Can You Add To The List ?.............. 10 Things.................

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/insurance/10-things-you-used-to-do-but-now-cant/ss-AA8ZbrA

Got any additions?

Poor people, even middle class people, can't have big families. When we were kids, many of us knew families with 6, 8 or even 12 or more kids. Now it's illegal. Not really, but practically speaking. If you need a car seat for every kid, a minivan that seats 8 will often only hold four car seats and two adults, with so little room between car seats that no one else can sit there. Having more kids means buying a 12 passenger van or driving two cars everywhere you go. That gets so complicated and/or so expensive, that most people don't even try.

When I was in like 4th and 5th Grade, we used to bring Knives and Fireworks to School to trade with each other. It was just kinda' "The thing to do", and nobody gave us any grief for it. The Teachers were aware, but just voiced their concern that we'd better be careful. and no lighting off fireworks at School.
Nowadays if Kids did that they'de be sent to Guantanamo Bay or tried as Adults for Crimes against Humanity and Political Correctness.
Oh, it also was not uncommon for a kid to bring his Compound Bow to school on the Bus to show off or because it was Hunting Season and he was going hunting after school.

I used to be my school's "arms" dealer... If you wanted an electric squirt gun, or a realistic cap gun, I was your source... Nowadays I'm sure I'd be spending time getting striped sunlight if I were to try and pull that off.

BTW, I made a killing (off of Hubba Bubba Bubble Gum).

Let's see

Seat belts - nope. In fact when I was young I would ride on the "shelf" behind the rear seat and the rear window.

Also rode in the trunk to hold the Christmas tree for the ride home

Walked to elementary school
Rode my bike to my friend's house (over 8 blocks away) with a requirement to home in time for dinner (and no cell phones)

Cap guns - and smashing rolls of caps with a hammer

Played dodge ball in gym class

Watched teacher slam the school bully against the lockers for picking on a smaller kid (How do you like someone bigger than you hitting you?)

Played Monopoly games on a real board that would go on for days

les said:

Cap guns - and smashing rolls of caps with a hammer

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BIG BANG - and then the ringing in the ears -

I can remember when you could go into a common drug store, and buy Saltpeter, aka KN03, on the shelf. No questions asked. My brother was the school bus driver, had a baseball bat on the bus as a deterrent for misbehavior. No questions asked. We trolled around developing neighborhoods with a wagon, collecting soda bottles that we got 3 cents apiece on trade at the local small grocer's. To which we bought our gum, candy and other misc kid preferred indulgences. Those were such different times.

I can't believe I'm the first here to list this but here's my addition to the list:

"I remember when I was a kid in the '70s and could launch model rockets in any park or unused land without fearing breaking some local ordinance, or fearing a cop or park ranger would misinterpret actual unrelated ordinances in a way that would get me kicked out of the park."

Marc_G said:

"I remember when I was a kid in the '70s and could launch model rockets in any park or unused land without fearing breaking some local ordinance, or fearing a cop or park ranger would misinterpret actual unrelated ordinances in a way that would get me kicked out of the park."

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I usually flew at the local football field.

If I needed more space, I would wait until Sunday and my father would drive me to a large mall. Back then, due to "Blue Laws" the mall would be closed so the parking lot would be empty. Often had security come and watch a few flights and then leave us to continue flying - no issues. The the asphalt was a harder landing surface than the grass on the football field.

I recall my friend and I going to the neighborhood Mom & Pop store on an errand to buy cigarettes for his cousin--we were underaged.

Kmart sold both Cox and Testors gas-powered control-line model planes.

Buy DDT bug bombs through the mail from military surplus mail order catalog. Also chemical supplies via mail order without HAZMAT fee.

les said:

I usually flew at the local football field.

If I needed more space, I would wait until Sunday and my father would drive me to a large mall. Back then, due to "Blue Laws" the mall would be closed so the parking lot would be empty. Often had security come and watch a few flights and then leave us to continue flying - no issues. The the asphalt was a harder landing surface than the grass on the football field.

