Reminiscing. "Stuff we did that our kids wouldn't believe today".

[alloy]

Used to play king of the hill in a new subdivision. The biggest dirt hill, the first group would rain dirt clods down on all who tried to take the top. Won a lot. Bloodied a lot of kids.

[El Presidente]

80's Staff Christmas parties at the bank 

I was in my 20's but ....

[NSXCIGAR]

Definitely some fireworks and bottle rocket fights for me as well. 

My family would set up at flea markets/swap meets in a vacant department store in a half-abandoned mall and at 6 years old I could go anywhere and do anything all day. Just check in every couple hours which I did anyway because I always needed more money for the arcade!

There was another kid who's parents set up there who was maybe a year older and we would hang out. We'd be in the arcade, movie theater, other stores, dark recesses of the mall--up on the roof, in the walls and back corridors. 

[Ford2112]

I was a really bad kid

[NSXCIGAR]

29 minutes ago, alloy said:

Used to play king of the hill in a new subdivision. The biggest dirt hill, the first group would rain dirt clods down on all who tried to take the top. Won a lot. Bloodied a lot of kids.

Yep, I've thrown plenty of dirt clods in my day. They're really the perfect weapon--hits hard enough to feel but soft enough to aim for the head like a squash ball impact. Leaves no mark, does no damage (unless you get hit in the lip I suppose) and explodes on impact leaving the target blinded by and tasting dirt. 

You just have to play fair and check for rocks or not be a punk and throw a rock. 

I've also had some epic crab apple fights with trash can lid shields. 

[Shrimpchips]

My younger kid is not yet two. By the time he’s old enough, if I told him that as kids we’d try to get the corner store to sell us a Penthouse magazine and cigarettes, I don’t know if he’d be more shocked that we were trying to buy smokes and porn, or the fact that porn was in a magazine format at one point in ancient history.

[Hammer Smokin']

play outside.

[El Presidente]

2 hours ago, Shrimpchips said:

My younger kid is not yet two. By the time he’s old enough, if I told him that as kids we’d try get the corner stores sell us a Penthouse magazine and cigarettes, I don’t know if he’d be more shocked that we were trying to buy smokes and porn, or the fact that porn was in a magazine format at one point in ancient history.

Great days. 

I found my first Penthouse magazine tucked under the mattress at a grade 7school camp. Life changing.

[Bill Hayes]

Used to walk through the storm water drains like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Just needed a torch and no rain. We'd pop out of drains a suburb away. Also climb a lot of trees. Fell out of a few trying to be Spiderman. Haha!

[rcarlson]

4 hours ago, El Presidente said:

Great days. 

I found my first Penthouse magazine tucked under the mattress at a grade 7school camp. Life changing.

Didn't realize you and sound-sleepin' Fuzz were classmates.    

[Fuzz]

28 minutes ago, rcarlson said:

Didn't realize you and sound-sleepin' Fuzz were classmates.    

Rob was a late bloomer. I found my first penthouse a few years younger. 😅

[cgoodrich]

Rubber band and staple fights: straighten one of the staple’s legs, bend the other into a 45° And you had an arrow. Wrap the rubber band around the fingers to make a sling shot. Hook the staple around the rubber band, pull back and “zing!” Not too easy to dig out of the skin! No one lost an eye, but a few were pulled from cheeks and noses… 😂

Hooky-bob: in winter with good snow on the roads, wait concealed behind a bush or tree trunk waiting for a passing car, just as they drive past would run out and grab the rear bumper and slide on your feet in a squatted position. The goal was to see how far you could ride before the driver spotted you in the mirror and stopped suddenly. Those old metal bumpers would hurt when you slammed into it when the car stopped too quickly! A lot of fist shaking and swear words thrown by the driver. 🙄

[Chibearsv]

4 hours ago, Bill Hayes said:

Used to walk through the storm water drains like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Just needed a torch and no rain. We'd pop out of drains a suburb away. Also climb a lot of trees. Fell out of a few trying to be Spiderman. Haha!

All the same for me too.  In the winter, we'd sled through the drains on the frozen water that remained which was easier than walking hunched over; we could cover a lot of ground.  And no spiders in the winter.

[Chibearsv]

11 minutes ago, cgoodrich said:

Rubber band and staple fights: straighten one of the staple’s legs, bend the other into a 45° And you had an arrow. Wrap the rubber band around the fingers to make a sling shot. Hook the staple around the rubber band, pull back and “zing!” Not too easy to dig out of the skin! No one lost an eye, but a few were pulled from cheeks and noses… 😂

Hooky-bob: in winter with good snow on the roads, wait concealed behind a bush or tree trunk waiting for a passing car, just as they drive past would run out and grab the rear bumper and slide on your feet in a squatted position. The goal was to see how far you could ride before the driver spotted you in the mirror and stopped suddenly. Those old metal bumpers would hurt when you slammed into it when the car stopped too quickly! A lot of fist shaking and swear words thrown by the driver. 🙄

We called it Skitching - got really dicey when the car turned onto a busier road.

