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.
  • Slinky_BraveHeartBunsOfSteel
    Slinky_BraveHeartBunsOfSteel Posts: 10,933 Member
    ...for 3 miles each way, with no shoes....
  • CoolDad67
    CoolDad67 Posts: 324 Member
    1) Jarts, we didn't need them. We had a bow and arrows instead. We also used to play "chicken" by tossing open pocket knives to stick in the ground between each others' feet to see who would chick out first.

    2) Definitely . . . we never wore seat belts util it became the law. I, too, remember being in the back of the truck on the hiway and laying in the back window of the car on long trips. In '74, our parents bought a new family car (Ford Pinto Stationwagon). It was designed as a 2+2 (two in front buckets and two in back seat); but we had 6 in our family. My brother and I sat in the back area behind the back seat.

    3) Unsafe playgrounds. Remember these too. The merry-go-round in our playground was the old kind that could break your legs off if you got them between the bars and the ground.

    4) I only really remember the suntan oils to enhance and not really anything with a SPF rating.

    5) We thought we were daredevils with bike ramps and running around the streets, fields, and woods on our bikes. Of course there were no helmets. Not even those with dirt bikes (motor cycles) and three-wheelers wore helmets.

    6) Was not an issue. We lived in the country; so, being out alone was the norm.

    7) No wimps allowed . . . we constantly had some sort of bruises, scratches, cuts, etc from doing things that no parent would dream of letting their kids do today. You learned from experience what not to do.

    8) Nobody in my immediate family smoked, but it was not a big deal to be in the car or around others who did. Didn't think twice about 2nd hand smoke.
  • DeliriumCanBeFun
    DeliriumCanBeFun Posts: 313 Member
    Yeah this stuff did continue on through the early 80's. I was born is 75, and I spent a great deal of my early years laying on the back dash of cars where the music was louder and I could see the sky. And I remember having a giant Plymouth where my little bro who was born in 81 would stand up in the seat while my mom was driving. We even still have some of that metal playground equipment at a couple of the parks where I live. Of course, I'm still all about #7 lol! My younger son who is now 12 had to get staples in his head a few years ago from playing red rover in the street, and my boys still stay out until dark without helmets or sun protection most of the time.
  • richardositosanchez
    richardositosanchez Posts: 260 Member
    Haha! Funny. I recall how damn hot the playground slides, swings and bars would get in the sun, and those animal rocking swings. I used to love darts, and my brother actually accidentally inserted one into the back of his friend's head when they were playing. Ahh the 70's were great.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,027 Member
    You know who Tony Alva is without googling.
    Ahahaha! I was an avid skateboarder back in the 70's so guys like Alva, Peralta, Saladino, The Bones Brigade, etc., I would know by name.
    My board back in the day was a SIMS wide, with Tracker Trucks and OJ wheels.

    A.C.E. Certified Group Fitness and Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • azymth99
    azymth99 Posts: 122 Member
    Totally. When we would "go outside to play" we would be gone all day- by ourselves, no adult supervision. We had plenty of places within bike riding distance to play: baseball fields that were open to the public, 3 schools with playground equipment and basketball courts (and it wasn't trespassing to be there), the high school track, parks in addition to large sections of wooded area (that is now all subdivisions and shopping centers) where a kid could kill all kinds of time fishing, trapping, hiking, building forts etc.

    Nowadays, if a kid is missing for a half-hour they call the police (and rightfully so!). I've seen kids sledding with helmets on.

    The world sure has changed.
  • KylieAddison
    KylieAddison Posts: 6 Member
    ROFL Sounds like my dad. If I got in trouble at school. I caught it again at home. A lot to be said for fear of parental anger. Can't tell you how much trouble that fear kept me out of.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,027 Member
    Don't forget about PUKA SHELL necklaces and BLACK RUBBER O RINGS worn as rings and bracelets!!! And my courdoroy sky blue super bell bottoms that I had to tuck into my sock when I rode my bike.

    A.C.E. Certified Group Fitness and Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,027 Member
    Some of my favorite toys growing up:

    TONKA- These were actually made of metal instead of today's plastic versions.

    BIG JIM with the Karate dojo- I was so inspired by Bruce Lee that this was a go to toy daily.

    The SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN- Lol, I remember looking through the back of his head and the "bionic" vision.

    ATARI 2600- Tank and Pong. Still classics.

    DC heroes- All with removable clothing.

    A.C.E. Certified Group Fitness and Personal Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • seltzermint555
    seltzermint555 Posts: 10,740 Member

    2) Definitely . . . we never wore seat belts util it became the law. I, too, remember being in the back of the truck on the hiway and laying in the back window of the car on long trips. In '74, our parents bought a new family car (Ford Pinto Stationwagon). It was designed as a 2+2 (two in front buckets and two in back seat); but we had 6 in our family. My brother and I sat in the back area behind the back seat.

    Oh man! I have no idea what kind of station wagon my mom had, but when I was 4-5 (in the early 80's) she had a small daycare center out of our house and she would take all the kids' older brothers/sisters (the school age kids) to school or the park/pool in the back of that thing. I remember there being 1 baby in a carseat and all of the other kids ranging from probably ages 3-12 literally piled on top of each other in the back without a second thought.

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