This was going to be my response to some posts in Bindi's thread, "looking for ideas/advice please". But, then I saw some other interesting posts in regards to other people's childhoods, and I thought that it might be an interesting topic. Please share yours. :-)

"Oh my God! Taking away video games, TV, cell phones and the Internet? You guys ARE mean. LOL

I know that you've all heard the story about walking to school, 14 miles each way, and it was uphill both ways. But, it was true, when I was a kid. There were no video games, cell phones or the internet. And, just barely TV. It was black and white, with a snowy picture tube and you frequently had to go outside to twist the antenna, for better reception.

The neighborhood kids all played "cops and robbers" or "war", using baseball bats or even sticks for guns. Or we tied a fish line, and hook, on a long stick and went fishing in a small trout stream, nearby.

My folks heated the house with a wood burning furnace. So, every Saturday (during the winter), my brother and I, worked with my dad, cutting wood with axes, cross-cut saw, chain saw, and a buzz rig on a tractor. Then, after the wood was cut, we spent hours hauling it to the house and stacking it. Talk about a job to keep you out of trouble. :-)

But then, it wasn't all work and no play. There were days of sledding, skiing and tobagoning on a big hill nearby, with a big bon fire and hot chocolate, or chili, for lunch or dinner. Or in the summer, lots of playing in the woods and even sleeping out there, at night, with 8 jillion mosquitoes trying to eat you alive.

Jeez! At the time, I sure didn't think it was the "Good old days!". But, maybe it was. :-)

Pardon me for interrupting, but you just got me to reminiscing. Sorry. I'll try to control myself, better, in the future. :-)"

Looking back over my childhood makes me realise what a great time in was. Like Xray said, we didn't have computers, internet, mobile phones or a tv. We used to make our own fun by going out building dens, playing tag etc. Was a great time looking back. Listen to music on my dads eight track player and danced to Abba etc. FUN FUN FUN.

Childhood, hum

Doors were never locked, at night could leave windows open listening to crickets at night, see the stars thru the window and a soft breeze
(weather permitting)
Kids were out playing from early morn til dark came, ice cream trucks coming by a highlight of the hot day.

Summer was filled with sounds of kids, pools, roller skating, riding bikes, etc and nights roasting marshmellow over a fire, telling spooky stories, or funny ones. Lightening bugs flying around us.

Schools had windows then, not like todays" look more like prisons. No windows due to they believe kids concentration is lost looking out, and keep's it harder to break into.

Sounds of kids all the time playing, not like today either. My school bus picked me up at the end of our driveway(glad for that in the winter)
Winter was ice skating, sledding, and throwing snowballs as well as building a snowman or a fort.

Kids having slumber parties staying up almost all nigth just talking.
Boys were absolutely useless, except to beat up or make fun of, well near the teens years boys, guys were more likeable all of a sudden...

Life was carefree, never in fear of camping out in a tent in the backyard exception of a stray skunk maybe.

Only time I began to feel it was not the good days, was into my teens and parents were so dumb then...

Being able to go swimming in a pond, pool or lake, without fear of some strange disease.

Walking a few miles to a friends house with out worrying about being napped.

Our HUGE garden in the yard, it was a lot of work, but GREAT for winter food

All the farm animals....

I remember the endless delight that I used to find in watching and catching fireflies in the evening. There was nothing like sitting out on the porch as the sun sets or getting those last few minutes of running around the back yard.

I loved my Big Wheels. One side of my front wheel was FLAT because of how I loved making skidmarks with it.

We had an above ground swimming pool 12' round which is TINY but I lived in that thing in the summers. My Dad used to say his daughters were never so clean as in the summer. From morning until I fell asleep in my bathing suit and started all over again.

My friend's cousins left this broken down van in the back of his driveway and that was our "club house". We hung out in there swinging on the doors and pulling the steering wheel so taut and then sitting on it so we could spin like a sit and spin.

Jumping double-dutch and playing hopskotch and Hide and go seek.

Having no car as of late I ask my son to walk to the store. This is not really a "walk to the store" kind of area but we DO live close enough that he can do this and BOY do I have to hear it. I'm like, "Look! I did my time pushing a granny shopping cart to do a food shop for my mom so don't you get me STARTED!" Lazy thing.

haha...oh they were the days!
I remember riding my bike to school, over dirt roads and up hills coz there was no bus to cover our area. The best part was the ride home....all down hill. We stopped at the corner shop on the way home and brought milk sunnies (frozen milk in a triangular shaped packet)....we chomped on them all the way home. Get home, do a bit of homework, then race outside to meet up with with all the other kids in the neighbourhood. We'd often go to the swimming hole in the middle of no where, swing from the rope on a tree branch, and play til it started getting dark (or the mozzies got too bad that I thought I'd get carried away). We'd go bike riding on weekends, from pretty much sun up til dusk, only coming home to get lunch (which was always home made, none of this take away crap!). Oh, that reminds me....fish and chips were a luxury on Saturday nights - dad would get back home just in time for us to catch the Muppets at 6.30!

I remember one time scaling a fence into a paddock, where there were about a dozen horses kept. There was one with rope around it's neck, tied similar to a bridle. With my friends encouragement, I climbed on the bare back of this particular horse, and he took off with me holding on for dear life.....what felt like miles later, I came to a sudden halt as I hit the ground. I had to explain my scratched face and bruises to my mum, but didn't dare say what really happened. Nowdays, there'd be some law suit against the owner of the horse (or the paddock) for having the horse accessible.......nothing to do with my stupidity for getting on him!!!

Ha, I remember my first music cassette....1982 Out of the Blue. A few years later, I remember getting my own cassette player for my 13th birthday - I was over the moon! (my son's 13th just last month, was an Ipod Touch)...I remember my cousins had this new fancy computer thingy...something called a Commodore 64! I was allowed to go to my first concert when I was 15, AC/DC ...now that was music! haha

sheesh, I could go on for ages here....but....my old age is catching up with me and my memory is fading! lol

I remember my first LP's; Iron Maiden debut, Ozzy Bark at the Moon, Kiss - Destroyer and AC/DC High Voltage. And the only way you could get any news about metal was Kerrang! or Metal Hammer. No interwebz and youtube then. I love retro, im even collecting old computers and consoles to try to recapture it lol
Swimming in the harbour, diving off cranes. Ah those were the days

Originally Posted by SikkiNixx

I remember my first LP's; Iron Maiden debut, Ozzy Bark at the Moon, Kiss - Destroyer and AC/DC High Voltage. And the only way you could get any news about metal was Kerrang! or Metal Hammer. No interwebz and youtube then. I love retro, im even collecting old computers and consoles to try to recapture it lol
Swimming in the harbour, diving off cranes. Ah those were the days

ah Kerrang. The magazine which has sucked since the internet got popular LOL. I bet it was so much better in the real old days (I remember in the late 90s and early 00s it was good)

LOVED the Muppets!!!

I remember my friends had "Walkmans" that played RADIO and I told my mom and dad I wanted one that played cassettes. I'd never even SEEN one. Nobody had it.

My mom said to me that Christmas, "That would be VERY expensive. It would be the only thing you would get." Needless to say there were a bunch of presents under the tree so I thought it was a bust.....

Then I opened a cassette organizer...then blank cassettes. THEN the mother of all gifts my Sony Walkman that came with a shoulder harness and this ridiculous thing you could put on your belt. Thing probably weighed 4 pounds, lol. But I was ecstatic. You could take someone out with that thing, lol. Too heavy for the stupid strap to support it sometimes. Aaahhhh those were the days.