If you were born before the 1970's ...

[RicanDAB]

I was alive for only 6 months before the 70s began ... do I still count?

 

[hotdog1846]

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

Oh yeah, baby ... hose water on a hot summer day was the best!

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank full cream milk and soft drinks full of sugar, but we weren't overweight because......

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!!

We would leave home in the morning to play all day. We'd turn up at lunchtime for a quick feed and then disappear for the rest of the afternoon, before returning home again when the streetlights came on. And we were always O.K.

Some of my fondest memories of childhood are of exactly that ... being outdoors all day long. I grew up in an area of the foothills, where we had trees, hills, and rock formations, and it was a great place to be a boy. I'll always be grateful to Mom and Dad for giving me such good memories of childhood!

 

[levenshulme31]

Ah the glory days, sort of. Certainly the freedom to roam around I had as a kid far exceeeds the fredom my nephews have today. I remember long summer days when I left after breakfast and stayed out until dusk, played in woods, fields, streets, building sites, made fires, climing trees, rolled down near vertical hillsides.

On the flipside, how many of the cookie-baking housewife/moms resented the hell out of their husbands/kids and took to valium and gin?

How much overt racism was there?

We never wore seatbelts in the car. Fortunately we never crashed either, otherwise, chances are we would have been killed or severely injured.

It was also pretty much illegal to be gay, remember.

Police corruption and brutality was rife, as well as framing people for crimes they didn't commit.

 

[PreTTy PeTe]

when i was 12 i was a maniac

never home just for lunch and the flintstones

but i spent my days on my bike going everywhere.
and we had so many kids on my street it was insane.
street hockey ............ oh yea

the bestest times

 

[westly34]

boy how i wish i could go back in time!! i had a good time back then. life was so easy than it is now.

 

[Kyanimal]

If only I'd known THEN what I know NOW!!

The '70's were my Twenties! So, yeah!, I had the "advantage" of experiencing the 50's, and 60's, as a Kid! "Pure Heaven"!!

But, with the late 60's, and early 70's, corresponding with my late teens, and early twenties, the time of "Free Love", and "Flower Power", WOW!, I am indeed surprised I survived it all! "Don't "Bogart" that roach, Dude!"

THANKS!, for reviving those memories!

Keep smilin'!!
Chaz

 

[cityboy-stl]

Oh Man! I LOVED Fizzies! They were so neato. Fizzies are yet another thing we all survived. The original Fizzies were sweetened at one time with cyclamates which are now banned as carcinogens. I remember when they went off the market for this reason. I was so disappointed.

But we all survived Fizzies! I don't know anyone who got cancer from Fizzies...do you?

 

[JR]

We would leave home in the morning to play all day. We'd turn up at lunchtime for a quick feed and then disappear for the rest of the afternoon, before returning home again when the streetlights came on. And we were always O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we had forgotten the brakes. We built tree houses and cubby houses, played Cowboys and Indians and mucked about in creek beds with matchbox cars.

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

I forgot how much better things were. Now you've upset me and I'm going to have to file a suit against you. I don't want to, but I must.



I don't actually remember eating worms, But I do recall that they gave us asbestos pads to protect ourselves when playing with fire. And I do remember being given mercury to play with and being told that it might be a good idea to wash our hands before snack time.

I also grew up in the safe, modern "suburb of the future." Each of the cookie-cutter homes was built with safety features like fireproof asbestos siding and new aluminum wires (which came undone ands started fires which didn't spread because of the siding). Best of all the entire low-lying area was filled in with genuine trash before soil was thrown on top and hundreds of houses were built above the trash. Of course no one knew this until a house 2 blocks away sank to its roof one morning without explanation. (Cue the Brady Bunch music!)

It is funny how naive we were about so many things. I remember my science teacher who was a bit of an ecology nut reading to us from a scientific journal about this great new plan to free our lands from toxic garbage. The big plan was to (I'm not kidding) dump the garbage and toxins into the vast oceans which would act as nature's toilets. We were all so excited that the earth was finally in good hands.

 

[shawmut101]

I remember being able, starting in the 2nd grade, of being allowed to ride the subway with my friends and going anywhere we wanted. No one bothered us and it was the norm. I get grief from family & friends that I let my teenagers ride public transport. I had such freedom as a kid and I wish mine could have a similar experience without the fear kids today have. Plus, I still think there is more danger of teens in cars that teens on a train.

 

[Kyanimal]

*BUMP!*

Start at Post #1.
A blast from the past ...

 

[bedbugy]

we only had the valve radio to listen to

 

[backagain]

getting burnt to a crisp because sunblock didn't exist. Now Basal cell cancer.

 

[NotHardUp1]

The default position was to teach citizenship, not cynicism.

America made a mistake using the Vietnam War and Watergate as an excuse to discredit the worth of all government.

Then, the return to patriotism led by Reagan redefined it as militarism. This was cemented after 9-11. Today, we have reaped the consequences.

 

[Vannie]

Start at Post #1.

You can't make me!

Drinking from the garden hose after a rigorous game of kickball I remember as a kid.

Icy cold and no bleachy taste.

I remember a lot of Jubbers in this thread.

 

[Peloso]

Riding my bike in traffic carelessly and without a helmet.

 

[Kahaih]

Earth's human infestation has more than doubled since 1970.

More people=more rules and more ways to enforce them.

 

[cabinfever]

I went to the library almost every day to look for information and found it quickly without any annoying ads or intrusive "help" that I didn't need or want.

 

[Vannie]

I went to the library almost every day to look for information and found it quickly without any annoying ads or intrusive "help" that I didn't need or want.

Loved my town library although it wasn't that big. They always had just about every daily newspaper and monthly magazines.

The new library they built was a big two stories and beautiful.

 

[cabinfever]

Loved my town library although it wasn't that big. They always had just about every daily newspaper and monthly magazines.

The new library they built was a big two stories and beautiful.

Same here - we got a new multi story one - I got a boner

I spent a few weeks when it first opened researching the country I was representing. I was part of a MUN club (Model United Nations) and we went to UC Berkeley and spent four days re-creating the United Nations and we had to base our opinions or speeches based on the country we were representing so I spent many days and hours there learning everything about my country and what the politics were and positions I had to take.

It would annoy the fuck out of me if I had to do that on the internet and have the pile of bullshit in ads and "suggestions" afterward.

 

[Vannie]

Same here - we got a new multi story one - I got a boner

I spent a few weeks when it first opened researching the country I was representing. I was part of a MUN club (Model United Nations) and we went to UC Berkeley and spent four days re-creating the United Nations and we had to base our opinions or speeches based on the country we were representing so I spent many days and hours there learning everything about my country and what the politics were and positions I had to take.

It would annoy the fuck out of me if I had to do that on the internet and have the pile of bullshit in ads and "suggestions" afterward

Awesome. And a lot of work.

I think I would get a boner when the bookmobile would come around at school. I remember the smell of all the new books inside. Not sure what I purchased but probably some kind of mystery novel.

And new pens and pencils and protectors and cases and erasers and notebooks and rulers and....

I think I need to get a Bounty...