dont be scared..show your age

[winointraining]

James this thread brings back a flood of memories, things I haven't thought of for years. Thank you!

 

[the_rayway]

Yes, thank you for the trips down memory lane! It has been so nice to re-live some of these times.

Here are a couple more for me:
Making hand-churned ice cream on the farm from fresh milk, and all the cousins taking turns doing the churning.

Pic-a-Pop at Granny's house, she kept a case in the basement for when the great-grand kids came over. Also her German Shepherd/Wolf cross 'Silver'. We would crawl into his dog house and nap with him after a day of running around

 

[jamesngalveston]

just read the news today....a 6 year old boy was suspended from school for having an imagenary bow and shooting an imaginary arrow at his friend on the playground....he now has a weapons charge against him and was suspend for school for a day.....lawyers have now intervened, possibly costing the school district thousands if they win there case...
incredible......cowboys and indians were norm with cap guns and suction cup bows when i was a boy.

 

[JohnT]

Got lots more..

The "Smells of our youth"....

The smell of white craft paste,
The smell of clay,
The smell of wool mittens drying on the schoolroom radiator,
The smell of silly putty,
The smell of Pay Dough,
The smell of Mimiograph Copies (always began a test with a sniff),
The smell of Campbel's Chicken Noodle Soup,
The smell of the glue we used in putting together models.


(feel free to add)


Also..

remember those little rubber band powered balsawood airplanes? Cost as much as a candy bar and gave HOURS of fun playing with it.

 

[novalou]

just read the news today....a 6 year old boy was suspended from school for having an imagenary bow and shooting an imaginary arrow at his friend on the playground....he now has a weapons charge against him and was suspend for school for a day.....lawyers have now intervened, possibly costing the school district thousands if they win there case... incredible......cowboys and indians were norm with cap guns and suction cup bows when i was a boy.

I've seen a similar story where a kid chewed a graham cracker into a shape of a gun.

Unbelievable.

 

[Fabiola]

just read the news today....a 6 year old boy was suspended from school for having an imagenary bow and shooting an imaginary arrow at his friend on the playground....he now has a weapons charge against him and was suspend for school for a day.....lawyers have now intervened, possibly costing the school district thousands if they win there case...
incredible......cowboys and indians were norm with cap guns and suction cup bows when i was a boy

As a former teacher in New Mexico, can tell you those were healthy games that every boy has played at some point in his lives, me and my son used to play cowboys and Indians too, and he played with plastic guns, but I think that nowadays schools became too panicked with those random shootings that happened around the country, that they became almost at a paranoid point where schools don't allow kids to be kids...

 

[Rocky]

I hate to hijack this excellent thread with a comment on these inane and ineffective restrictions being placed on children vis-à-vis pretending to have a gun, bow, knife, etc. I spent my career in "trouble shooting" problems and one thing that I learned is that the solution proposed must demonstratively to lead to a solution. I fail to see how these restrictions and punishments will prevent mental defectives from entering a school, movie theater or mall and begin shooting. It is just another example of how completely unqualified people are in charge of our lives.

Incidentally, if it were up to me, I would take a very long look at the violent video games, TV programs and movies that immerse children today.

 

[Boatboy24]

Incidentally, if it were up to me, I would take a very long look at the violent video games, TV programs and movies that immerse children today.

You make a very good point. And frankly, I'm not convinced we shouldn't also take a very long look at our food supply and the things our government allows in it. Farming and food manufacturing isn't what it used to be and I can't help but wonder if some of these "imbalanced" individuals aren't that way because of the things they eat. There's a lot of chemicals in the grocery store, and not just in the household cleaning aisle. Having said that, let me go downstairs and add some keiselsol, chitosan, potassium metabisulfite and metatartaric acid to my wine...

Rant over: back to the memories!

I remember riding my bike EVERYWHERE. I mean all over town. Miles and miles were covered and many adventures had.

 

[Rocky]

I remember riding my bike EVERYWHERE. I mean all over town. Miles and miles were covered and many adventures had.

Jim, we used to go everywhere on our bikes (cards in the spokes, of course). We would leave in the morning and come back in the late afternoon. No one worried about us and I don't recall an incidence of trouble. My first non-hand me down bike was a Schwinn Traveler, 3 speed, hand brakes, speedometer/odometer, saddle bag, generator powered light that I bought myself with my newspaper delivery money ($75!). It was the bomb. We would pack a PB&J sandwich and an apple in the saddle bag and take off, usually without a specific plan. The freedom was great.