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When i was about 11, I used to fly in a tiny field behind my house. Maybe 1/2 acre area. Of course it was too small. Who cared? Stuck in a tree? Climb up as high as you need. If it fell in a neighbor's yard, just go get it. Just don't hit their car lol.

Gather just off the school grounds for a pre-arranged settlement (fight) from an earlier school argument. Almost always, cooler heads prevailed. Couple times got our butts handed to us or ran faster and hurt only our pride. Parents never knew.

Ride our BMX bicycles to the local construction grounds and fool around all day.

Stay outside all summer or after school playing pick-up sports until it was dark.

Build a "fort" on some property somewhere (no one ever knew whose lot, and no one ever complained).

Blow up our model cars and planes with fire crackers. When the destruction was almost complete, go find a gas can and light the remains on fire.

And back to the rocketry theme: Payload rockets with the only real sacrificial payload they were designed for, like it or not, explicit or implicit.

You actually got a trophy if you won during sports event when little.

Now they don't even keep score, afraid to give losers some kinda complex.

If you were out of line in school, the teacher wacked you with a ruler and you got "detention" staying after school to do chores like scraping gum from under desks or some other menial task.
In high school if you really got out of line........ they sent you down to one of the coaches, were you got "cracks". Wacked in the butt with a 1x4 drilled full of holes so they could swing it faster.
Girls went to phys ed teacher..... got same.

Then they called your parents and you got it again when you went home, because your parents were embarrassed by your actions.
Now they call a lawyer and sue the school.

There was real discipline in schools & ya learned something.

They had dress codes that were enforced.

You could order 50ft of visco fuse for a dollar........from the back of comic books!
Came in handy back in the 60's to light your Estes rockets, when you couldn't afford batteries.

I actually ordered my first rifle, a Marlin 39A lever action .22 from a add in Field & Stream 64.00 & it was mailed to me.

Being able to get drunk and drive home
Being able to shout racist and homophobic abuse with no fear of the political ciorrect brigade getting on my back
Being able to have an electric fire in the bath with me without the health and safety nutters moaning
Being able to smoke in a crowded bus without the health fascists complaining
Being able to drive at terrific speeds round residential areas without getting fined by speed cameras

Without these essential freedoms its like living in North Korea


By the way that was irony in case you thought I was serious.

"Go ahead, it's a free country".

When I was thirteen I received, along with about a dozen other boys my age, our hunters safety course.....taught in the high school after classes by a couple of our teachers and a Ranger.

After that and during fall for the next few years, we could bring our .410ga shotguns to school so that we could hunt small game after school....I kid you not. The guns were kept in the principals office and handed out after the bell rang to end the day....and this was the late '70's and early '80's!!! Of course, it wasn't long after that when the massacre in Quebec took place and everything changed.

Also during this time period, the local Ranger office would set up a desk in the lobby of the high school with Forest Fire Fighting consent forms to be taken home to our parents to sign. This was usually done late spring. It was usually 16-18 yr old boys that were "on standby" in case a major fire broke out and they were paid by the province for their time. I had the pleasure to fight on one fire.....quite a life changing experience and the source of endless stories when my kids were really young. The "recruiting" was done away with in the late '80's as it was deemed to be "irresponsible" of the government to hire youth to fight fires....although I think we all did a great job during those days and no lives were lost.

It's funny the article is a mixture of things that the writers think are bad that you can't do anymore, like kids not being allowed to walk home alone or play unsupervised on their own, and things the writers think are GOOD that they are no longer allowed, seatbelt laws, drunk driving bans, and smoking laws. It's not all nostalgia.

I really do think the Free Range Kids thing is important. I got walked to school once on my first day at kindergarten, and after that, I was on my own. Even little kids had a pretty big radius of freedom. Once you had a bike, you were free to range at least a few miles from home. I think that's important. It's not surprising to me that this generation of kids who have been hand held though life are living at home until 30 now. A big part is that the economics are different now, but I think it is also because kids don't develop the skills for independence that they used to.

