Kids these days have no idea

[Armed Citizen]

I was telling my 12 year old son the things the kids of my generation used to do for fun. (I'm 39 years old). He looked at me like I was crazy. So I thought it would be fun to start a thread of the things that the "older" people did as kids.

1) Kick ball in the street at night under the street light

2) Finding crawl-dads in the creek by Christian Park. There are now signs posted claiming that bacteria or pollutants can cause sickness or death. I waded in that creek all summer long as a kid. I turned out ok.

3) My parents did not have any money, so I would repaint my bike summer after summer. All the kids would do that.

4) The old plywood and large cement brick bike ramp was always a blast.

5) Hide-and-go-seek

6) Finding our own fishing worms at night. the old flashlight and red tape trick.

7) Building club houses or tree houses.

8) BB gun wars. Sorry to all my neighbors for all the broken windows. Believe me when I tell you my but is still sore from dad's leather belt.

9) Catching lightning bugs

10) My all time favorite, kissing the neighborhood girls.

Plus, when I wanted to buy something, I would earn it by cutting grass, rake leaves, shoveling snow, any old odd job. I learned the value of a dollar that way.

Keep this going, I want my kids to realize that there is more to life as a child than IPODS, IPHONES, FACEBOOK, TEXTING, STAYING IN THE HOUSE PLAYING VIDEO GAMES.

 

[Caleb]

All that and climbing trees

 

[loony1]

LOL op sounds like we grew up the same way.

 

[CorvetteTom]

+1 You must have been one of my buddies growing up!!

Creativity is a forgotten art. When your entire world is drawn for you on a HD big screen LCD TV, why work at having an imagination??

 

[Brandon]

all the above and take stuff apart and try to put it back together, squirt guns and water balloons, going to putt putt, go-carting, playing free golf untill the owner of the course caught on to us.

 

[sparky241]

soft ball and base ball. riding around the wooded areas, the towns property.( until we got caught). rock fights every so often. We had the bike ramp as well.we discovered the neighbors golf clubs once, that didnt turn out well. 3 of us and 3 broken windows within a 5 minute span. we also use to "work" on old engines people would throw away.

 

[JJGatesE30]

meh, the internet is still better

by the way, you forgot to add walking to school in the snow uphill...both ways.

 

[Brandon]

meh, the internet is still better

by the way, you forgot to add walking to school in the snow uphill...both ways.

i was lucky there. my mom was the bus driver

 

[Armed Citizen]

LOL op sounds like we grew up the same way.

I wouldn't change a thing about how I grew up. I miss being a kid. No worries, (I take the no worries thing back) My biggest worry was not coming face to face with my dad's belt. I wouldn't even change that. IMO this is what is wrong with some of these kids. My dad would wear my tail out whenever I screwed up, heck my neighbors would get me, then send me home crying, they would then call my parents and when I got home I would get it again. I learned repect. I miss my dad.

 

[LPPOsecurity]

Hell, I'm only 22 and did a lot of those same things, toss in catching snapping turtles in the creek and wondering thru the woods and field and the shooting car at my best friends house and were almost there

 

[gage]

building snow forts..mud forts..forts out of pillows and sheets then there were the houses made from large cardboard boxes.
I had goats so I played king of the hill with the billy.
I spent the entire day walking in the woods with my dogs.
Climbing trees, climbing fences, digging in the dirt, slip n'slid, water sprinklers and bicycling all over creation...
Yep Good times...still do most of 'em

 

[Cain71]

USed to get golf balls from the ponds of the city golf course and sell them back to the golfers,made money all summer....now days you would get arrested for criminal tresspassing.

 

[Rookie]

Baling hay and jumping out of the lofts.

Playing on top of commercial buildings.

Paper routes.

 

[phylodog]

I spent every moment that I could at my Grandparent's house. They lived on a pond down at Princess Lakes and had a dock on the big lake across the street. Catching crawfish, tadpoles, frogs, snakes and turtles and fishing for largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill and catfish were all I ever really wanted to do. Grandma would have to make me come in to eat, take a bath and go to bed.

What I wouldn't give to go back for a week. Sit on the dock fishing with Grandpa and eating some of Grandma's friend chicken and lumpy mashed potatoes.

