I did these things as a kid (but my kids won't)

I think about my own childhood now that I'm a parent. Often. Of course I do, it is my primary frame of reference in all things childhoody. 

There are things I did that my kids will never do.  

I could talk about how they will never dial a rotary phone. Or that they won't be enjoying candy cigarettes - remember those paper wrapped gum ones with powdered sugar inside that looked like smoke? So cool. Or how caller ID will prevent them from learning the art of prank calling.

But all of that stuff just makes me feel old. Plus, this type of comparison would be way more interesting coming from my grandparents who walked 50 miles barefoot uphill both ways in the snow and all that. 

Still. Times have changed.

(The following pictures are of me as a kid. I have braids!)

#1 No Seat belts

I do not remember sitting in the car. But I do remember laying across the backseat, laying across the floor of the backseat, standing in the backseat, jumping in the backseat and possibly attempting headstands in the backseat while my mother told me to sit down. 

Until 1984. Then those "Buckle Up, It's the Law!" signs went up and parents everywhere could point at them and say, "If you don't, you'll go to jail" which must have been awesome for them.

My kids? Nope, not going to be jumping around back there.   

 

#2 No Helmets

My aunt (who is only six years older than me) used to pull me in my Radio Flyer® wagon by tying a rope to her bike. On country roads. Down hills. No helmets. 

But the wagon would go too fast:

And she'd yell "put the brakes on!" which actually meant "PANIC!" because there weren't any brakes. We stopped ourselves by turning into the ditch and wiping out. It was fun.  

My kids? They wear helmets at the dinner table. You know, just in case they fall off their chairs.  

 

#3 No Childproofing

Hazardous cleaning products were left out in the open but those Mr. Yuk stickers were slapped on them so it was okay. Childproofing also involved putting chairs in front of things.  

My kids? Anything even slightly yucky is stored way up high, protected by lasers and titanium padlocks at an undisclosed satellite location.

 

#4 Flying Attempts 

I had a swing set. It was metal and green and yellow and happy. My favorite thing to do was to swing as high as I possibly could, higher than the top bar. I also liked to jump off, mid-swing. I usually landed on my feet, but not always. Sprained both wrists once.  

My kids? No. They will not jump off a swing set. Not when I'm watching. I will always be watching.  

 

#5 Playground Equipment

Remember seesaws or teeter-totters? I haven't seen on old-fashioned one in years. This is probably why:

A certain boy asked me to seesaw with him. I was thrilled! He must like me!

Oh. I guess not. 

In second grade a girl got her top teeth knocked out from that little trick. It was bloody. Those things were brutal. 

My kids? At least around here, seesaws are smaller and have hydraulics or something so they won't slam any butts on the ground. Which is a relief. Nothing good came of those teeth knocker outers. But playgrounds still aren't perfect. Though they probably aren't as much fun either, especially since they realized the giant metal robot was a bad idea.

 

#6 Sledding 

We went sledding often. If you do something often enough you get bored. So then you create ways to make it exciting again. So we invented demolition derby sledding. If you got knocked off your sled you were out. We were crashing into each other on purpose. We also built ramps out of snow to launch us flying through the air. So much fun. So many bruises.

My kids? First of all, we don't have snow here. Second of all, thank goodness we don't have snow here. But if we did? No demolition sledding allowed. And they'd have to wear helmets. And not go very fast. Or ever stand up. On second thought, no sledding.

 

#7 Freedom 

But perhaps the most striking contrast is the freedom I remember having. I'd eat breakfast and then leave. 

I'd wander around. Aimlessly. Sometimes with neighborhood kids and sometimes alone. I'd cross our creek with homemade bridges:

And catch turtles without ever hearing of the word Salmonella.

I'd put roller skates on and skate down sidewalks:

And stop myself by crashing into a bush, just before the street.

I never stopped to eat lunch. Because I remember being out all day long:

Only to be called in for dinner when it was getting dark.

My kids? Yeah, right. At least not until they are older. Like thirty.  

 

How does your childhood compare? Are there things you did that your kids won't?

 

-----------------

This is not a disclaimer. This is where I'm putting some actual parent-y discussion stuff because I don't usually talk about actual parent-y discussion stuff. 

