When we were your age

[Nana2two]

Hubby and i were talking tonight about different things we did growing up, at home, at school. Kinda got started when our 14 year old came in and asked if we could buy a battery for stereo remote. Its the large flat ones that are like $8. I said i thought the remote was not working right, she said well you have to get up and point it a certain way for it to work.. Im OMG if you have to get up, then walk your butt over and turn the station..
When dad and i was growing up. We had 3 channels on the tv,not 200. We had to pull a knob out to turn it on, not push a button. Changing channels ment hearing the click click till you got to what channel you had. Channels went off the air at 11 or 12.
We had PE everyday in school, not here. Our daugher is 9th grade in high school and only required to take 2 semisters of PE out of 4 years.Arts and ceramics were electives and you didnt get to take
"fun classes " unless your passing. We had to take math all 4 years not here only 3 years here , same with english. we didnt have to take a spanish, french class before we graduated, now you have to take it at least 2 years.Going to prom was something special Boy invited girl went has a couple back when we were in school, now you can go guy with guy girl with girl, and even bring your dog for a date..Health class was manditory for us and driving was extra curricular, now its the other way around.


We need to have some of the rules back. My daughters school has at least 40% of over weight kids.. Well gee most kids hate PE so lets not make them take it..They come home flop in bed or on the couch turn the tube on, play videos. Right now our daughter is grounded for gettig a F in English. Why you ask? She refuses to turn in her homework on time, She does it, i check it,i know its done.But its due during class, not after last, or after school and teacher,gives a 0 on the paper. I could go on and on

[mauimagic]

Oh yeah - we are not in Kansas or in the lives we grew up in anymore!! So much of the spontaneity, fun and delight seems no longer available to the young ones...... and how will they ever know what they've missed?

These are to be their good old days and that really scares me!!

[joyofsix]

It's earlier and earlier. My 6yo was shocked that my 17yo didn't have a computer to play on as a little kid. LOL, made my 17yo have a taste of what it's like for me.
We also didn't have organized sports until Jr. High (remember that, not middle school) and it was only through school. No soccer, football, swimming, whatever. I guess we did have baseball/softball but not until we were older. Not 3-4 year olds.

There were kids to play with. I send my kids out and they are literally the only ones. I take them to the park and they are the only ones. To play with your friends requires calling their parents and driving them over. I am the only parent I personally know who lets there kids walk places.

[mamamia]

HaHa! I kwym! My kids can't believe we could be entertained all day by a $.25 Pensy-Pinky or Spalding (pronounced spaldeen back in b'klyn) red rubber ball. Not only that, but we came up with our own device for buying them. In the summer, me and my BF would go around the corner at lunch time to all the factories, and collect everyone's empty soda bottles to get the deposit back. All the men knew us, and never hesitated to "help us out". When we didn't need a new ball, we'd get our own coke and a bag of Wise onion & garlic potato chips. Then we'd bring ~our~ bottles back, and get Bazooka Bubble Gum. Can you just imagine our kids doing something like that?

heeheehee!!

I tell ya, "they just don't know, they just don't know Lol!

Theresa

[frugalwarrior2]

Joyof six-meet another. DS and friends walk all over -to the store,fishing,the woods,park. They are 17 but have been doing it for 5 years. They get hassled by the cops. It is suspicious to them. I am available for rides mostly but he prefers the independence. In the summer they bike miles and miles daily.

When we were little we used to play in groups of twenty. Baseball,outside games,bike riding in big herds. No one is home.

[Russ]

some things that future generations will miss (never see)...

Vinyl records
Cassettes
8 track tapes
pong
VCR's
rabbit ears
penny candy
black and white TV

many many other things.

[mamamia]

Joyof six-meet another. DS and friends walk all over -to the store,fishing,the woods,park. They are 17 but have been doing it for 5 years. They get hassled by the cops. It is suspicious to them. I am available for rides mostly but he prefers the independence. In the summer they bike miles and miles daily.

When we were little we used to play in groups of twenty. Baseball,outside games,bike riding in big herds. No one is home.

This is so sadly true! I am telling ya, there musta been about 50 kids just on my block. And I'm not exxagerating. Always had kids to play with and hang out with.

Theresa

[2ndGenGranola]

some things that future generations will miss (never see)...

VCR's
rabbit ears

He he he -- my kids know exactly what those are. You can still buy rabbit ears for about $8

[monkeywrangler71]

We had PE everyday in school, not here. Our daugher is 9th grade in high school and only required to take 2 semisters of PE out of 4 years.Arts and ceramics were electives and you didnt get to take
"fun classes " unless your passing. We had to take math all 4 years not here only 3 years here , same with english. we didnt have to take a spanish, french class before we graduated, now you have to take it at least 2 years.

Strange, it was almost the complete opposite for us. We never had to take any PE in high school, and before that it was only twice a week. My daughter had to have it every day all through the lower grades and starting last year needs a semester of PE in high school.

