Gowing up back in the good old days!

Wow, there was life without computers and the internet? OMG! lol

That's pretty funny

Quote: Originally posted by Renegade
Wow, there was life without computers and the internet? OMG! lol

That's pretty funny

What about life before high-speed access. I remember when 14.4 was pretty fast. Don't miss the modems or the dialups at all.

yeah I miss the 56k I'm only on 33.6 cause I can't find one really cheap(and works) or is free lol

High speed internet access would be a dream!

ahhh...I still remember the good old DOS OS with green, blue and red text lol I miss it cause it never crashed. Then we switched over to Windows (ARGH!!!)

Those were the good old days yeah...

Wow, that is so true. Now I go insane if the Internet connection goes down...And yet can identify with what Webmistress said, and those were the good old days

Hmmm, here's a question for everybody: What was your first computer?
Mine was a Dragon 32 - only cost £5, it had a great implementation of BASIC...So many hours spent writing text adventures when I should have been doing homework

Our first computer was a Commadore 64 but even them we didn't spend all our free time playing it.

Interesting how this thread has turned into a discussion on computers/internet when it is supposed to get everyone talking about other things, like what they used to do as a child!!

If all computers stopped working tomorrow I'm sure most of today's kids (and probably a lot of adults) would think it was the end of the world!

Quote: If all computers stopped working tomorrow I'm sure most of today's kids (and probably a lot of adults) would think it was the end of the world!

I would since that's my only income

Man, does this have to turn into another computer discussion?

I'm such a sucker for nostalgia. Thanks for the list, Julia. We used to use dad's farm equipment like a playground! Combine becomes jungle gym. I don't think today's parents would allow that!

It's so sad that todays kids don't use their imagination. I can remember loving getting a big cardboard box and pretending it was all sorts of things from a car to a dolls house! Now days kids get everything pre-made in plastic so they don't have to think!!

Here, this ought to make you feel better about "today's kids":

http://www.synapticimpulse.com/images/codyscrew.jpg

We spent a couple of days making the costumes, then the kids put them on and ran around the yard pretending to be machines and chatting. My kids play with trucks and plastic animal figures and chalk and bubbles and bicycles. They have books and lego and k'nex and yes, they play on the Internet. An entire 2 hours a day, maximum. Most days they "forget", and tear off to play Dinosaurs Drowning in the Lava from the Volcano Made Of Mud or colour the buildings with chalk murals that resemble primitive cave paintings, but of machines.

Just remember, parents are responsible for the toys young children get! It's not like the kid crawls into Toys R Us and asks for a Barbie and a nintendo system.

Edited to add: I make them wear helmets while riding their bikes, and do my best to protect them from major dangers. But we don't live in a quiet neighbourhood, and our front "yard" is concrete and asphalt with cars and people and strangers coming and going all the time. They aren't out of my earshot, ever, and rarely out of my sight. Maybe when they are older than 4.5 and almost 2, eh, I'll get daring!

So many systems rely on computers these days it probably would be the end of the world!

I'd like to think that we'd eventually rediscover how to do things without computers. Libraries would be really really important. And antique stores...

You sound like a woman after my own heart Suzanne! That's how I'd bring up my kids, if I ever have them. I get really depressed when I spend time with my Goddaughter as she isn't at all interested in 'imagination using' games, she just wants to play with the computer or her masses of Barbie toys, cars etc. She thinks a cardboard box should be thrown away!!

i used to love fern fighting, and doctors and nurses hehe, and building a swing from a tree (allways over water) making cardboad sleds and sliding down the mountain, usually hitting a tree or two to stop, sling fighting, and building underground shanties (dens), and riding dumpers that the local factory allways left around with the starting handle allways at hand. and generally lots of other boys stuff.

And we never got into trouble either, because if someone told us not to do it, then we listened, because we knew we would get a hammering off our parents otherwise.. (and rightly so)

I have a mixed reaction to that list, Julia, along the lines Suzanne suggested with her reference to bicycles and helmets. One of the more memorable events of mmy childhood was the afternoon the eight-year-old boy who lived in the house behind us was killed when his skull hit the pavement after he was hit by a car crossing School Street. I don't know if a helmet would have made a difference, but I figure it may well have since the car was only going about 25 mph and the driver was able to brake slightly.