Are parents as a whole more protective these days? And where is the line drawn between good protection (seat belts and not letting your kids drink bleach) and being over-protective to where it is stifling for them. I think about this sometimes. FreeRangeKids is an excellent read if you are interested in this sort of discussion.    

Oops, this isn't meant to be a thought-provoking blog so if this provokes thoughts I sincerely apologize.

Wait, that sounded like a disclaimer. 

Unicorns! Sticker books! Poop!

Better?

 

 

Comments

[Angie]

I loved seeing you as a child in this one! Laughing with tears at the kids wearing helmets at the dinner table part. This is one of my favorites!

[Jenny]

My son just saw that last picture and is saying "What is she doing in the tree? We don't sleep in trees"

[Meghan]

I remember doing all of those things. And my kids won't do any of them either.

[Heather]

SO AWESOME!

[Elisa]

Ack, it's too late, my thoughts are provoked. I think parents these days are a little too cautious. No, I won't let my kids do anything that's against the law, but if they want to jump off the swing or go play outside by themselves (at an appropriate age) I let them. A few bumps and bruises never killed anyone. I do make them wear a helmet when riding a bike, but not when sledding.

[Rebekah Marie]

I wandered in the woods , went miles away from home following functioining train tracks, and climbed on old broken down fences, among other 'fun " things I was able to do as a child. Including sitting on the second story roof and watching the clouds float by while my Mom and baby sister napped. Good Times.

[Rebekah Marie]

Meant to type..Functioning Tracks, as in, trains still used them. I just stepped off of them and walked int he woods along side of them if I heard or saw a train coming.

[Melanie]

I try to let my daughter have a similar childhood that I had.. I kick her out of the house after her homework is done and tell her to come back in when the street lights come on, she knows not to cross the busy street a few blocks away, and he and her friends usually just end up at the nearby playground. A lot of things are different for her since we live in a crowded neighborhood as opposed to the tiny small town I grew up in. Woods and trees are a lot more scarce around here to get lost in :-(

[Leigh Shulman]

I remember party lines and having to wait until some random neighbor got off the line before we could prank someone. We'd scream into the phone and bang against the floor to try to get them to shut up.

I'm a huge fan of Lenore Skenazy, but it's tough to let go and not worry about as much when everyone around is doing it as well.

That said, try moving to Argentina. No helmets, babies on motorcycles with the rest of the family. You should see the slide at a local ice cream place. I turned by back when Lila played on it bc it was painful to watch. Yet no one ever did get hurt. As far as I know.

Thanks for this. I found your blog recently and have been loving it ever since.

[erika]

My husband and I have had this conversation SOOOO many times! So many things have been changed in the name of safety, that we all grow up with the energy of fear around us. Some of the simple pleasures and freedoms we had as children don't exist anymore. And I'm not knocking safety, but I feel things go way too far. I used to joke that people should wear helmets driving cars....race car drivers do it, why should we be any different? Where will it end?

[sprinke]

Maybe hanging on to a car's bumper and sliding behind it when the road was covered with snow? Can't see letting my kid do that.

[Immilling]

Most kids today will do none of these things, because kids don't go outside anymore.

[Karianna @ Caffeinated Catholic Mama]

I remember laying in the back seat. Or even better, riding in the jumpseat in the old style station wagons. (I was born in '80, so it must not have lasted long, but it's still memorable.)

The last one really gets me. I remember riding bikes to the library and staying all day (I was nerdy even then,) wandering the neighborhood and just being gone. Will I let my girls do that?

Probably not.

[Nae]

LOL I remember being my kids ages and swimming in creeks with a whole heap of other kids, and jumping out of trees into creeks. And riding bikes and hanging onto cars and things.
My kids have never really had trees that are climbable, and they aren't allowed to swim in creeks, and other kids don't pass in my books as a suitable amount of supervision. And if I catch them riding their bikes (ie - moving, and not standing stationary on the side of the road) when a car is moving on the same road they are in the doo doo.
And no, I will tell you I'm not a helicopter mum :)

[stef]

yep those seesaws will get you.....i busted my chin wide open on one when i was little....of course on the day our school allowed us to dress out of uniform so i got blood all over the outfit i was so proud to be wearing....good times....i'm still terrified of those things :-D

[Rita]

I loved this post!