When I was in high school you didn't have to take any math at all. You just needed to have English every year. Now almost all of my daughters classes are compulsory. Which is a shame, because if she'd gone when I was a kid she'd probably have a shot at actually finishing.

[jas]

Oh what fun it was to hang out with all the kids on the block! After dinner we would all gather and play kick the can, or whatever other game we decided to play. Back then seeing a crowd of kids did not put fear in people like it does now. Thinking it was gang activity or something.

[Rhayne]

Kids today have it easy. At least easier then I had it lol. I had to take english, science, math, health and PE all four years of high school. We only had to take and pass one year of any one language of our choice. I would get up in the morning and leave the house and not come back til it was dark outside. My mom never worried unless it got dark and I hadn't called. Even in high school at 17 years old I had to be home by 11 and call before I came home so they knew I was on my way (and i wasn't allowed to walk home in the dark in HS). Bike riding 4-5 towns over, or being dropped off at the beach. I remember when Nickelodeon and Mtv first started. We didn't have 200 channels either.

Other things

Cassettes
No computer
No Ipods / MP3 players
No flat screen tvs
Didn't own a microwave til i was 9-10ish
Playgrounds weren't rubberized and plastic, they were metal, rusting and dangerous.

When I was little, if i back talked, did something wrong or was bad i got my butt whipped, grounded and sent to my room and couldn't turn the radio on. Nowadays if you even threaten to hit a kid they can call the police and have you arrested.

[ohio47]

Oh, Mamamia-- Thanks for the memories! Wise potato chips! I grew up in western Pa and that's the only kind we ate. When I go back for a visit this spring I'll have to see if they still have them back there. Hugs! You made my day.

[jamie79]

We had PE everyday of every year of school.
We went outside and climb trees, played baseball and rode our bikes
We were the remote control as in one of the parents saying get up and change the channel.
When the president was on tv, he was on every channel
I could go on

[Grainlady]

Being one of the "elders" around here....(I graduated from high school in 1970).

-Girls could NOT wear pants/slacks/jeans to school and boys wore shirts with a button-down collar, tucked into pants/jeans, which were held up with a belt. I remember the scandal when hubby was a senior (the Class President and ring leader) in our dinky high school and the senior boys (all 17 of them), came to school wearing their penny loafers WITHOUT socks.

-We made our prom dresses in Home Economics Class, which we took all 4 years of high school. Jr./Sr. prom was in the gym and the meal was prepared by the school cooks and served by the sophomore class. The gym was decorated by the junior class. We made thousands of paper flowers out of tissue paper, Kleenex, and crepe paper - the theme - "Drifting and Dreaming".

-We only got one station on the TV - CBS out of Wichita, KS.

-Listened to KOMA, an AM radio station out of Oklahoma City for modern music, and we could only pick the station up after dark. Being in the middle of Kansas, the station would fade in and out, but EVERYONE listened to it. I have a friend who grew up in Nebraska and he also listened to KOMA. FM radio wasn't available around here until I was a senior, and that was a classical music station. But it didn't matter, nobody had an FM radio.

"Garage Bands" would play on Saturday nights at different little towns and we would pay all of 50-cents or $1 to get in. The bands had cool advertisements on the radio...

--Take time to take in the tremendous Tracers. Tracking their way to your town....

--Set your sights on the sensational Silencers. They'll psyche your senses.

-8-track tapes were just becoming available. I've purchased Led Zepplelin II as a vinyl album, 8-track, cassette, and now as a CD. It's still my favorite album.

-There were NO organized sports for girls in school. I played softball (shortstop) in the summer and we traveled a 50-mile radius to small towns.

-Gas was 25-cents a gallon and it still contained lead. Your gas choices were Regular or Ethel. My parents bought bread for 10-cents a loaf. I could sell homemade chocolate chip cookies at school for 10-cents a cookie in order to get some spending money. I also made cinnamon toothpicks (wood toothpicks soaked in cinnamon oil) and sold them. I got paid 50-cents an hour to babysit. I was paid $1.25/hour to work at the local Sundries (fountain drinks, lunch bar that served hamburgers/sandwiches, health/beauty aids, toys).

-We made the majority of our clothes at home. We even made our cheerleading outfits. About the only thing we bought was undies and coats, and maybe one nice "church" outfit and a couple white blouses.

-We started driving (legally) when we were 14-years old, which is common for a farm community.

ohio47 - Thanks for the WISE potato chip memory.

[jas]

Oh, Mamamia-- Thanks for the memories! Wise potato chips! I grew up in western Pa and that's the only kind we ate. When I go back for a visit this spring I'll have to see if they still have them back there. Hugs! You made my day.

I remember them coming in a box and one brand came in a big round tin like they sell popcorn in at the holidays.

I remember for awhile fritos had these litttle erasers in the box of individual ones as a prize it was the Frito Bandito guy.