I'd throw seatbelts, the removal of lead from paint, and childproof lids in with that as well. Tens of thousands of lives have been saved as a result of their being mandated.

But certainly the other cultural themes are very important, imo. When I grew up in the '60s, you heard kids running around playing outdoors all the time during the summer. As I sit here typing this post, it's dead quiet in mmy neighborhood.

If I ever have children, I'll want to live in the country, keep the TV off during the day, and, as you ladies suggest, encourage mmy children to read and use their the imaginations while playing rather than rely on packaged products.

I remember a time when I grew up and was allowed to make a pretend gun out of my hand and "shoot" the "bad guys"
If I were 6 and did that now, I'd get thrown out of school and into a mental institution.
By the way, it is my personal opinion that lead is harmless. I don't want to see any "research" from some "scientist" who has "proof". I just hope it's not because I spend 8+ hours a day in the summer surrounded by it... I work in a tackle shop
The owner of the shop is 83 and perfectly healthy and he's been using lead and lead products for over 60 years
I could go a week without a computer... there IS other stuff to do
I grew up in a suburban house and was born when my parents weren't making very much and thus lived in a small house surrounded by smaller houses.
Now, people are moving into giant estates with no houses around, and the lack of trust keeps the neighbors away.
I've met more people living and working at a beach resort because we all live 5 feet from one another.
And yes, the local kids do run and play in the streets and ride their bikes (with helmets) to the candy store across the street... but they pay $20000 or so for a pound of fudge
It's funny how the "good old days" include nothing that would get more than a few of us by... not many here would have jobs without technology
I might... but that's because fishing has been around for hundreds and thousands of years... but the technology has improved it!
When you think about it... it probably wasn't that "good"
I wouldn't know, but I dont think the fear of Soviet or someone else attacking nuclearly (is that a word?) would dampen the "goodness"
Of course, we seem to be re-entering this phase (the "READY" campaign or whatever it's called)
Good day!

You know what's best? The less crap they are exposed to when they are young, the less interested in it they are as they get older. I'd rather spend the money on books and sports equipment (and padding, lol, okay, I'm a paranoid mom!) anyway.

Lead poisoning is mostly from lead dust and paint chips that children ingest. If you're not licking the tackle, you're probably fine.

Here:

http://www.lead-poisoning-news.com/html/effects.html

or

http://www.google.com/search?q=lead+poisoning+symptoms

No licking the table?
Damn, I'm screwed
Lead-poisoning-news.com now there's a new one

The past was nice, but had its bad-points. If we concentrate on improving "now," the future will be better than our best memories of the past.

- and that's a "Jeeves for President" promise!

[EDIT]
lead-poisoning-news happens to be my homepage, and one of the most informative sites on the net, I'd appreciate it if you weren't sarcastic about it....Hehehe.

I grew up around computers, but they did not occupy the majority of my time until high school.

Now, when the power goes off, I'm completely beside myself as to what to do. How does one entertain oneself whilst there is no electricity in the house?

I'm somewhat creative. My cousin and I have projects now an then to build something intersting. Granted, half the time it involves technology, but some involve wood (as in fill up the pick-up at Home Depot). I enjoy creating something with my own hands (and power tools), and I love working with wood.

The State of Rhode Island and the City of Chicago are involved in lawsuits against lead paint manufacturers.

http://www.projo.com/extra/lead/

US unemployment averaged less than five percent during the '50s and '60s. Technological advances in recent years have actually had an upward influence on unemployment due to dislocations resulting from higher rates of productivity. Of course, the overall effect on the national economy (and quality of life) is positive, so the appropriate policy response would seem to lie in programs like retraining to adapt to the rapidly changing workplace environment.

Growing up, I didn't fear a Soviet attack. My concern was for an American attack and a Soviet response.

I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an 8 year-old again.

I want to go to McDonald's and think that it's a four star restaurant.

I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make a sidewalk with rocks.

I want to think M&Ms are better than money because you can eat them.

I want to lie under a big oak tree and run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer's day.

I want to return to a time when life was simple; When all you knew were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you, because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care.