[Suzanne]

One thing that is very different about when I was a kid was how well everyone knew everyone else in the neighborhood. It was easier for our parents to lets us roam free because they knew there was a good chance there would be witnesses to disaster and they would be reasonably quickly notified. Now so many kids barely listen to their own parents much less show respect or listen to other adults. And other parents aren't as interested in people telling them anything about their kids. It's kind of sad. Personally, I'm installing a lojack in my kids.

[Leia]

I did so much of that too. So many dangerous activities and so much fun. I hope my son gets to experience some of it. He will be climbing trees, sledding, and swinging high. If he doesn't test his limits and mine then I will think something is wrong with him. Although these things may give me heart attack to watch.

[Amber Dusick]

Me too. The freedom to explore one was so important as a child for me. And now...

[chelseabagozzi@hotmail.com]

My parents were very careful with most things. We always wore seat belts, though most of our friends didn't have to. I however never wore a helmet and my sisters and I used to tie a ski rope onto the back of my bike and take turns being pulled in an office chair throughout the neighborhood, and over speed bumps.

[Amy]

You're funny and I like your style. I'll read FreeRangeKids, but I'll never let them range free.

And yes, parents are more protective these days, I think, but the world keeps getting scarier so it's not our fault.

Plus we can't make our way through pregnancy with vodka and cigarettes anymore without everyone giving us the stink eye, so if we can't have any fun, neither can the children. Right?

Because as a parent, it's important to teach fairness.

[suburbancorrespondent who lets her kids sled into brick walls]

I was told by a tot lot equipment salesperson that many schools will not even order swings now, for fear that someone will get hurt. "Nothing that moves," she said. ON A PLAYGROUND!

Myself, I try not to watch my kids as they play. What I don't know won't hurt me/them.

[Sue Mitchell]

Amber, this was a riot!

I am starting to let my 8-year-old wander farther afield, sans cell hone, GPS or homing device. But he does have regular check-in times and can't go alone.

When I was growing up, I think it was more or less the same as far as wandering. There were a lot of moms at home back then (1960s and 70s), so it was hard to go beyond where someone's mom could see you.

My mother planted fear in my head by telling me, "If something bad happened to you, I couldn't live with myself." I hear that every time I consider letting my son do something a bit more risky...what if a sexual predator *did* come along? What if he *did* get a head injury?

In the end, I usually err on the side of caution. At the same time, I try not to invent risks that aren't really there.

[Amber Dusick]

Ouch!

[Amber Dusick]

Yes. Just YES. Well, not the lojack part but the difference in everyone knowing each other in the neighborhoods.

[Rachelle]

Oh this is hilarious and so sadly true...seat belts, freedom, helmets? Is it overprotectedness if it is required to prevent your children from anything harmful in any possible way to continue to be their parent? Oh well - thanks for a trip down memory lane.

[junot]

I went wandering around the neighborhood as a child too, but bad things happened to me. I'll never advocate the free range child stuff to that extent. The risk just isn't worth it.

[Amber Dusick]

That office chair shenanigans sounds like so much fun!

[Cristi]

We have an "old-fashioned" metal playground down the street, complete with a merry-go-round or as my husband and I call it, "the wheel of death". I do take my kids to that park, but I come home with fresh gray hairs every time.

[Jen C.]

I'm bummed that DS won't be able to sit on a mattress in the back of a pickup truck through the Andes. I'm also bummed that I'm going to have to police him on the Interwebs. Different times, new dangers ...

[Amber Dusick]

Wow, I did that too!

[Karrie]

Yep -- I'm with you -- down to the seesaw that knocked the breath out of me in 1st grade and staying out all day wandering the town ON MY OWN. I shudder to think about my kids doing that stuff.

FREE RANGE KIDS is on my NEED TO READ shelf right now! I know it will be good, but I'm scared to read it and feel guilty for being over-protective. I should get over that right????

[Amber Dusick]

:( So sad. I think I'll lock my kids outside for the rest of the week. I mean, safely. In the fenced in yard. While I'm watching them. lol

[Sasha]

I did that stuff too. I also used to put couch pillows on the floor and do flips off the table onto them. Riding in the car with no seat belts was fun. I miss that. Yes, my children are trapped by 5-point harnesses.

