MY YOUTH:
Every parent dreams, prays, works to give their child/children a better life than they had.
I think back to my childhood in the 60’s and 70’s and can’t help but smile; it was great. Then I realize that I have quite a task ahead of me if I plan to enable my kids to have more.
Every day was an adventure, obviously an exaggeration- but it is close to the truth!
In the summertime we would play baseball, softball, four square, whiffle ball, tag, kick the can, hide and seek, crack the whip and more. We would race our bikes down the highest hills we could find and chase the mosquito spray. I wonder if that’s where some of the Cancer came from. (Author’s Note: Ask, in the comments, if you don’t recognize any of these games!).
We would play in the street, in our yards, in our houses, at the park, in the schoolyards or walk to the local pool and go swimming. As long as we were home before the streetlights came on, we were A OK! And parental supervision was seldom needed!
The other seasons were no different. In addition to school in the Fall, Winter and Spring, we would play football, hockey, combat, cowboys and Indians. We had snowball fights with neighborhood kids. Everyone built snow forts, went sledding, tobogganing and tubing. skeeching (Hanging onto the back bumper of an unsuspecting driver’s car to get a ride on the icy street) was always exciting and (In spite of all the rules of nature) we survived uninjured! The worst thing that happened to us while skeeching was the occasional lost glove that got stuck in the bumper!
Our days were filled with these and countless other ways to keep ourselves busy and, not always, out of trouble.
We weren’t always playing. I often walked to the store with my friend to buy cigarettes for his mother- many times without the “required” note.
All of the kids from my group had a set of chores we were required to complete before we were allowed to go out and play. Many of us mowed the lawn, weeded, cleaned the house, cleaned our rooms, helped paint, washed windows, babysat siblings or completed other household tasks as necessary.
It wasn’t that unusual to have a summer play day disrupted when one member of the group would report, “I can’t come out today. We’re cleaning the basement.” This, of course, lead to the inevitable search for a new second baseman, or whatever! It never lead to sympathy because, we all knew, that could be our fate on any given day.
We were constantly in each other’s houses, often without knocking. It seemed, back then, that all of the mothers were in charge of all of the kids. That wasn’t always a good thing. When a mother decided it was time for treats- it was a great thing! When a mother decided it was time for punishment- it was a terrible thing!
Sometimes the days plans were made on the telephone, other times the plan was made the day before. And then there were times we could just walk down the block and look for the house where all the bikes were parked.
We built go carts out of lumber obtained from local construction sites, wheels off of broken baby strollers, wagons and old bikes. I still remember clearly the time we tried to make a minibike with a discarded bike and a broken lawnmower motor. We got the motor running again but couldn’t figure out how to get the power transfer from the engine to the bike. Our problem was in the linkage, but we never solved it. My close friend Jeff’s dad was a mechanic and couldn’t/didn’t solve the problem for us.
Looking back I suspect maybe it was our guardian angels at work, knowing we were too irresponsible to become “motorized” at that point in our lives.
As kids, I remember we had a lot of fun. We had a lot of independence. There were also responsibilities galore!
I remember being mad, many times, because we were still doing dinner dishes and saw our friends outside, picking teams for baseball!
PUNISHMENTS:
There was no way to avoid learning life lessons when you, and all of your friends, were on your own all day every day.
What happened when you returned late?
In my day, coming home late resulted in a variety of punishments. I received most of them at one time or another.
Punishments included, but were not limited to, a spanking- yes, many of my boomer friends received spankings regularly. Spankings were my dad’s favorite form of punishment and NO, I did not feel “abused” at any time in my life! Another was to be kept inside the whole next day to do chores. What could be worse than working in the house and hearing your friends run past the window playing. Other punishments included being excluded from other activities, no snacks, early curfew, extra chores and more, depending on how creative your parents were.
WE LEARNED IN OTHER WAYS ALSO:
At a certain age we were allowed to stay up as late as we wanted. Unlike today, our TVs were not allowed to stay up all night. At midnight all of the stations “signed off.” In my area (Chicagoland) the channels were 2 (WBBM- the CBS affiliate) 5 (WMAQ- the NBC affiliate) 7 (WLS- the ABC affiliate) 9 (WGN the local station owned by The Chicago Tribune World’s Greatest Newspaper) We would see a “Test Pattern” while the star-spangled banner played and then nothing. This, I believe, taught us patience.
Still on the TV thing. We were not able to “binge watch” our favorite shows. When the episode ended, we waited a week to see the next show. Today I sat and watched four episodes of Castle in a row! Why? because I can! It took patience, back then, to wait. Some of you may remember when JR got shot to end a season of Dallas. The fans were forced to wait until the next season to learn if he would live or die, who did it, and why! We had no choice but to learn patience.
It seemed to me that teachers had much more control. I am aware that if a teacher punishes a child in school the teacher is liable to suffer consequences. When I was in school if I was punished by a teacher, I prayed my parents would not find out. They always did, and their reaction was always to punish me again, call the teacher, and ask for details.
Hillary Clinton quoted an old proverb when she was first lady saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” It may sound a bit “contrary” after what I wrote above but, I don’t want the government to have any additional control over me, my family, or anything else!
I thought it worked out great in my neighborhood, and most at that time, that the mothers got together and agreed to watch over each other’s kids.
I fear that our country has grown past efficiency and moved into ineptitude.
What do you think?
Have you questioned statements made by any elected official recently? I have!
Did you question any governmental orders during COVID? I did!
Did you question how they could shut churches down while leaving bars and gambling casinos open? I did!
Did you wonder if we would get the freedoms back that we gave away without a fight? I did!
Were you around when seatbelt laws were enacted? How about helmet laws for motorcycles? (All but 2 states have them). What about the really strange ones that are being discussed like penalties for not using the right pronoun?
Do you feel these are harmless? I do not!
The smallest loss of freedom is gigantic!
What about the second amendment (Right to Bear arms) arguments?
Those trying to take this right away from us have argued that, “You don’t need an assault rifle to hunt!” It is understood by legal scholars that the second amendment has nothing to do with hunting.
Our country had just fought a courageous battle to gain its’ freedom from a monarchy. The framers had no concerns about hunting! They put the second amendment in our constitution to protect our God given right to live free! The second amendment is there to allow us to protect ourselves from the government!