If you grew up in the 70's...

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  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I was just three years old at the end of the 70's but yes!! Some of it applies to 80's kids too, I'd say.

    Most relatable for me were #2 (no seat belts or rarely used ones) and #3 (dangerous metal playground equipment) hahahaha

    I remember when a kid old enough to hold their own head up basically didn't use a carseat anymore LOL

    Also I remember being a latchkey kid after school when I was like seven, and that being totally ok and normal. Or babysitting several other younger kids when I was 9-10 years old...all day long sometimes in the summer, and my parents (who were actually quite overprotective) were not concerned at all about that!
  • Kupe
    Kupe Posts: 758 Member
    Too funny but so true:laugh:
  • Smirnoff65
    Smirnoff65 Posts: 1,060 Member
    I can relate to them all...... I would also add being able to go in to a shop and buy a single cigarette (probably local to me) and the shopkeeper not giving a *kitten* what age you were, sniffing glue for a high (late 70's), punk rock (also late 70's), Bay City Rollers (mid 70's to my shame but also add the Osmonds, Partridge Family and David Cassidy in that category) but it wasn't all bad, we also had the Banana Splits and Hong Kong Phooey:laugh:
  • deanrun
    deanrun Posts: 15 Member
    So true! We had 9 kids in a Chevy wagon regularly....not one of us in a seat belt even going across country.
  • SteveCro
    SteveCro Posts: 788 Member
    So true! My parents went to Minnesota every August fishing for 3 weeks. I remember when I was 3 or 4 laying in the back window ledge of the car trying to get semi's to honk. lol Then in 1974 or 5 (14 or 15)rode in the neighbors over the cab truck camper laying on the bed looking out the front window
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
    I can relate to them all...... I would also add being able to go in to a shop and buy a single cigarette (probably local to me) and the shopkeeper not giving a *kitten* what age you were, sniffing glue for a high (late 70's), punk rock (also late 70's), Bay City Rollers (mid 70's to my shame but also add the Osmonds, Partridge Family and David Cassidy in that category) but it wasn't all bad, we also had the Banana Splits and Hong Kong Phooey:laugh:

    I can relate tooo!!!! A pack of Marlboros would run you .65 when I was 12...candy bars .25
    I remember the outrage when butts went up to .85/pack. Remember 'Foxes'...yeah...:devil: :laugh: :blushing:
  • SteveCro
    SteveCro Posts: 788 Member
    We also played red rover, red rover (outlawed today) and there was no bulling or political correctness. A large dirt pile behind elementary school turn into at every recess from "King of the Hill" to "Smear the Queer" All the teachers laughed and called it that too. lol
  • Missjulesdid
    Missjulesdid Posts: 1,444 Member
    Riding in the back of a pickup truck, on the highway, in a tubetop and terricloth short-shorts.

    Being 10 years old and babysitting 3 small kids ALL DAY EVERY DAY in the summer and getting paid $1.00 an hour for each child.. I was going to be rich!

    Disappearing all day to collect aluminum cans.

    Getting spanked by the neighbor's grandmother for something and then going home to complain about it and getting spanked again by my parents.
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
    Getting spanked by the neighbor's grandmother for something and then going home to complain about it and getting spanked again by my parents.

    :laugh:
    Yessss! I forgot about that!!!!
  • rmt5580
    rmt5580 Posts: 9
    In the mid '70s I got paid 75 cents a day to let the neighbors golden retreiver out when I got home from school. I would tune my transistor radio to wknr 13 (Detroit) and throw a tennis ball for a half hour or so. Then the neighbors got divorced and she took the dog and moved away. I was heartbroken.
  • JustFindingMe
    JustFindingMe Posts: 390 Member
    Ah yes....the suntan lotion made me LAUGH. We used to lay out on my best friends roof listening to our little radio for HOURS, smeared in baby oil, coppertone deep tanning oil and squirting Sun-in on our hair! At the end of the day, I remember the joy I felt getting out of the shower to blow- dry my newly orange /yellow feathered hair and carefully pulling my velour one-piece over my crispy lobster skin - WIN!!!!
  • ilfaith
    ilfaith Posts: 16,769 Member
    It really is a miracle there are any of us Gen-Xers still alive.

    Now I am off to feed my kids their gluten -free cereal with organic milk and berries before slathering them with SPF 45 and strapping on their bicycle helmets so we can go out to play.
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member
    I remember my parents wouldn't let me ride with my uncle who smoked like a chimney because of secondhand smoke (early to mid 1980s) and my grandma thought that was the weirdest, most ridiculous thing ever.
  • blackcloud13
    blackcloud13 Posts: 654 Member
    #5 & #6 was us through and through. Out on the bike with a football first thing .... home by 6pm. Total freedom to go as far as our bikes could take us! Zero supervision.

    The good old days!
  • rowlandsw
    rowlandsw Posts: 1,166 Member
    I'd say it fits the early 80s too before the candyass patrol took over the world and we got turned into wimps. Only reason the families around here kept and eye on all of us is we're right near a main road.
  • JustFindingMe
    JustFindingMe Posts: 390 Member
    #5 & #6 was us through and through. Out on the bike with a football first thing .... home by 6pm. Total freedom to go as far as our bikes could take us! Zero supervision.

    The good old days!

    I know! Up at dawn, out the door on our bikes...and only came home for food or popsicles! My mom could count on the fact I'd be home as soon as the street lights came on :happy:

    What a different world that was. The games we would make up, that would entertain us for hours. An open patch of grass was cartwheel territory! A little forest/green belt was HEAVEN, the bugs, the trails, the dirt :heart:
  • PinkyPan1
    PinkyPan1 Posts: 3,018 Member
    So true and I can relate each and every one of the examples how survived the 70s! There were 7 of us kids throwing Jarts around the back yard. There were 9 of us in the car while both Mom and Dad smoked their cigarettes. In fact my brother sat in the back of the car on the hump separating the foot area in the backseat. The was no room for him to actually sit on the seat. We were kicked outside from sunrise and only expected home for meals. We came in at night when the street lamps came on. Then bath and bed.
  • jacques57
    jacques57 Posts: 2,129 Member
    This also applies to us baby-boomers. In 1963 (I was 6), my mom wanted me outside and out of the way. I was #5 of 6 kids and she needed a break. So she filled a small green canvas backpack with a sandwich, some pretzels, and an apple and gave me a map to a friend's place out in the woods more than a mile away. And then she told me I was going on a hike! And it would be exciting! So I walked to the friend's property alone for over a mile through the suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA. I played on their property (Creek, ponds, woods) and then walked home 4 hours later. Alone.

    Today that would land my mom in jail. Absurd.
  • Alidecker
    Alidecker Posts: 1,262 Member
    I can relate to all of those. I remember riding in the back window of the car when I was a kid or just standing on the back seat as my mom took me to pre-school. Jarts was a staple game at all family gatherings, I don't think anyone was ever injured from them :)

    Edit: Also during the summer, we were just required to come home when the street lights came on.
  • 126siany
    126siany Posts: 1,386 Member
    We also walked to school alone. Every day, come rain, shine, snow or sleet.

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