[Heather]

I think we go way too overboard. A couple of years ago the Canadian Paediatric Society issued a position statement recommending that parents not purchase backyard trampolines. I joked that if the bicycle were invented today, pediatricians would be suggesting that nobody under 18 should be allowed to ride, them, and citing examples of horrific bike accidents involving children. I saw another sun safety thing lately that said not to let your kids play outside between 11 and 4. Like, most of the hours they're awake. So I guess I can just stick my kids in front of the video games all day to make sure they're perfectly safe, right? Oh no, wait, the pediatricians recommend against that too...

[Tracy]

Oh how TRUE!! We made dens inside bushes, gave eachother 'fronties' on bikes (riding on handle bars of eachothers bikes! All manor of dangerous things. Miss those days but your right... My little boy will be going out with a tracking system attached & encased in bubble wrap! Im not kidding. Amazing blog as always. Its bedtime reading for a heavy pregnant insomniac!

[Amber Dusick]

I remember party lines too!

[*Laura*]

i'm kind of on the fence about some things. although i did pretty much all of the same stuff (i'm a child of the 80s, for reference), not all of it was horrible. i used to come home from school and ride my bike all over the neighborhood by myself until the sun started to go down. i know that dangerous people and situations have always existed, but i think there really is more of a threat these days and good reason for keeping our children close to us. maybe still let them experience a little bit of risky behavior (it's part of being a kid!), but within reason. i'm not super uptight about most things, so i guess things like tree climbing, fence walking, and sledding don't bother me. i'm more worried about them being out of my sight in public, i guess.

[Candi Nordick]

What about learning to do things like reading a map while sitting in the FRONT seat, gasp!!, no seat belt and telling your Mom which way to go?

We lived out in the boonies for a while and we would go ride our bikes for hours, no helmets, but we were required for at least one of us to wear a belt in case someone got bitten by a snake and we knew to send one of the other kids riding home to get an adult.

As a foster Mom, I have actually had kids come here that have NEVER been in a tree, much less climbed one to the highest possible height without getting onto the branches too thin to hold them.

[Karrie]

hahahahahaha -- good point!

[Amber Dusick]

Yes, a lot of it has to do with where you grow up, versus where you are now. I was in a tiny tiny town. Now I'm in a very huge city.

[Amber Dusick]

Did you smash coins on the tracks? That was the best.

[Karen]

My friend's kids were skateboarding down to the park the other day and she asked me if she should call them back and make them wear helmets. I asked her if she would have worn a helmet to skateboard when she was 10. She let them go. Then guess what.....they came back in one piece.

[Jenn]

I remember the freedom... I was 8 years old, and it was exactly the same, we'd leave after breakfast and sometimes not come home until dinner... I am now the parent of a 5 year old and a 3 year old, and I could not ever imagine letting them take off on me like that. All I can say is it was a different time back then. When they're older... we'll see. But it scares me to death!

[Candi Nordick]

On the first day of first grade I did a flip over the bar and broke my 2 front top teeth off into a half moon shape. But you can bet I was right back at it the next day when I was back at school!!

[Misty]

Okay I loved your comment!

[Amber Dusick]

LOL at the "wheel of death" I remember those.

[Karrie]

Posting again -- but I remember when we adopted two little puppies from an animal rescue league. They told me the puppies had been tagged with little GPS thingies and did I mind? I was all -- MIND? Are you joking? Can you put them behind my KIDS' ears???

On the other hand, I heard on a radio program not too long ago that we -- Generations X and Y -- were raised in an age of FEAR and that actually the crime rates were down as we grew up. That the whole "stranger danger" crap is much less likely than someone we know trying to hurt us.

[christine]

Bad things did happen even way back in the sixties.We(my two friends and I) were flashed by an older man.When I told my mother her response was," Oh,that is nothing,you've seen your little brothers naked,right?" Her downplaying it made me forget all about until my friend reminded me a couple of years ago.If that happened today I would probably be taken for therapy.My children were allowed BIG freedoms.They are alive and kicking.

[Karrie]

Oh and that we can blame John Walsh for the age of Fear thing...(according to whatever "expert" was talking on the radio)

[Cindy Spicer]

Humans have always learned from falling. It's just the way our brain is wired.

