Things that your parents used to do when you were a kid but are now illegal

[Inglewood Jack]

When I was in Kindergarten, I either rode my bike or walked to school every day, about a half mile & crossing a busy street. I was usually with friends, but never with an adult. Now my kids aren't even alowed to ride their bikes until 3rd grade, & the school is right behind our sub.

Also, my mom went back to work when the three of us were 10, 8, and 5. We were home alone after school every day. My 10 year old brother was supposed to "watch out for" me & my sister.

[CJC]

Originally Posted by Inglewood Jack

Also, my mom went back to work when the three of us were 10, 8, and 5. We were home alone after school every day. My 10 year old brother was supposed to "watch out for" me & my sister.

I am sure the neighborhood women had an eye out for you too. My parents knew a lot about what I did through the neighbor syndicate!

[CJC]

Originally Posted by reg_hartner

Has no one mentioned that everyone could drink at 18? Blasted in HS was a daily event.

And we could drink in the local bars at 17. And I would say that 70% of the freshman/soph dorm room people smoked pot in 1975-76

[reg_hartner]

Originally Posted by Pinky Tuscadero

that term .....on this board .....has a different meaning

Sorry. Not FINGER blasted. I meant drunk.

[Gary in Bradenton]

Originally Posted by Awesome Robot With Lasers

The vast majority of drivers know to pull over for emergency vehicles. You think because you saw one person, last year, that didn't pull over for an ambulance that millions and millions of people don't know to do that?

I see people all the time not pull over around here. Its obviously not taught in Florida (or the states these people come from). While its not an epidemic its certainly enough to leave you thinking WTF.

[Gary in Bradenton]

Originally Posted by CJC

I am sure the neighborhood women had an eye out for you too. My parents knew a lot about what I did through the neighbor syndicate!

They do now too. However, now they are checking out which 13 year boy is the hottest and the one they want to bang.

[NY_Spartan]

My parents used to send me from NY to Michigan to see my garndparents on the train by myself (from 10 on up).

Used to put me on the floor and turn the playpen upside down and put books on it so I couldn't climb out of it.

My first grade teacher used to tie me to my chair with her scarf.

My HS teachers (all boys Jesuit school) sometimes actually hit/slapped students.

My parents let me drive to Agway when I was 12.

My mom, brother and I were driving to Florida to meet my dad (who was on a business trip down there). She got tired in Virginia and I drove for a 5 hours while she slept. I was 11.

My dad used to have us paint the roof of our three storey barn with that silver tar (slippery ****) with no safety lines.

We used to ride on the shelf between the back seat and the back window of the car.

Used to drain the oil from the tractors/combine directly onto the groud.

My father actually spanked us when we needed it.

Told my father to "f off" one night in high school (was out drinking and came home late). He caught me running away and beat the hell out of me in my neighbor's front yard.

NY didn't have a "drinking age" until sometime in the early 90s (only had a purchasing age). I remember walking down the street in high school with a few cases of beer getting stopped by a cop and all he could do was tell me not to drive after drinking.

[Sparticus158]

My parents used to feed me lead paint...

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by CJC

I am sure the neighborhood women had an eye out for you too. My parents knew a lot about what I did through the neighbor syndicate!

Some, but we lived on a wooded lot of more than an acre. You couldn't even see any of our neighbors houses from ours, or see our house from the road. So we could have been doing a lot back there without anyone knowing.

[morgarc]

A few things:

- Grandparents used to send us to Nash's liquor store on Joy in Detroit to get them 40's of Old E.
- Rubber handle of golf club to the head, wooden spoons, forks to the arm for elbows being on the table
- Went to the neighborhood baseball field and had to catch fly balls, ground balls and golf balls bare handed to "teach me how to catch with both hands"

They last two worked but I don't imagine I'll be doing that to my son. Well, maybe the baseball and golf ball thing if he makes too many errors.

[Rule Spartannia]

We had a standard seating arrangement when we drove up north. My dad had a 1969 Pontiac Catalina with bench seats front and rear. Dad drove, Mom sat in the passenger seat. My youngest brother was still a baby, so he either sat on Mom's lap or in the middle of the front seat (the Death Seat ). My sister, being the eldest and most obnoxious, got to lie down across the entire back seat. My other brother ( a year older than the youngest) would lie down on the back window shelf, which meant that I got the floor (with the big lump in the middle). I really got fun when we would take our Great Pyrenees along.

My mom occasionally washed our mouths out with soap, usually for saying something very naughty, like "Shut up!" or "fart".

If we were messing around at the dinner table (yes, we sat down at an actual table and ate as a family!), my dad would sometimes smack us in the forehead with the back of his spoon. Didn't affect me at all.

The only kids who wore bike helmets in our neighborhood were the "special" ones.

My dad never spanked us with a belt or paddle, but he wasn't opposed to putting us over his knee and giving us a few decent smacks with his hand. My elementary school principal, however, used to take bad kids (usually bullies) into the school boiler room and introduce them to the "Board of Education".

BTW -- Jarts are the best yard game ever -- somebody needs to bring some to a tailgate!

[CJC]

Originally Posted by NY_Spartan

My parents let me drive to Agway when I was 12.

My mom, brother and I were driving to Florida to meet my dad (who was on a business trip down there). She got tired in Virginia and I drove for a 5 hours while she slept. I was 11.

Wonder were the trust factor went too? I moved off the farm when I was very young but my dad always trusted me to do things right. Driving was never a big deal, but then again neither was changing shocks. brakes and engine tuneups. I could have worked in a repair shop by 14 or so.

