We Did What As Kids?

I recall baby-proofing not being quite what it is today. Not just baby proofing but parenting in general.  I was reminded today, after seeing a picture posted on Facebook, that there were so many things that were just a part of our everyday kid lives that probably wouldn't fly in today's parenting world.  Some changes may be for the better but most of them we lived through without physical or mental scars. 

1. Thinking the middle seat in the front was the best seat because we could get crushed into the dashboard ... I mean, because we got to control the five radio stations.

2. Being totally inaccessible -- from after school until dinner. Now, we would call that being lost..

3. Thinking that SPF 4 was responsibly using sun block.

4. Thinking the haze of Solarcaine we were engulfed in was a healthy way to heal the second-degree burns I inevitably got from using SPF 4.

5.  Jarts, nuff said.

6. Getting excited when someone had a pick-up truck because that meant the kids got to ride on the flatbed.

7. Sitting on my dad's lap and manning the steering wheel.  Best fun ever. 

8. Riding in the "Back Back" of any car (VW, Station Wagon)

9. Playing on a rusted swing set where that one leg always popped out of the ground threatening to propel itself into space and then came back with a thud.

10. Helmets? No one wore them, and if you did, you were super geeky ... protecting your nerdy brain and all.

11. Same goes for skateboards.  I still have a scar on my knee from a truly spectacular wipeout. 

12. Being a latchkey kid. Your children will not dry up and blow away if they are alone in a house.  By the time I was 14 I was making dinner once to twice a week and thought nothing of it. 

13. Fearlessly scaling fences, climbing trees, playing in the woods, and jumping streams without a parent in sight to save us (hell, we used to ride our bikes through a cemetery).

14. Nerf Shmerf -- oh, we had them, but cap guns and BB guns were way more likely to shoot your eye out ... we preferred them. And who can forget the amazing whiff of a good cap gun? 

16. And forget seat belts -- I barely sat in the seat at all, lying across the back windshield of my mom's car, or popping up and down from the floor was way more fun.  And vacations would not have been the same without stretching out in the backseat with my blanket and pillows. 

17. Exploring everything.  Our favorite was crawling around construction sites.  That was the best! 

18. Babysitting at 11.  The kids survived didn't they?  We weren't too young to babysit 

19. Eating unwrapped things people handed you in stores -- like pretzel logs from the bank.

20. Running around until sundown without a care in the world, a phone in my pocket, or shoes on my feet.  Mom's didn't have to know where we were every second of the day.  There was much more of a sense of freedom.  We ran the whole neighborhood.  And I really mean the whole neighborhood.  `

21.  Slumber parties where you could play with Ouija boards, try to float your friends, or try to conjure Bloody Mary without having parents think that all your friends are crazy.   

22. Climbing any tree we could reach. 

23. Wading though creeks, streams, and basically any body of water.

24. Giant leaps of swing sets and any other play equipment. 

25. Those chemistry sets that we got for Christmas and the Hugo doll (man of a thousand faces). Can you imagine someone getting that ugly ass thing for their kid these days?

26. Sledding at breakneck speeds.

27. Doing things without our parents hanging over our shoulders every second.  

28. Bike stunts that never ended well

29. Red Rover.  How did we not dislocate shoulders?

30. Climbing up on the roof to help clean.  

All in all I think that some of these things were just crazy and some were so awesome that it made for some pretty great memories.