When I was a kid

[Guest Ignorant Pete]

I grew up to the age of ten in a rather rough Illinois city. Then we moved to "the country" - a lake, really just the suburbs.

 

In the city, I walked to school, 8 blocks every day. We were warned not to go into some neighborhoods but Mom handed me a lunchbox and I was gone for the day. If I wanted, I'd go to my friends house after school, and show up at home around dinner time. I was expected to call home when I got to his house.

 

I learned to ride a bike on a sidewalk next to a busy two-way highway. I rolled out into the road at least twice, I learned to dodge traffic pretty well.

 

When we moved to the country, the third day we were there I wiped out on my bike and broke my arm. No helmet. I kept riding my bike, never once even thought about a helmet, but I knew which lever was the front brake.

In the summer we'd be gone from 8 in the morning until around 11 PM unless we came home for dinner (and we'd take off again after that). Often, my best buddy and I would hitchhike to town (about 5 miles I think) and we never worried about pervs, because we'd just run away.

 

You couldn't do this stuff today. So, what kind of trouble did you get into as a kid that wouldn't happen these days?

[Freddyness]

Swung off lamp shades, surfed down roofs, jumped in to cardboard banks the usual young girl things like beheading barbies & playing with sticks.

 

 

Being young was good you never had to really worry about anything.

[Cia]

I grew up in a small town in the Pacific Northwest, it was all I knew til I was 11. We rode bikes, dirt bikes on specially made trails with jumps and stuff, swam in the river, climbed trees... typical outdoor kid stuff. The biggest risk was drunk train hitchhikers getting off in the town and since I lived near the tracks we usually had to cautious down our long driveway at night. We too were gone all day without anyone worrying about us, though if we didn't show up for dinner we were in big trouble

 

Then I started spending summers with my mom outside of Washington DC. That was a wake-up call! City block after city block! It was my first trip to a real public library (yes, book worm I was that thrilled me almost more than the monuments), the Smithsonians... I was in heaven brain wise with all the things available in the city. Plus my first trip to an actual beach. You can't swim safely on the Oregon and Washington coastline so I'd never been in salt water before. To some extent it was't bad there, I could roller skate 2 miles to the local park and often did on my own, even though large parts of the road were secluded. Then reality set in. My mom took us pretty much everywhere and had to keep a close eye out, I had a pair of guys try to lure me into 'taking their picture' in a rest stop on a road trip, we had to lock doors often times when we drove in the city and the sights of a city you become innured to, street people, sex workers, druggies... those were a shock to me. So I think that part of 'those freedoms' to roam as a kid were not as obvious to my city dwelling times.

 

Now I live outside a larger city but it's here in the Pacific Northwest still. There is country close by but my kids have no freedom. They play in the fenced backyard, never in my front yard. If they go outside to play, so does our doberman. He can get from the back to the front fence in 4 seconds flat, way faster than any childnapper could dream of. There is no 'wandering about' town and if we go swimming they are within arm reach. If we go out in public, say to the zoo, I make my kids stay in my line of sight at all times, if not actively holding my hands. At the park I rarely read or write, most of the time I'm too busy just watching to make sure they stay safe.

 

Part of this is because we pay more attention to dangers now and part of it is that the dangers have gone up. I wonder often if the increased media availability of crimes involving children is not partly to blame. We know more now, because we see it more now. It's not 'an isolated incident' that 'could never happen here' because we see cases online, in the news, fictionalized on cable tv... I for one with err on the side of caution as a parent. My kids can have freedom when they are 18. Well... maybe 30.

[option]

Part of this is because we pay more attention to dangers now and part of it is that the dangers have gone up. I wonder often if the increased media availability of crimes involving children is not partly to blame. We know more now, because we see it more now. It's not 'an isolated incident' that 'could never happen here' because we see cases online, in the news, fictionalized on cable tv... I for one with err on the side of caution as a parent. My kids can have freedom when they are 18. Well... maybe 30.

 

yet the numbers generally show that they havnt

 

 

this is for homicide/murder:

http://en.wikipedia....l_homicide_rate

(per year per 100,000 inhabitants )

 

Cntry 2000 - 01 - 02 - 03 - 04 - 05 - 06 - 07 - 08 - 09

 

US 5.5 - 5.6 - 5.6 - 5.7 - 5.5 - 5.6 - 5.7 - 5.6 - 5.4 - 5.0

 

they also have the figures for individual states for 2008 & 2009

 

 

missing children:

http://www.missingki.../Statistics.pdf

797,500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one-year period of time studied resulting in an average of 2,185 children being reported missing each day.

203,900 children were the victims of family abductions.

58,200 children were the victims of non-family abductions.

115 children were the victims of "stereotypical" kidnapping. These crimes involve someone the child does not know or a slight acquaintance who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently.