[Awesome Robot With Lasers]

Originally Posted by CJC

Wonder were the trust factor went too? I moved off the farm when I was very young but my dad always trusted me to do things right. Driving was never a big deal, but then again neither was changing shocks. brakes and engine tuneups. I could have worked in a repair shop by 14 or so.

A lot of this is a byproduct of the fear generated by news media.

[forever-green]

My dad smoking in Meijer in Okemos while we were grocery shopping with the family and stomping them out right on the floor of the grocery isle. Us kids always watched to see if it went out completely and if didn't we just stomped it out for him.

Taking a family vacation to Florida and riding all the way there in the back of the truck with a topper. Then if we wanted to get in the cab with mom and dad we just went through the window.

[NY_Spartan]

Originally Posted by CJC

Wonder were the trust factor went too? I moved off the farm when I was very young but my dad always trusted me to do things right. Driving was never a big deal, but then again neither was changing shocks. brakes and engine tuneups. I could have worked in a repair shop by 14 or so.

I think Farm kids just grew up quicker. We were given (and expected to accept) more responsibility earlier than kids do today. I feel badly that my kids won't have that same experience.

[reg_hartner]

Originally Posted by CJC

Wonder were the trust factor went too? I moved off the farm when I was very young but my dad always trusted me to do things right. Driving was never a big deal, but then again neither was changing shocks. brakes and engine tuneups. I could have worked in a repair shop by 14 or so.

Cars are now more giant computers than just hunks of metal.

It seems like a lot of the stuff I used to be able to do on a car I need to have a laptop and software to analyze to make sure I did it right now.

[mitch cumstein]

Its threads like this that make me wonder if ikm ****ing up as a parent.

As a child of the mid-70s, and having a mother who was 19 when I was born (and then divorced 2 years later), this thread is a checklist of my childhood:

-left in car while mom was shopping, boozing: check

-riding around in a jeep wrangler while mom and random boyfriend were boozing and high: check

-no seatbelts: check

-buying smokes with a note: check

-beaten with various aparati: check

In addition, I stayed home by myself after school starting in 2nd grade (and it goes without saying that I walked to and ferom school by myself). And we were always off doing god knows what unsupervised, even when I was 5 years old.

My mom also bowled in friday night leagues at eastbrook lanes in GR, and she would take me with her, give me $5 and I would play video games, house a bunch of candy and inevitably find myself on the roof of the bowling alley (there was a wall outside with the protruding rocks).

And my mom taught me to drive when I was 10, and by the time I was in 8th grade, my friends would come over and we would take the car to 7-11.

I mean, it was crazy. All the partying, drugs, reckless behavior going on everyday, and we came out of it more or less unscathed.

Now that I have kids, I could not imagine doing most of that. I could NEVER hit my kids, but back then, nobody thought anything of it. I could never leave my kids unsupervised for hours at a time.

But, what am I doing to my kids by not teaching them to take care of themselves. I am as against the pussification of this country as anybody, but now I feel like I'm just contributing to it.

[Roger Waymeth]

Originally Posted by mitch cumstein

But, what am I doing to my kids by not teaching them to take care of themselves. I am as against the pussification of this country as anybody, but now I feel like I'm just contributing to it.

Huge dilemma. I think most people go thru this, but you'll be thought of as an unfit parent if you do the same thing your parents did. When it comes down to it, we have changed because we don't want others to think we're bad parents.

This is the same stuff as white flight. I want my kids to go to a diverse school (like me), but when the school district you live in sucks ass you move to the burbs. You'll feel guilty about it, whats the alternative?

[Manhattan Green]

My wife's family put a small playpen in the back of the family truckster for long trips. All the luggage was tied to the roof.

My grandpa used gasoline to clean paint or grease off of his hands. My dad and I used turpentine instead.

[Manhattan Green]

Originally Posted by NY_Spartan

I think Farm kids just grew up quicker. We were given (and expected to accept) more responsibility earlier than kids do today. I feel badly that my kids won't have that same experience.

Agreed on all counts.

[CJC]

Originally Posted by mitch cumstein

Now that I have kids, I could not imagine doing most of that. I could NEVER hit my kids, but back then, nobody thought anything of it. I could never leave my kids unsupervised for hours at a time.

But, what am I doing to my kids by not teaching them to take care of themselves. I am as against the pussification of this country as anybody, but now I feel like I'm just contributing to it.

I my opinion the problem is more with telling a kid "NO" all the time. Don't jump off the steps, don't pick up a rock or snake, don't stick your head/arm/foot out the window, don't get dirty, don't going anywhere without supervision. on and on and on

My parents made the assumption that life was full of making and correcting mistakes. About the only thing I couldn't do was be disrespectful to my mother or ANY other adult. I learned early there would be hell to pay for that one!

Just remembered that I got a tent for my 12th birthday and promptly went on a 3 day hike with my 2 buddies. My parents knew the general area we where in. But we cooked our own meals on an open fire. Would you trust your 12 yr old even to start a fire?

[The Great Danton]

The government, no matter how many laws they pass, cannot make negligent parents take better care of their kids.

[The Great Danton]

Originally Posted by Spartanfan

There are a lot of dumb-a** people who lack common sense and we need these laws to protect us from those dumb-a** people and to protect them from their dumb-a** selves.

Human stupidity is not a recent phenomenon.

[Gary in Bradenton]

Originally Posted by The Great Danton

Human stupidity is not a recent phenomenon.

No but its probably a more wide spread phenomenon than it was 20 years ago.

[The Great Danton]

Originally Posted by CJC

And we could drink in the local bars at 17. And I would say that 70% of the freshman/soph dorm room people smoked pot in 1975-76

It's not that much less common now...