Like learning to walk. If you catch your child and never let his diapered rear-end hit the ground, he won't walk for WAY longer than normal.

I do believe there are good advances that have been made in child safety, but I also feel some of the freedom to just be a kid was lost along the way.

[Cassandra]

It's a wonder any of us made it to adulthood alive!!! I used to cross a waterfall on a little tree that had fallen across... how we never fell off and got swept away is beyond me! LOL The world is filled with a lot more terrible things than when we were kids. I don't remember being afraid someone might take me, although it did happen, just not that often, now i check my sons windows every night and every window in our house afraid someone could come in and take him!

[Casey]

Yep, I remember riding around with no seat belts! Mom would pull up to the bank and the three of us would scramble to stick our head into the front seat to get "dibs" on the best lollipop at the drive-thru. Also remember playing / riding bikes / exploring with friends until dark...*sigh*

[Suzy]

We squashed coins on train tracks, smoked candy cigarettes, climbed every tree we could, climbed old dead vines up into said trees (with many a butt-busting fall), and wandered Hogtown Creek all day unsupervised, looking for (and finding) fossilized sharks' teeth. I also tried to fly with an umbrella like Mary Poppins off the side of a sinkhole on a windy day, fed fried chicken bones and marshmallows to wild alligators, and rode horses bareback. I kind of hope my son (now almost two) does all of those things. Except for the squashing coins, for some reason I am concerned about my train crazy boy being too interested in the choo choo to get OFF the tracks. Also, the gator feeding was kind of stupid. :)

[Chava]

what about ringing people's door bells and then running away, can't do that now with all the CCTV around. I went to ride horses that I didn't know in a paddock at the end of town, fell off a few times, so much fun...no more horses at the end of town now, only more concrete :(.
I had several concussions as a kid from playing field hockey (it's a lie when they say it's a non contact sport!) and from falling off my bike WITHOUT a helmet :). All good fun. I hope I can let my kids have simular childhoods, but I do err on the side of caution.

[MIchele]

I grew up in new york city in the early 90's. I remember riding on the subways with my friends at around the age of 11 or 12, being gone ALL day just doing whatever. We were good kids, so we rollerbladed, went to parks, got lunch at delis, window shopped, bought magazines, went to movies, etc. and just coming home around dinner time. Nobody had cell phones, our parents just trusted that we would come home at night. As a parent myself now the idea that my parents weren't scared out of their minds that something (anything!) could have happened to us on all our adventures is mind boggling.

[Amber Dusick]

Yeah, what ARE they supposed to do?

[KIDean]

Wow! Kids today are definitely missing out. I played in my creek often as a kid too, but my boy will not be playing in a creek and tracking mud through my house. (Our poor parents--lol).

[Colliefarm.wordpress.com]

My husband and I talk about this too! Riding motorcycles for miles until they broke down & we had to push them. Riding horses all over Tarnation and getting lost. One time my horse ran out of control on the highway, heading the wrong direction, with me still on her. Other times, I was thrown from horses.

Hanging out at remote construction sites bugging the contractors, or messing with their equipment when they were gone. Harnessing our dogs to our wagons and then they'd panic and run full steam, dumping us out eventually. Inner tubing down rivers with no adults or life jackets. Hitch hiking.

Getting bitten by dogs. Wandering, unsupervised, for 12 hour spans during long summer days. Shooting each other with BB guns. Blowing up neighbors mailboxes. Modifying fireworks to make the explosions more exciting. Hiking alone with my dog on trails, my parents realizing later I was being stalked by a large predator.

Oh, those were cherished, idyllic times....

[Amber Dusick]

See, I wonder if that is true, the part about the world being filled with more horrible things. Or are we just more aware of it as parents? With the media and internet and all the information sharing that we just hear about more of it? Not sure. I check the windows and doors too. How did we all get so paranoid?

[Amber Dusick]

I think I want to go back in time and hang out with you! Sounds fun and hilarious!

[Amber Dusick]

Oh yes! How could I forget Ding Dong Ditch! We loved that game.