 

[jamesngalveston]

learned behavior.......we learned how to play cops and robbers with dragnet,perry mason,and gunsmoke.
kids today learn via, internet,playstation,etc....

we never saw gaping holes, with blood spewing out.
they see , bowels,guts,heads blown apart, etc.
and pretty much the worst you can imagine.

we saw a girl on bandstand with short skirt
they see girls on stage in panties, playing with herself with a foam finger

there is a huge diffrence in the last 40 years, and it will get worst.

 

[dangerdave]

I've always been a denier of the "good old days" adage. It's an illusion, and a matter of perspective. Some things get worse while other things get better, never in exact proportions, nor at the same time. Things are no "better" or "worse" than the Good Old Days...just different.

Case in point: Like Rocky, my friends and I used to leave on all-day bike rides, over the hills and through the woods. My parents never seemed to worry about us, as long as we made it home before dark. No helmets, no pads, and no adult supervision. Rocky seems to imply that this does not happen anymore; that parents don't, won't, or shouldn't let their kids run off all day on their own. Something might happen! Someone might grab them! According to the FBI, rates for nearly all types of crimes are down anywhere from 10%-50% over the past decade alone. The only catagory that's gone up is burglery (up 1.7%). So, the feelings we may have that it's less safe in society (in general) for our children or grandchildren than it was for us is false.

The question is: Why would we feel this way?

I am a step-father to five adult step-children. When they were growing up, and used to complain about all the rules they had to follow, I explained it like this: "We---the adults---are going to make darn sure you children do not get away with what we did at your age!"

Society is certainly different than it was when we were young. Some things better, some things worse. We also must accept that we are also different. Our generation (and our parents) have made this country (and world) exactly what it is. If some things are "worse", then we must shoulder the blame. For things that are better, we can take the credit.

Persepctive.

 

[jamesngalveston]

I dont use goverment statistics at all....
I will say that watching the news in the 60s and 70s, you hardly saw anything about rapes,robberies,carjackings,muggings,shootings,etc.
I did however start seeing in the 80s, etc.
Today, its happening so much people hardly notice...
In houston yesterday, there were 14 armed robberies, 3 shootings,3 rapes, and have not idea about breaking and entering
Maybe the fbi left houston ,detroit,chicago,new orleans,miami out....

 

[jamesngalveston]

dave...here is an indepentend crime stat, Non Goverment.

crime is terribly up.

http://www.disastercenter.com/crime/uscrime.htm

 

[dangerdave]

I think the news is the problem. Too much. Too bad. They didn't have enough time in a half hour news cast in the 60s to show all the crimes that occurred. Now we have news 24/7. It would be foolish of us to believe that the new broadcasts are showing a direct proportion of good/bad news. Bad news is much more "sensational"!

I also take your point, James. The "government" may have their own reasons for fudging the numbers.

 

[the_rayway]

And this is why I don't have TV or the newspaper at our house...

 

[LoneStarLori]

When we moved from Houston last year to South Texas, I used to laugh at the Corpus Christi local news casts because they seemed to cover such petty things. (My CASA class being sworn in by the judge for example.) I always felt like they were missing some 'important' news. It took a long time to come to the realization that there just wasn't the Houston type of crime here. Now I feel privileged to have such a quiet life instead of always thinking I'm missing out on something.

 

[Elmer]

And this is why I don't have TV or the newspaper at our house...

What do you play video games on?

What do you use to swat flys?

 

[the_rayway]

What do you play video games on?

What do you use to swat flys?

Wii, and a shoe...

 

[JohnT]

And this is why I don't have TV or the newspaper at our house...

So you do not have a newspaper or tv, but you have a computer?

The computer is much worse, what with its easy access **** and degenerate people who like to make their own wine

 

[dangerdave]

I remember my Grandma's silver mylar Xmas tree. It had a rotating light disc that shined on the tree and slowly changed colors. I remember lights on our real tree that were so hot you couldn't touch them. You could smell the tree roasting all season long. A wonder it took so long to realize those were dangerous!

Riding in cars as a child. Up front. No seat belts. No child seats.

I remember playing all day in a pile of dirt with a big bag of green plastic army men.