[RichG]

I remember one game we invented, where one boy would climb on my peaked garage roof, and lay down on his back. The others would wait down below and lob darts underhanded up to the roof, where the unfortunate soul above had to roll side to side to try to dodge said darts and attempt to not roll off the roof. 
 

Another thing that strikes me now that I have children is how nonchalant my mother was about letting me play in the ocean. I remember being tumbled about by strong surf from the time I was a young boy, and having to deal with it on my own. 

[Kitchen]

I was not a bad kid, per say, but I had an interest in physics, chemistry, and explosives (not the greatest combo of interests for a kid) and made my fair share of hardware store bombs.  Thankfully I was always a cautious kid too, but my idiot friend did almost lose a hand to one of my projects.  

Now for the not so dangerous things I dont hear about anymore, as a city kid we were always playing half-ball, suicide ball (sometimes with hardballs), and C.H.I.N.K..  

I also came to age in the 80s, during the crack epidemic, and there was always a countless amount of disposable crack pipes all over the street.  They looked like small test tubes with colored plastc caps on them.  We use to see who could find the most colors.  With that said, as per our mothers' orders, we always knew to stay away from any needles we saw.  

Not so much as a kid, but in my early 20s I was experimenting with making my own darkroom toners for photography.  For one recipe I needed Sulfuric acid and thought, "where the hell am I going to buy this?"  Texas, that's where!  Apparently you can mail order anything from TX (at the time at least), and I got two liters of 18 molar sulfuric acid shipped to my apartment.  Still have some and I have no idea what to do to get rid of it safely.  

[Puros Y Vino]

Oh I forgot to add backyard burnings.  😁 My dad would have us boys help him dig a big hole in our backyard. We'd then fill it up with the dried scraps from planted crops, etc. (No garbage) and then set it ablaze.  As the youngest of the 3 sons, I was on hose duty.  I had to water the edges to contain the fire to the pit and of course, soak the neighbours garage that was nearby as an added measure. LOL.

[Cigar Surgeon]

• Walking many km's to and from school, in -30 (s)C(ience) or snowstorms. Didn't matter. Started around the age of 10.
• Walking many km's to a convenience store. Started around the age of 10.
• Being told to 'get out of the house' and not to come back until dinner time. Started around the age of 10.

[El Hoze]

I used to drive my parents cars around from about the time I was 10 years old or so. I finally got caught one day when I was 12, took the car to buy a sandwich in town, got home and my dad was standing there in the driveway. He was so stunned that I don’t remember him being as angry as I would have feared. I now look at my 14 year old nephew and laugh thinking of what I was like at 14…my life already included alcohol and chasing girls. I wouldn’t call myself a bad kid but I definitely wasn’t a good kid either. lol 

[helix]

3 hours ago, Kitchen said:

and I got two liters of 18 molar sulfuric acid shipped to my apartment.  Still have some and I have no idea what to do to get rid of it safely.  

Dilution with a box of sodium Bicarbanate and a couple gallons water in bucket then down the drain.

[Kaptain Karl]

14 hours ago, Fuzz said:

I see what you did there 😂

[porkchop]

Quarry/cliff jumping that makes me physically ill to think about, especially one in Lake Tahoe.

[Joeyjojo]

17 hours ago, SGD316 said:

Going outside regularly and not being glued to a screen 

 

Only half kidding. 

Mine would be similar - Going out without any kind of communication device. Just you and the real world. No internet, social media or constant soundtrack of infinitely programmable music. (if you were luck you might have enough battery life for your Walkman to play a few songs) If you wanted to speak to a mate you would have to walk to their house and knock on the door. If you bumped into people on the bus/train you might have to interact with them as though they were a real person rather than retreat into your digital bubble. 

[dobbs]

mine are the same as many: walking to elementary school, outside freedom, general media disconnect.

but the one that gets me, here in caifornia at least, is that we used to be able to decide to go camping, and just go do it. seems nowadays everyone wants to sleep outside and most places require reservations. i used to live not far north of bug sur, and in the 90's we would just drive the coast and be alone. i don't know what happened, but it's a damn traffic jam all the way down. my private theory is that cars got more reliable. that and instagram.

-dobbs

[avaldes]

I'm loving all of this. 90% of what is posted happened as a kid in the 80's. I think sketchy-ass bike jumps is pretty high on the list of things I don't see in my town today. Also shooting spit wads....the thought of that in modern post-COVID times is likely to cause most people to melt.