(thats for all of the US)

 

thats 'reported missing', so includes kids getting lost, wandering off, not being home by a certain time & parents calling the police

even if they are reported missing & found an hour later, they still go into the stats

so a child is more than twice as likely to just be 'missing' than 'taken'

they are 1773 times more likely to be taken by a family member than a kidnapper

 

 

this report gives a lot more detail

http://www.missingki...t2_overview.pdf

 

eg. Of the estimated 797,500 reported missing children, 31,100 (4 percent) experienced multiple types of episodes. Every reported missing child with multiple episodes experienced a runaway/thrownaway episode and a missing benign explanation episode.

[Arpeggio]

I didn't really do anything as a kid that can't be done today, I guess. I was born in 1992.

 

But I do know the importance of safety. My brothers don't ride their bikes without their helmets, no matter what. It's not sheltering them, but it's very easy to be injured, even from a short fall from a bicycle. My father was hit by a car, not even going fast, and he fell and hit his head. He felt fine until he went home and passed out on the couch, then he never woke up. It was because blood was pooling in his head as he was sleeping, and he never once considered to go to the hospital because he felt fine.

 

So yeah, I see the importance of some things. I've always had to wear my seatbelt, tell my parents where I was, call them at certain times, and to not "do anything stupid" which I did anyways because sometimes stupidity is inevitable.

 

I'm an older brother, a much older brother. I'm 19 and my siblings are 12, 6, 4, and the newest brother is only three months old nearly. I only live with two, Joey and Noah, but I make sure they don't do anything stupid, like riding their bike in the road or near the river, whenever my parents can't keep up.

[Tipdin]

This is depressing. One can guess at someone's age just by reading the list of things that can no longer be done. My list is long, suggesting that my age is something approaching dinosaur-ick. Some of these are things that can no longer be done and some of them are things that no longer ARE done.

 

• I grew up in Minneapolis and could hang out on ANY street corner at ANY time of the day of night. There was no place in the entire city that we could not go into to play. Sure can't do that anymore!
• Every boy carried a pocket knife in school.
• We sifted through trash in the alleys looking for bottles that we could return for the nickle or dime deposit.
• You could leave any bicycle any place you wanted to and nobody would touch it.
• You could ask a complete stranger to watch your dog while you went into the store for a bottle of soda or a candybar.
• You could leave your house unlocked and empty for days on end.
• You could leave your car keys in the ignition.
• You could hitchhike or pick up a hitchhiker without concern.
• Any adult anywhere could put you in your place.
• Parents expected you to follow rules.
• Adults were treated with respect - and could cause a great deal of trouble for you if you didn't treat them appropriately!
• You could do business on a handshake, paper deals took place between strangers.
• Running around with your pants down around your knees could land you in jail - and everyone around you would be thankful!
• We didn't expect to own every gadget known to man and could survive just fine without them.
• Sharing a bedroom with only one sibling was a big promotion.
• Sharing a bathroom with only one other person (in there with you) was a huge promotion.
• Dinner time, evening curfew, and bedtime were all carved in stone.
• An extra dollar meant that you could take a friend to lunch!
• Midnight and Sunday meant NOTHING was happening anywhere, everyplace was closed for the day, and all four TV stations were off the air until six the next morning.

That's just a quick list off the top of my head. I'm sure there are many more things that I'm not recalling right now.

Edited January 10, 2011 by Tipdin

[MikeL]

Ditto for Memphis in the 1940s and 1950s. The world was a lot safer then (except for the foreign wars, of course). Bicycle helmets had not been invented nor had anyone started lobbying the state legislature to require them. I guess things were not only safer; they were simpler. We always played in the street...there were very few cars and lots of room there. The streets were well lighted so we could play until long after dark. The only limitation was to remain close enough to home to hear your name when it was called. The one thing you never wanted to hear was your middle name.

[JamesSavik]

I grew up in rural Mississippi outside of Jackson and can tell you that I don't have idyllic memories of the time.

 

One of the first times that I heard the word homosexual was in regard to the Candyman killer in Houston during the early seventies. For a while we thought that homosexual meant killer but we were like 7 so fuk it.

 

There was also a neighborhood plumber/pedophile that chased boys of a certain age around the neighborhood. You were screwed (literally) if you didn't know his game. He would pay you if you would do it and pay you if you would give him the name and phone number of another kid who would do it. The old creep finally got caught and had a heart attack.

 

Some of the nostalgia about "better times" is simply selective memory. There has always been a certain number of creepazoids in any given population. You can get lucky and never encounter one or... they could be your uncle, Dad's bestest golf buddy, a church deacon or they might live next door. You just never know.

 

That doesn't mean that you must live like a paranoid shut in. Just pay attention and stay aware and that will keep you out of most trouble.

 

Keep a .45 handy for the rest.

[DragonMando]

I grew up way in the country, the closest neighbors being a good ways off, but still...