 

[Knife Lady]

snow sledding, fishing, picnics, football in an open field, bowling, Saturday matinee's, digging holes to shoot your marbles in them, monopoly for hours, one tv so the whole family had to watch tv together and watch the same thing ( I was real young then) playing with lincoln logs, cowboys & indians, sleeping in a tent in your backyard or your friends yard. Oh yeah I did do the girly thing and play dress up. playing the 45 and 33 records

 

[IndySSD]

Riding my bike to the lake to fish.

Go for hikes for miles across fields and through woods (Yes I was trespassing, but my Grandfather knew the land owners and they really didn't mind so long as I didn't make a mess).

Building Dams in the creek.

Catching Crawdads and minnows from the pool created by my dam.

Squirrel hunting from the time I was 6 or 7 or so in the woods.

Playing Basketball on a hoop mounted to the barn.

Shooting my junior sized re curve bow (No one I knew had a compound bow in the early 80's) from 20-100 yards at a bail of hay with a 8" paper plate stuck under the bailing wire in front of the barn.

Playing what they now call "Frisbee Golf" by basically trying to hit various trees from other trees with my Frisbee.

Building multi level tree houses.

Build Dirt BMX trails/ramps in nearby fields.

Ride neighbors 4wheelers.

Play Tennis in the grass by myself off the side of the barn or garage.

Try to take small game with my slingshot *much more effective after the age of 10 or so at this, so much so my Grandpa made me adhere to actual hunting seasons after that for fear of thinning out his property too much*

I was also responsible for mowing the 3 acres of "yard area" two times per week, keeping all the trash hauled out to the barn and to the street on trash day, keeping all cans crushed and bottles rinsed for recycling. I helped feed the pony and later the sheep. Shoveling out the stalls a couple times a year and whacking down weeds as needed as the summer progressed.

When I turned 13 I asked if I could go to work with my best friend who was 15 and just finished his home school GED working on a guy at our churches construction crew.

I worked construction every summer, christmas and spring break from then till the summer before Senior year where I only helped from time to time building yard barns/finishing basements/garages/etc... due to playing Varsity Soccer.

Started out first summer just cleaning up the sites and hauling wood from A to B. Through the winter I was taught more about how to lay out walls, lay out and attach joists and putting down decking on mini barns and helping building wooden decks. The following couple summers I was full time framer and helped frame, roof and even hang drywall in probably 5 total homes, most of which were TK constructor homes we were sub'd in on.

During the school year from 13-15 I ran a paper route after school.

At the age of 16 I got a job as one of the YMCA maintenance men during the school year. Opening up the Y first thing in the morning, getting the Hot tubs going, getting all the lights fired up *they used to take like 45 minutes before they'd be fully up and running*, replacing any bulbs that had burnt out, documenting any issues with the tanning beds *burnt bulbs or cracks in the plexi* as well as organizing the weight rooms every morning. Reversing that process every night. Totaled up to about 5-6 hours a day about 5 days a week. It was very rewarding work that I was proud of as a young man.

When I turned 18 first semester of Senior year I took a job after school at one of the two delivery pizza places in my small town and made "the big bucks" compared to other kids I knew *only about 225$ a week* working 30-35 hours a week. Continued that and helping out on smaller jobs *decks/yard barns* until going to college.


So yeah, there's TONS more out there than texting/video games. (which I admit I played some of during the winter months as a young man and LOTS of video games in college)

I support your attempt to get your kids to go out, explore, learn.

 

[littletommy]

meh, the internet is still better

by the way, you forgot to add walking to school in the snow uphill...both ways.

I can proudly say that during the blizzard of 1978, I walked to school through maybe 24 inches of snow, with a sheet of ice where the plows had been. We were one of the few school systems in Indiana that didn't cancel school, because we all lived within walking distance.

Now they close school here if it gets too windy.

 

[S8MS-01904]

Putting playing cards in the spokes of the bikes......

Riding the Minibike around the neighborhood.....

 

[Armed Citizen]

Did any of you make Kool-aid ice cubes? That was a summer blast. Can you even get a freezer anymore with ice trays?

 

[Bradsknives]

Playing war/army and having dirt clod fights (took one in the head once that required stitches). Playing sports....neighborhood football, baseball, & basketball games. Building snow forts and have snow ball fights/wars. Building forts, both in trees and on the ground. These are just a few of the things that I remember.