[Illylover]

Love your blogs, Amber! My four kids always say it sucks that I am a pediatrician. No trampoline in our backyard, they are never allowed to skate/ski-snowboard/rollerblade/bike without helmet. Of course those in college now are much less compliant with their longboad and helmet (= no helmet) :(. The one thing I am still adamant about it that if they ever buy a motorcycle (I call those things murdercycle), I will sneak in at night and steal it and distroy it. As for the swings, I have seen enough swing accidents growing up in Hungary, that I never pushed their swing high (so most of them are also swing-phobic) and if we happen to come across a playground that still has swings, I have to turn my back to the swing....wheteher it's my offsprings on it or someone else's...

[Melinda]

Fun trip down memory lane! I'm off with my 4 and 3-yr. olds right now to go sledding down our crazy neighborhood hill (sans helmets). Living on the wild side isn't so bad...it's why we chose to live in a small town out west.

[Heather]

Amy, there are actually no empirical data to show that the world keeps getting scarier. In fact, rates of violent crime are falling in most parts of North America if you look at the statistics. In most cases of abduction or sexual abuse, it is someone the child knows. Our perception of risk is growing, not necessarily risk itself.

[Erin]

In my town, the "scary sexual predator" turned out to be a 6th grade teacher and Boy Scout leader. Yikes. (It wasn't discovered until much later.)
But I spent many happy days riding my bike to the public library, catching crayfish in the river, building forts in the woods, hanging upside down off the swingset/monkey bars (and subsequently falling on my neck and wondering for about 5 minutes if I'd paralyzed myself)....I'd love for my daughter to do all these things. However, I grew up in a little rural town, and we live in a (relatively) bigger city now - getting to the library would involve crossing several busy streets, the river isn't nearby, and there are no woods within walking distance. I suppose we could get some monkey bars, though. And when we visit Gramma and Grampa, I'm forcing her to be free-range!

[Amanda]

My grandpa used to pile all the grandkids over a certain age (a well-and-truly-potty-trained age lol) into the back of his truck and drive for 2 or three hours to take us all camping. It was a blast! We used to jump around on the foam mattresses back there and play Princes Bride in which there was always 3 Buttercups and several Wesley's. Sadly, my kids will never know that joy. My friends and I also used to be out all day either sledding or roaming the neighbourhood on our bikes until dinner. It was great!

[kimberly]

I just had this discussion with one of my girlfriends this afternoon, how we wld just wander the town we lived near at the age of like s are and we are like without any7 supervision and how we will not even let our thirteen your kids cross the street without holding their hands!

[Amber]

We rode in the back of a pickup truck, if we were lucky on long drives my dad would put a twin mattress back there for us to lay down on.

[Amber Dusick]

Wait, the 90s? Wasn't that just last year? ;) I'm glad you commented, I did wonder if the freedom thing was just a side-effect of me living in a small town (and now a city) so I'm glad someone chimed in with a big city childhood experience.

[jen]

awww prank calls were the best!!! my kids will miss those! When i was about 10 or so my cousins and i went into grandma's basement. She had a phone line down there!; prank call heaven! We would call random numbers and tell people their pizza delivery was on its way and would cost them $100 dollars. One kid would make the call and the others would bang on pots and pans and one of the kids would yell "momma mia!" (because that's what they do at pizza joints!?!) We thought we were really tricking these people but what about i really don't know. Seems if i got a call from a 10 year talking about $100 dollars worth of pizza i would figure out it was a crank call. I just know i put a lot of effort into crank calls. I had all different "scams" going.
I used to roam the streets and woods all days with or without friends. Funny but i too don't remember eating much lunch. I bet it saved a lot my parents a lot of money.

[jen]

should have read this before i posted! "I bet it saved my parents a lot of money"

[Andrea]

I have to say: I agree. My kids are in carseats and were extended rear-faced (and even 5-pt restrainted!). But they play outside alone. They know their limits and how to keep themselves safe. I personally do not believe it is healthy for me to teach my kids that the world is a big, scary place. It's a wonderful place that is meant to be explored at an age-appropriate pace.

[Corrie K]

I think parents today ARE too over-protective, and, as a result, the kids are suffering.How much TV is being watched by kids today as opposed to when we grew up? (Yes, it does have some to do with where we grew up, but still.) How much exercise/fresh air/outdoors time are kids today getting? Is it enough? I would posit that it is not. Were ADD and ADHD common when we were kids? No, it wasn't. Yes, it was there, but not as common as today. Anyone else seeing a connection here??

