we couldn't afford real toy boats.. and very occasionally we'd manage to hire a little pedalo...we'd have cheap fishing nets and gather tadpoles in jars...

We'd get ourselves to the Baths (swimming pool)  about 3 miles away on Saturday mornings, and gather all what was left of our money afterwards to buy a bag of hot steaming chips from the Italian chip chop next door to warm us up after shivering to get dry after our hour or 2 in the unheated indoor pool.. before our walk home

I  have lots of siblings and loads of cousins so were never without someone  to play with... and because we were poor and didn't have bikes or skates our friends would lend us theirs occasionally... 

We'd climb walls, Trees, anything we could get up to...we'd jump on the bus and get off at the next stop before the conductor had time to come and take our fare..

Like everyone here I could go on forever about what we could dothen..none less than that swing park that you posted @horseless carriage , with a super high slide and little hut at the top..and the witches hat, and roundabouts and huge see-saws...and swings where we would clamber on 2 at a time and get as high as we could so we were horizontal...


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## Gaer (Apr 17, 2021)

I was alone, always down at the Yellowstone River, climbing in the caves or building fantasy cities at the gravel pit.
I did a lot of things which could have, SHOULD have killed me.  I was always taking chances.  
For some reason, it was important for me to do stupid things and see if I could still survive.
Oh, i was thefeminine little girl with the blue eyes and long blond hair but, kids wern'tsupposed to be underfoot 
until dinner time. so I had a lot of time to make mischief!


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## cdestroyer (Apr 17, 2021)

mid 50's mostly,,, neighborhood kids, played cowboys/indians, war, hide and seek, rode bikes, tried to capture pigeons with a box, stick with string tied to it and some grain. rambled all over the neighborhood blocks came home when all the bad guys were dealt with and it was to dark to see them anymore,,,ha........built forts, played baseball, went camping on weekends summer time family fun, winter time sledding down steep hills, hockey on flooded empty lot, skating on different lot....but like the  song the statler brothers sing, class of '57,,things got complicated when we all got past 18,,,


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## Sassycakes (May 1, 2021)

I was listening to music today and it brought back wonderful memories of when I was growing up.I lived in the City and We were a bunch of kids all around the same age and we always played music outside at night. I remember dancing to this song and many others. They were the good old days.


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## Keesha (May 1, 2021)

I was very fortunate to live in a very cool neighbourhood. There were lots of kids to play with and play we did from recess, lunchtime, other recess, after school. We played Rover, Rover, Red light-green light, hide & seek, hop scotch,jumpsy  ropes, skipping, roller skates, tobogganing,road  hockey, biking, flying kites, hiking,....

Inside we played Barbies, barrel of monkeys, cards, colouring, Spirograph, snakes & ladders, monopoly, painting, listened to music, made a cake etc....There was always something to do.

We were fully engaged and generally happy.


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## Pam (May 2, 2021)

Rosemarie said:


> Perhaps that is how your neighbourhood is....in England there are plenty of children playing outside, and they still play all the old street games as well as have bikes, skates and skateboards.


My grandson playing hopscotch. He's a little bit older now and hopscotch has been replaced by football (soccer).


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## Been There (May 2, 2021)

A lot of good memories in these posts.


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## chic (May 2, 2021)

I miss our independence and the creativity we showed in inventing games to amuse ourselves. We went everywhere in groups, into the city to enjoy museums, out to lunch ( I started young), playing spy and rock star, going skating, swimming, boating, hiking, biking, building brush camps,  and the kids who were older looked after the little ones so moms could have a whole day off knowing everyone was looked after. It was such a great time. I feel so sorry for kids of today who must be driven or escorted everywhere with a parent or grandparent. They are missing so much.


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## 911 (May 2, 2021)

In the summertime when we would have thunderstorms, my dad would go outside and stand on the porch and watch the lightning. I would go outside and stand beside him never knowing why we were doing that. Today, I no longer have the urge to do that, but it’s a good memory. I have wondered why I never asked dad why we were standing outside watching the lightning. My 1 sister is the opposite. If it’s a bad storm, she heads to the basement.


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## Ken N Tx (May 3, 2021)

Knife/scissor sharpener vender.


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## Dana (May 3, 2021)

My childhood in the New Forest, Hampshire, UK was magical, so were holidays with my Mother's sisters in Cornwall and Devon. I would be lying if I did not say I sometimes long for those days again. Parents who were always there, sometimes strict, but always fair and loving.

Loved my secret walks with my Father, he was a botanist as well as having another career...our nature walks, and that's how I got my love of trees and flowers. He'd stop and explain everthing to me, jump puddles with me and fish for tadpoles with me. 

My Mother, so charming would sit me on the kitchen counter, so I could watch her baking...then as soon as the biscuits were done, like conspirators, we'd have a little tea party all by ourselves. My parents always found time to play with us. I miss them....


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## Lewkat (May 3, 2021)

My bike was my best friend and I'd ride all over to other neighborhoods, meet new kids, stop and play games and onto the the next adventure.  Never bored as long as my bike functioned and I made certain it did.


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