As someone who also grew up in the 70s, it saddens me to see how our kids are forced to grow up these days. Back in the day, we left the house after breakfast and didn’t return home until the street lights came on. All day long, we’d be riding our bikes, climing trees, building forts (no land left for that anymore!), etc. with all the other kids in the neighborhood, with nary a parent to be found anywhere. If we watched TV, we had to get up to turn the dial on the TV! Remember that? 😉 I think our generation was one of the last “lucky” generations where we still had some freedoms (no bike helmets, we could ride in the back of a pickup truck and watch the stars above us, no electronic leashes, etc.). Great times! :)[/quote]
CA: I was limited to one hour of TV per WEEK! No lie. My dad allowed me to watch all the news and sports I wanted, but I was only allowed one hour of what he called “shows” and I had to let him know in advance what I planned on watching (“Battlestar Galactica” was usually my choice).
When I inevitably bitched about this totalitarian restriction of my viewing rights, he’d tell me one of two things: “Go outside and shoot hoops/throw the football around/play catch with one of your friends” or “go read”. Cursing under my breath, I usually did do one of those two things.
As a result, I became a voracious reader and I also spent a lot of time with my friends out-of-doors and doing the various things you mentioned, which all involved physical exercise and using our imaginations.
I remember my summers and my mom booting me out of the house right after breakfast with the admonition to come home before it got dark. I’d hop on my bike and then spend the next 8 – 9 hours with my buddies trying to find new and inventive ways to sprain various joints, draw blood or fall from things we shouldn’t have been climbing in the first place.
Amazingly, we survived. Not so amazingly, we also had a blast. When I look back on my summers, and my years in Little League and Pop Warner, it never fails to bring a smile to my face. I was tanned brown as a berry and wouldn’t be in that sort of physical condition until my days in high school playing football or my days in the Army following.
We didn’t worry about being kidnapped, our days weren’t controlled by frenetic soccer moms who had every minute of our lives scheduled and our activities were those of our own invention. I didn’t discover the mall until about the same time I discovered girls and realized that’s where they hung out.
You’re right about one thing: Those were some damn good times!