[Ainslie]

Perhaps our parents were scared out of their minds ... and just did it anyway, becuase that was what you did. Much as now, we'd like to grant our kids that bit more freedom, but it's no longer the done thing to let your kids roam around without supervision.
My munchkin is not yet one, so these questions are a while away for me, but I'd like to think she'll have the same chance to explore and play that my parents gave me.

[Amber Dusick]

Yikes. And that is a good point, things you think are safe can be unsafe and so on. It is mind boggling. Makes me crazy. And I'm with you on the growing up rural and now living in a city. So different. Makes that remote cabin in the woods fantasy a little more appealing.

[Elisabeth]

Actually ... when I look back on my childhood ... I'm darn lucky to be here. I let my child play freely, but won't let him roam freely until he is old enough to understand (really understand) the dangers of getting into cars when strangers offer a ride, going off without telling mom where he is going, etc. I did so much of those not safe things, and thankfully these turned out to be ok strangers, or they didn't go through with it ... when I think of the danger I might have been in at 11 or 12 - it really scares me.

Also - Mr. Yuck was awesome. We need those labels back. I know I would feel better knowing the poison control # was on every bottle of cleaner, etc. in the house ...

BB guns ... I was shot with one of those ... the blood blisters oooohhh the blood blisters :P I also got it with a boy scout archery set...arrow right in the leg ... that was a bit scary ... but it made for an awesome story. My son won't be doing any of that stuff. Well, maybe at camp when I don't have to watch and cringe!

[Nicole]

I broke my elbow jumping off a swingset in grade one also almost had my face ripped off by a strange dog I decided to pet lol! I remember riding my bike all over the neighborhood and playing basketball and street hockey in the middle of the road, playing at parks until it was dark out, but I guess that was before everyone was in a rush to get somewhere and pedophiles and kidnappers lurking everywhere...

[Amber Dusick]

You sound like an AWESOME prank caller! Mad skills. Momma Mia!

[Heidi O]

Last year we went to the sledding park, and some kids had made a big ramp. It had been thawing a little, so it turned into solid ice. My brother and I decided it was a good idea to go over it in our big old fashioned wooden toboggan. Yeah, it's not as much fun when you're 28...
And my 4-year old won't even go to the bathroom by herself some days, so i don't need to worry about her roaming too far yet.

[Amber Dusick]

I wonder that too. Going to ask my mom next time I talk to her.

[Julie]

So awesome! When I was a kid, we would build ramps and take turns lying on the sidewalk while everyone else jumped their bikes over us. Today... I threaten my kids with make them come inside if I catch them riding downhill too fast (aka, downhill at all). Always love your blog, but this one I especially, super loved.

[Samantha]

You know what I haven't seen in YEARS? Merry-go-rounds. You know, the kind made of metal where you would fit 5 or 10 kids and push with your legs to go really fast, until someone fell off and occasionally caught their foot in it only to be dragged by the thing and end up all bloody? Good times.

The thing I regret making my kids miss most is the freedom. Mine are still very small (4 and under) so it isn't much of an issue at this point (although some of my earliest - like 3 yo - memories are of following my big sister around all day with no supervision whatsoever) but I know that when they are 6, 7, 25, I probably won't let them just wander around, and that makes me sad. I have such find memories of wandering around, getting lost, breaking bird eggs just to see what was inside, building forts in nice, secluded bushy areas where it would be perfect to hide a body, all of that. But now that I am responsible for three little girls I just can't get past that block in my brain that says "must see or hear them or they aren't safe." Intellectually I know they aren't actually in any more danger than we were, but for some reason I know I just won't be able to let them go.

[islajmom]

In my neighborhood the other kids and I would play "Flashlight Tag". Basically this consisted of 15 kids, after dinner, dressing in head-to-toe black clothing, holding flashlights and sneaking around every back yard on good ole Ridgewick rd. To this day I can't believe we never had the cops called, were hit by a car or worse. I do remember how we accidentally scared the crap out of old Mrs. Pardoe one night......

Oh, and I totally had that yellow and green swing set.... ahh the memories....

[Amber Dusick]

OUCH! Pretty sure I'd have aches and pains from sledding for weeks if I did it now.

