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I wasn't a malicious kid but I remember being in trouble constantly, to the point where I grew up siding with the villains in movies and enjoying it when I'd hear of criminals getting away with things.
Nice neighborhood
Two loving parents...everyone had two parents.
Moms stayed home and took care of the family
Lots of friends
Freedom to roam and discover
Sledding in winter and go carts in the summer, down a side street that we blocked off.
Walked back and forth to school in the morning, afternoon and at lunchtime. No such thing as a school cafeteria...parents fed their own kids, what a concept.
Pets roamed free too. Nobody thought it was odd if the neighbor's dog was in there yard. My dog ate the neighbor's kids Easter chicks, but nobody got real upset about it. Their dog regularly impregnated other neighborhood dogs, so it evened out. My dog used to nap in the middle of the street, so cars had to stop and blow the horn until he got up and moved.
My point is, everything was more relaxed and less stressful.
I remember always having the entire family sitting down together for supper and talking about what happened in school that day. We always had a well-balanced hot meal.
I remember being able to play outside with all the neighborhood kids without my parents having to worry about us being abducted. We had a certain range that we could play within, and we ran around playing games until dusk when our parents called us in. There was no problem with overweight children back then. We got so much exercise that sometimes my mother would make us come in and read or play inside for an hour or so if it was very hot or we looked flushed from running around.
I remember everyone went downtown on Friday nights in our small city. It was payday for many people, so it was just the custom to shop downtown then. You ran into everyone you knew. My grandmother always treated us to a malt, ice cream soda, or whatever we wanted that night.
I remember walking to school everyday in grade school (K-6). It was probably 3/4 mile. Then everyone walked home for lunch where your stay-at-home mom fixed you soup and sandwiches. There was no school lunch. We walked back after lunch, and walked home in the evening. There were no buses and no fears of us being abducted or attacked. People normally only had one car back then, and my father took it to work. Nobody got dropped off at school in a car back then.
I remember Wednesday nights in our house was family night. The entire family gathered around the dining room table, and we played board games. Sometimes my father played the piano afterward, and we all danced around the room to the "Irish Washerwoman" or whatever. My mother always had treats for us that night...candy bars and soda usually...sometimes potato chips. (Candy bars and soda were treats back then...not daily food like now).
I remember Sunday afternoons the entire family sat down in the living room, and we watched Tarzan movies usually (or whatever) on tv. My dad always popped tons of buttery popcorn, and again we were treated to a soda.
I remember thinking I was rich if I had a nickle. There was a corner grocery store on the way to school, and I would stop in after school and spend the nickle. There was penny candy back then. The grocer always provided a little bag. The candy just sat out in the open, and we stuck our grubby little hands in to help ourselves. Some candy was two for a penney, so I usually bought that. Licorice babies were 6 for a penny, so they were always in my bag.
I remember absolutely fantastic Christmases at our house...and my parents were borderline poor. Both of my parents had poor Christmases when they grew up, so they were determined to make ours wonderful. The Christmas tree was always put up on Christmas Eve, but not decorated. Santa Claus decorated the tree after we went to bed, so Christmas morning was very magical seeing the tree lit up and just tons of gifts for each of us four children. I don't know how my parents afforded all the gifts, but my mother said she shopped the sales all year.
Walking 5 miles to school in the snow, uphill both ways....just kidding
Walking down to the creek with my brother to catch tadpoles
Playing 10,000 variations on "tag"
Going to the penny candy store down the street ("Ummmm, 3 swedish fish, 2 tootsie rolls...no, no, wait...2 swedish fish, 2 tootsie rolls and a caramel...no wait...")
Watching Guy Lombardo with my grandparents on NYE...I can still see my grandfather dancing around with a hat and cane to "Bicycle Built for Two".
My mom poking holes in a jar lid for catching fireflies in (I was always nice to mine and NEVER made rings out of them!)
I like OP had some "setbacks" as a teenager...and I thank God I grew up before social media and the "forever" internet could have ruined my life over them.
I was a tomboy and still am....not a girly girl at all....anyway, loved water, fishing, catching crayfish. I was in Fifth grade. On my way home from school, there was a stream, with a small dam, it was winter....I walked across the dam and slipped on the ice, in I went, and was it ever cold. My math book was floating....by the time I got home, my skirt was frozen....boy did I get a beating, and had to pay for that math book.
I was a tomboy and still am....not a girly girl at all....anyway, loved water, fishing, catching crayfish. I was in Fifth grade. On my way home from school, there was a stream, with a small dam, it was winter....I walked across the dam and slipped on the ice, in I went, and was it ever cold. My math book was floating....by the time I got home, my skirt was frozen....boy did I get a beating, and had to pay for that math book.
OMG! Thank God you were able to get out. It's amazing to me sometimes that people make it to adulthood at all, there are so many things we do along the way that if played out just a bit differently could end in a very different way. That's one reason I do not mind in the slightest having birthdays now, I'm grateful to have made it, lol!
Some of my "incidents" were falling backward from a tree branch around age 7 and slamming the back of my head into the tree trunk at full force....and another time trying to be helpful and cleaning the oven for my mom by myself...sponge in hand, I leaned into the back to wipe the cleaner off, touched the bulb socket, and got enough of a shock to throw me 3 feet from the oven....I never told my parents about either incident!
OMG! Thank God you were able to get out. It's amazing to me sometimes that people make it to adulthood at all, there are so many things we do along the way that if played out just a bit differently could end in a very different way. That's one reason I do not mind in the slightest having birthdays now, I'm grateful to have made it, lol!
LOL, I never thought about that, the water was only up to my chest, but now that you mention it, I was by myself....and always walked across that dam, now that stream is gone....but then, it was really fun to play around.
My grandparents had an old farmhouse. It wasn't a working farm, just an old house in the country. I used to be bored spending a week over there when I was a kid, now I'd give anything to live in the country.
We used to get a bunch of relatives together and play penny poker. The bet was a penny, and if someone won $2.00 at the end of the evening, that was quite a haul. But it was so much fun!
Wintertime, we'd play just as hard as summertime. Put on hats, mittens, scarves, boots, and go build snow forts and snowmen. Ice skating on a pond or lake, my climate is too warm for ice skating, but I wish I could do that again.
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That's one reason I do not mind in the slightest having birthdays now, I'm grateful to have made it, lol!
