Penny For Your Thoughts By: Nancy Whitaker
Have I missed something? Have I grown older without noticing that how I was raised and the things I was allowed to do as a kid has undergone some major changes?
I have read and written stories about the late 1800s and in those days, students could take their rifles with them and go hunting after school. They walked miles to school, packed some kind of lunch of lard and sugar sandwiches and didn’t worry if they did not take a bath every day. No one had any required vaccinations back then and everyone got along fine.
I grew up in the 50s and raised my own kids in the 70s and 80s and one thing they knew was they always needed to be home when the street lights came on. They rode their bikes around without helmets, packed their lunches if they did not like the school menu for that day and if they forgot their lunch money, no student had to go without their dinner. To me that is just plain mean to deprive a child of a lunch because of lunch money. Has our society became so selfish that a child cannot be fed unless they have the money?
We think we have “come a long ways” but when things we did as kids are against the law or we have fear we could get reported for being unsafe, then I guess I am glad I grew up when I did. I recently read an article about parents who got into trouble for letting their child walk to school alone. I remember when it was safe to walk to school by myself without the fear of being kidnapped, raped or murdered.
Of course I remember that also on Halloween we could accept homemade popcorn balls or cookies without fear they were poisoned. Is there more evil people lurking around today and if so, why? Well here are a few things we used to do as kids and my kids also did, that are now forbidden or against the law.
Of course we rode our bikes without a helmet, we drank water from a hose and families and schools even had a well and pump and all drank from the same cup. I guess it is like double dipping.
It was not uncommon to go swimming in rivers, creeks and ponds; we had snowball fights and went sledding without protective gear; we could carry a knife onto school property or bring a fishing tackle box to school.
Oh my, we all played politically incorrect games such as “cowboys and Indians,” and (gasp) we had toy guns, plus we even pretended to shoot each other with sticks which we imagined were guns, we could say the words “gun” or “bang” or “pow pow” in public, oh and we worked for our allowance and pocket money way before we were teens and then we took that hard earned money, bought all the penny candy we could afford and eat it in one sitting.
We got so dirty that our moms washed you off with the hose in the yard before letting you come into the house to have a shower. Writing lines for being a jerk at school, either on the board or on paper such as “I will not talk in class.” Playing “dangerous” games like dodgeball, kickball, tag, whiffle ball, and red rover and climbing trees.
One thing I never did was to have to put my child in an approved car seat. We used to be able to hold a baby in our laps or use one of those cloth car seats which just hooked on in the front seat. Today they have a baby in an approved car seat and then have to face them backwards in the back seat.
We could always “lick the bowl of raw cookie dough or cake batter. We ate pork, bacon, sausage and hot dogs without fear of it being unhealthy, we always obeyed our parents and if we got a “spanking”at school, we got one when we got home.
We could have aspirin in our possession or if we needed to take one, the teacher had them available. I feel that my world and my children’s world was safe. We survived those fun days and yes I even remember cars without seat belts.
I know everyone, including our state and federal governments, are working to make our world a safer place, but I for one miss the good old days.
What are some of the things you did as a child that they cannot do today? Do you feel the world and values have changed? Let me know and I’ll give you a Penny for Your Thoughts.