All you knew was to be happy because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset.

I want to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good.

I want to believe that anything is possible. I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things again.

I want to live simple again. I don't want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days
in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness, and loss of loved ones.

I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow.

So . .. here's my checkbook and my car-keys, my credit card bills and my tax records. I am officially resigning from adulthood.

And if you want to discuss this further, you'll have to catch me first, cause........

......"Tag! You're it."

Hehe, nice dream Busy!

haha Nice one Busy

In responce to the children have no imagination thing, I 98% agree.

There is this thing on talk back radio last year about parents being too protective, look around and compare parks of yesterday and today, yesterday, they didn't have that much padding, plastic, and they weren't that close to the ground. "Playgrounds" these days have way too much padding, too little metal and wood and are way too close to the ground.

I used to love playing on the playgrounds until they changed it, it was so high up and it took quite a while (relative to size) to reach the ground. Those were good old days...I so wish I was back then...But I'm turning 18 in September and have a whole life of problems ahead of me...

There are plenty of children playing outside where I live; unfortunately this envolves massive amounts of swearing, drinking, smoking & vandalism. It's obvious they are bored, and are not taught (correctly) that these activities are socially unacceptable.

I agree with Renegade...Parents are too protective, but are often too frightened to show their children discipline.

What gets me with kids these days is the brand name clothes. My neices, ages 6 and 2, are never seen wearing something without a brand name label on it. Never mind that they grow fast, spill stuff, run around, get dirty etc.

Somehow I can't picture Suzanne's kids in Tommy Hilfiger though

Quote:
"Playgrounds" these days have way too much padding, too little metal and wood and are way too close to the ground.

Sounds like some of y'all played on some unsafe playgrounds and had a few falls... on the head
But hey, why look back sadly at the past when we can look expectantly to the future?

You can often learn from the past.

I thought there was a lot nostalgia about good things from the past being discussed in this thread.

Of course, as adults, we remember things are bigger than they really were. Playgrounds weren't taller! My favourite playground when I was a kid was at my middle school. It had two HUGE concrete pipes, a wooden bridge with two turrets, stairs, and a fireman's pole. It was surrounded by tiny gravel, with wood beams around the perimeter.

The wood bridge was often used to make people fly. It was awesome. Ten kids would stand at one end and one on the other. The one kid would jump and the 10 kids would absorb the energy by bending their knees and send it back to the one kid. We called it the "***-breaker". If the one kid was good, s/he could absorb the energy and send it back. Eventually it'd get too strong, and the one kid would go flying in the air and land on the bridge on his/her ***. Hence the name.

It didn't really hurt (wood absorbs a lot of the impact energy), just stung, and it was an amazing game.

For reference, this was in 1979-1981. Safe playgrounds are not a recent invention.

***

Ha, Megan! You're right, no Tommy Hilfiger here, mostly because I rarely shop. We get clothing from friends with older kids mostly, and Sears. Some of the designer brands are better quality, too, so it's probably a judgement call whether you're buying something because it's designer clothing or because it'll last through all the kids (something I think about when buying clothing for Sheridan).

I don't quite see the point of teaching kids that expensive is better -- seems like just another way of competing with the Joneses. Higher quality/value is better, certainly! But that's not always in designer brands. The kids don't seem to care, as long as the clothing fits well and doesn't get in their way.

On a quick search, I couldn't find any direct references comparing modern playground equipment to that of years past, but here's some stuff:

http://www.drgreene.com/21_380.html

http://www.rospa.org.uk/cms/STORE/Play%20Safety/0_sheet1_files/sheet1.htm

http://www.mcg.edu/pediatrics/CCNotebook/chapter1/commonaccidents.htm

http://www.weaintcool.com/Articles/playground.html

Quote: 3. The most commonly involved part of body is the head
.....
4. The equipment that is most commonly associated with injuries include:
a. wooden plank swing with rope handles, (head injuries)

"Parents, please instruct your children to not stop the wooden swings with their heads. Hand utilization is the prefered method."

*chortle*

I have to admit, the rubber and canvas swings work better, too. Especially when using the head method for stopping them. The chains and links aren't so nice, though.

That would explain a lot then :blockhead