[Sprocket]

I've had this discussion more times than I can remember. Why are we more scared now? Did human life not matter as much when my parents threw me on the back of a Harley - no helmet - 55mph. - 5 yrs. old? Certainly they loved me the same as I love my daughter, but I'd NEVER do that! Yet, it saddens me that she won't have that and many other thrilling and freeing experiences. Will she know how to find excitement? God, I hope so.
Anyway, my best hypothesis to this parental shift: media and the constant information being thrown at us. It's good info, but for previous generations ignorance was bliss. Either that, or my parents really didn't love me :)

[Joana]

According to Tim Hawkins, that boy DID like you. Watch this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO-QXw4PJ6g

[Samarium]

I agree that the absence of SAHPs in the neighborhoods have changed the way kids grow up. Particularly in the summers. These days, kids go to summer camps all summer long so the neighborhoods are deserted. Camps are good fun and great learning opportunities but it is a big departure from how it was back when I was a kid.

[Samarium]

Crafts. And math flash cards. And piano lessons. How much therapy will children end up needing?

[Amber Dusick]

That was hilarious! He probably did! Maybe I'll find him on FB and ask him..."hey, do you remember 2nd grade?". The internet is so fun.

[Amber Dusick]

Yep, the constant info has got to be it.

[Amama]

LOL my friend and I have a name for people we call "helicopter parents". You know the ones that hover around their child on the playground not letting them climb the wrong way up a slide and follow their kid around with sanitary wipes in case they should touch anything "uncouth" ... turned out my friend became a helicopter parent herself :)

I'm more of the "pound of dirt" "climb whatever" kind of mom but I still think about how my husband used to BMX with no helmet and no breaks and shudder. We joke that if our kids ever get into it I'm going to make them wear full body armor.

[Tribble]

I rode on tractors....in the front bucket, my kids never will. They'll never ride on a riding lawn mower or in the bed of a pickup and never set out on their bikes to ride around for hours all over town. Ignorance was bliss.

[Di]

we used to make a hand watch out of tinfoil, then put it on the street and hide and see which car would stop and check it! Some did, and we were oh-so-happy with our invention and the disappointed/angry faces of those 'losers'.....

[suziers@aol.com]

Riding in the bed of a pick up with 6 or 7 other children as our neighbor moved mattresses to their new home (our job was to hold them so they didn't fly out) Yes, we were on the highway.

[Gretchen]

I relived my own childhood while reading about yours. I remember a road trip my family took when I was five; my sisters and I hung out in the back of the station wagon (with the seat folded down so it was an open, flat area)with our sleeping bags and toys. And oh, the roller skating! I broke my arm twice, while sidewalk skating. It certainly didn't stop me from going back to it. The metal swing-set in the back yard, where I would do flips off of the high bar (where the Olympic style rings were supposed to be)...riding my bike all over the neighborhood, alone...

For us the sledding game was that we aimed at the creek at the bottom of the hill, and tried to avoid landing in it. If you landed in it and the ice broke (it was a max of 12" at this point) you lost, because that meant you had to go home, lol!

[Kate]

It takes a conscious effort as a parent to let your child go out and 'have a life' like we did as children. Insisting on helmets for biking/skating/skiing/sledding is just common sense now and shouldn't detract from the fun.

There is something wonderful in having rough-n-tumble outside play as opposed to that pathetic child who just stands there and whines that he (or she) is bored and "Can I go back inside and play video games?"

There is also something wonderful about NOT knowing your kid was jumping off the neighbor's roof all afternoon... until after the fact. Provided he got home intact, of course. There are still things my Mom doesn't know about, and if your kids are 10 or up, they've likely done stuff you don't know about, either.

[Tarina]

I may or may not still do that.... well, up until about 5 years ago (im 30)

[Courtney Blackwell]

Metal slides that reach to heaven + rope swings with giant knots at the ends= burned ass and concussions! kids really miss out nowadays!

[Tarina]

Ha!! I have a picture somewhere of my oldest when he was 7. My son was mad his DS was running out of batteries. I told him to get his butt off the couch, plug it in, and go play outside. 10 minutes later, he had plugged in an extension cord and was sitting under the front yard tree playing his DS... Fml lol.