 

- not allowed to go outside alone

- not allowed to go outside without an adult in view

- not allowed to go to friends' houses unless my parents went too

- not allowed to do anything remotely dangerous such as climb trees or play on ice

- not allowed to go swimming outside of my mom's view

- when at church, had to stay within view of parents at all times

- when at the store, had to keep in physical contact with parent or cart at all times

- not allowed to pick up the phone for any reason until age 14, then only if it was mom, dad, or grandma until 16, but after that all phone convos were closely monitored

- not allowed to associate with anyone not from the immediate family or the family church

[Bumblebee]

Until I was around 12, my sister and I were given huge freedom.

Most of this was my cousin Ben and I, since my sister was always quieter then us two.

Ben and I were pretty big trouble makers

 

- We were allowed to go wonder around until it got dark in winter and a few hours after dark in summer

- If we had money we would go get pizza or fish and chips for dinner and just stay out all night playing in a park or something

 

- Ringing our parents to see if it was ok to stay at friends was so not cool.... which is why our friends mum would call my mum

 

- My older cousin (Ben) and I use to skateboard down thie massive hill, which turned into the main road

 

- Ben and I would go into the city on the train by ourselfs (I would have been around 9 and he would have been 14)

 

- When we were skateboarding, bike riding, horse riding, rollar blading and wheelie bin racing we didn't use helmets

 

- Dad taught us to bike ride around our pool, so if you fell over you got wet... mum insisted on the helmets

 

- We were allowed to swim without adults watching, as long as their were atleast 3 of us, and one of our parents were home

 

- We could walk to school... over a busy main road and past shopping centres 2kms from home

 

- We use to climb up everything we could and see who didn't fall off

 

- We played helicopter with the skipping rope, without anyone worrying that we might lose an eye

 

- When Ben and I played video games, the loser would get punched, and we wouldn't get into trouble because it was all part of the game (we still do this)

 

- All my friends and familys houses were left un-locked in case we wanted food/drinks

 

- Our parents trusted us with $50 to go down to the shops and come back with only the items on the list

 

- We could go to the beach without our parents hovering

- And get sunburnt because "cool" kids didn't wear sunscreen

 

- Friends could turn up for dinner and stay over at the last minute

 

- We didn't really have a bedtime after I turned 7

 

- That creepy man was just a creepy man.... not a pedo, although he probably was one

 

- Ice-cream vans came around every single day of the school holidays

 

- If we got hurt, we were never rushed to the hospital unless it was really bad, like when we all though I cracked Bens skull with the PS control (I didn't )

- If we got hurt while it was only us kids, we would try and fix it ourselfs, and if you cried you were a cry-baby

 

- When it rained we would get our pool floaties and play in the massive puddles that formed all around the place

 

- We were allowed to learn from our mistakes like...

Jumping off a 2meter wall and onto a wet trampoline right after I got out of the pool ISN'T a good idea, because I got stuck in the springs,

When I almost sliced my finger off because I used a knife after my mum told me not to use it

 

- Trampolines didn't have the saftey nets around them, just springs that hurt and cuts your bum when you land on them

 

- Bouncing a basketball off someone elses face was funny

 

- Swinging the dog around from the toy in its mouth was only allowed when mum or dad wasn't there

 

- My sister and I were left alone at night for a few hours sometimes, but with a list of phone number on the fridge and all the neighbours knew that we were home alone

 

- We could walk around without shoes on, and swimsuits everywhere

- If you steped on something that hurt when you weren't wearing shoes, it was our own fault

 

- Playing British Bull Dogs and Dodge with tennis balls were part of PE class (gym)

- We were allowed to run out onto the road to get a ball at school

 

- Beating each other up with the recorders in music class would get us out of choir

 

- Coping homework just got you the same mark as your friend

 

- Coming home with a full lunch box meant your friend had something better and decided to share, not that we might have the warning signs of anorexia

 

- On Australia Day, we would sit on our friends 2 storey roof and see if we could push each other off it into the pool or trampoline below

 

- Getting dacked was funny, not being bullied

 

- If we didn't want a shower at the end of the day, then you wern't allowed out the next day

 

- None of us knew what sex or any of that "grown-up stuff" until we were around 9-12

- We listerned to our parents music, cause we were cool like that

 

- If we answered the phone we had to ask who was calling

- We always had a list of important numbers right next to the home phone

 

- We were allowed to watch MA15+ movies without our parents

 

- When we came home dirty and muddy, you got hosed off on the front lawn before you were allowed inside

- If you tracked dirt or mud through the house, you got punished

 

- I never really got punished, because if I got smacked, I would go do something to get revenge, and if I got grounded, I would still just go outside and play

- Smacking children wasn't child abuse

 

 

I guess my parents decided that the only way we would learn would be to learn things ourselfs, and since they got up to no good as kids, why not let us?

I can still do all this if I wanted to,

though now everyone locks their door,

when I get hit now, I hit back,

and I text my mum when I need picking up somewhere, or if I stay over somewhere

Ben and I arn't allowed to play video games anymore without a few other people there....just incase

 

 

And just a reminder..... all this happened from 2000-2005, not in the 60's or 70's