Astro-Baby said:

Being able to get drunk and drive home
Being able to shout racist and homophobic abuse with no fear of the political ciorrect brigade getting on my back
Being able to have an electric fire in the bath with me without the health and safety nutters moaning
Being able to smoke in a crowded bus without the health fascists complaining
Being able to drive at terrific speeds round residential areas without getting fined by speed cameras

Without these essential freedoms its like living in North Korea


By the way that was irony in case you thought I was serious.

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It's probably good you added the disclaimer....

A group of us neighborhood kids used to get together quite often with our toy guns and play war. Our side arms were cap guns, others were machine guns, rifles.We used the whole block, ran through the neighbors yards. If you were "shot" you had to lay there until tagged by someone or the game was over. Never a peep from the neighbors.

Us same kids used to be able to go to the local bar after school, order a soda and a snack, and play a few pinball games.

We played hookey and actually went fishing, without the fear of being arrested, paying a fine.

I remember actually doing archery for PE for awhile during high school... We also had an arts department (with sandblaster, and stained glass capabilities), an electronics class, a wood shop, home economics (sewing, cooking, etc.), and an automotive shop (I never stepped foot inside the latter three).

My step brother went to a different high school, and they had 4H there. In fact, the house my dad bought with the VA Loan after serving in Vietnam was built by the same high school.

I wonder how many of these programs are still around today.

Astro-Baby said:

Being able to get drunk and drive home Being able to shout racist and homophobic abuse with no fear of the political ciorrect brigade getting on my back Being able to have an electric fire in the bath with me without the health and safety nutters moaning Being able to smoke in a crowded bus without the health fascists complaining Being able to drive at terrific speeds round residential areas without getting fined by speed cameras Without these essential freedoms its like living in North Korea By the way that was irony in case you thought I was serious.

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It would be funny if words like racist and homophobic had not been redefined to cover anything with which fascists disagree. Otherwise, it reminds me of another famous monologue: [video=youtube;gMI_26oljqs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMI_26oljqs[/video]

You used to be able to go door to door asking people if they wanted the lawn mowed or their car washed or their leaves raked or the windows washed. I recycled bottles, walked dogs, passed out flyers and hang tags and generally worked my ass off the first summer I was back in the States so I could clean out Estes and Centuri. My Dad wrote a check to Estes for $300.00 and they called to see if it was legit! Now all the adults have those jobs because you need a business license, liability insurance and a business card. Pretty sure Estes wouldn't call, either. Good times!

What was a bike helmet? We never heard of such a thing. Heck we barely used our motorcycle helmets... When I was in grade school, my grandparents lived in town about four blocks away. On days that I didn't like the school lunch, I'd hoof it down there and have lunch then hoof it back. I never checked with the teachers to see if it was OK.
And I was also one of those kids that slept in the shelf under the rear window of the '65 Chevy Impala. We used to fight over who got to sleep up there. Then my brother got too big and it was all mine...

Adrian

Riding in the back of papas truck.

TA

thobin said:

Riding in the back of papas truck.

TA

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They still do that around here.

Gary Byrum said:

They still do that around here.

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We used to, but although you can get away with it way out in the country, everyone around here knows that the cops will pull you over in a heartbeat.

Peartree said:

We used to, but although you can get away with it way out in the country, everyone around here knows that the cops will pull you over in a heartbeat.

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When I lived in Charlotte, that was the way it was. Here in this little town, it's not unusual to see a PU truck going down Main St with a bed full of kids/people. They do it all the time around here. And apparently the cops either don't care or turn a blind eye.

Man it's a quick trip to the big house around here. "CHILD ENDANGERMENT!"


TA

In order to have an efficient Nanny State we must also have Swarms of Officers to Harass Our People and Eat out of Their Substance.....wait a minute.....that's what Thomas Jefferson said! :surprised: