Things today's kids missed out on

[this_is_nascar]

Yes, it's true. The kids of today are missing out on many things that folks from my generation had. I'll add my list, however I took a different spin with my answers. Here's what they're missing in no particular order.

-- (2) parents.
-- rules.
-- discipline.
-- respect for others and for personal property.
-- the worth of a dollar.

I'm sure I'll come up with more as this thread continues.

 

[Illum]

having 50 cents gets you the title of the richest kid on the block
Mercury in jugs
A river clean enough to take a bath in
toys made from plants
ferrite core radios, yeah the ones that you have to send in bubble gum wrappers or bottle caps to get
depends where you are: kerosene lanterns
pinball slot machines [the old old kinds that doesn't plug in]
wind up toys
the days where you can leave your front door wide open all day and all night without anybody looting or having your neighbors cat coming in and eating your dogs food
winchester rifles for kids
I kinds wish I had a childhood like that

 

[DonShock]

Lawn darts......

We used to play catch with those! I miss toys that could kill you!......

That was my first thought, all the dangerous stuff. Lawn darts like LH already mentioned, but how about Knockers. Nothing better than two large glass balls on the end of a string that you see how hard and fast you can get them hitting each other.

And there's also BB guns, pocket knives (even at school), firecrackers and real fireworks (sparklers were saved for the toddlers), hitting bike ramps with no helmet, forts in the neighborhood tree built from scavanged scrap wood and bent nails hammered straight.

Try any of this stuff today and you'll give somebody a heart attack.

 

[depusm12]

Grandparents that you spent time with and enjoyed it.
TV shows that had a moral lesson (The Lone Ranger, Leave it to Beaver, Little House on the Prairie ext.)
Wonderful World of Disney
Playing Cowboys and Indians with realistic toy guns.
Spending more time outside than inside.
Being able to leave doors unlocked without worrying about a burglar.
Drive-In movies
Growing up learning to shoot real guns.
Owing my first gun before I got a driver's license.

 

[Arkayne]

 

[shakeylegs]

Anyone remember this one? I grew up on this stuff. Explains everything!~

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cu21TiPWtDA&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcOBPtWZ7sY

 

[fnmag]

Kukla, Fran, and Ollie
I remember Momma
Sky King
Topper
Hopalong Cassidy
Tom Mix
Captain Midnight
The Gayle Storm Show
Dobie Gillis

 

[FRANKVZ]

How about how your parents would call you to come home for something in the time before cell phones by opening the front door and yelling or whistling for you. And Clackers!! http://www.bigredtoybox.com/articles/clackersindex.shtml

 

[chmsam]

Sort of a relate -- one of the founders of Wham-O died recently. Hula hoops, Frisbees, Slip-n-slide, Silly String, etc. Must have been pretty cool knowing you put that many smiles on that many faces and made money while doing it.

OK, back on topic...

marbles
Corgi Toy cars
Capt. Kangaroo, Mr. Greenjeans, & The Banana Man
crystal radio sets and listening to the radio under the bed covers so no one could tell
5 and then 10 cent comic books
being 11 or 12 years old and getting a warm and not-so-fuzzy feeling the first time you saw Dusty Springfield on TV
"Honey West"
a James Bond attaché case
coaster brakes and a really long and steep hill
the smell of mimeographed handouts in school
cameras that used film and flashbulbs


Dave Alvin has a song that's really not on this topic (it's a love gone wrong song) but has a few lyrics that fit --

"I used to play in the orange groves 'til they bulldozed all the trees.
I used to play in the orange groves 'til they bulldozed all the trees.
Still I'd stand amongst those dead stumps and smell the blossoms on the leaves."

You know, I think that you get to be a certain age and go through certain things in life, and find yourself wishing you could be 10 years old again.

Sorry to be a bit maudlin. Must be the Winter Blues.

 

[Dances with Flashlight]

Telephone party lines.
Lightning bugs in glass jars.
Dry ice from railroad cars.
Visible stars in the sky at night.
Water balloon fights.
Mail delivery twice a day.
Green Stamp Books.
Peanuts in bottles of Coke.
Flavor straws.

 

[RA40]

I dunno if I call some of the items listed as missing out. I'd like to forget some myself.

My take on some:

Real sugar...not beet, corn syrup...blah substitutes.
Gas without ethanol.
Some of the attitudes regarding personal safety and crime wayyy back.
Three Stooges, Abbott & Costello, Addams Family, John Wayne movies...
Toys made to be durable. I remember some of my Tonka toys...real metal and strong enough that one could stand on it.

The media over-saturation about a variety of things: weight loss, medications with cures for ?, cosmetic surgery...the simpler days without them were a joy.

 

[SaVaGe]

Well, lets see....

Mc Donald's fries (they use to fry them in lard ):twothumbs
Atari
PONG
alf
punky brewster
Game & Watch (by Nintendo):twothumbs
spandau ballet
AHA
duran duran
usa for africa
toto
psychedelic furs
breakfast club
spraying "ether" on the carb when your car dont start
ET
flying house cartoons
"just say no to drugs"
8 tracks
betamax
"MEMBERS ONLY" jacket
cassette tapes
walkman
"BASF" sounds so real..........
friendship bracelets
John Holmes :devil:
He-Man
She-Ra
Thundercats
Voltron
16 candles
st. elmos fire
pretty in pink
goonies :thumbsup:
remington steel
rockford files
the fall guy
dallas
A-team
bonanza

 

[chmsam]

The idea of this thread was for things that are gone. I'm guilty of it to some degree, too, but a lot of things posted here are still around. For example, a whole bunch of movies and TV shows listed are being shown on various cable/satellite systems.

But not with the phrase...

"Brought to you in living color..."

Anyone remember the first time you saw the NBC peacock spread its tailfeathers with all those colors? And as tame as it seems today, remember how impressive that was?

 

[kelmo]

Milk that was delivered to your door in glass bottles!

Pull tabs on beer cans.

Beer tab necklaces.

18 was the legal drinking age.

Carbon paper.

Home economics classes.

Corporal punishment in school.

"Duck and cover!" drills with that stupid cartoon turtle.

Having a worthy opponent, ie Nato vs Warsaw Pact.

Not having bottled water.

Crappy camping gear.

Not having to make National Park reservations 6 months in advance.

Real people answering your phone calls.

Party lines.

No phone answering machines.

Two cheeseburgers, small fries, and a small Coke for under a buck at McDonalds.

And I saved the best for last, zinc carbide batteries. Who remembers the "Never Ready" cat jumping through the 9?

HA!!! I'm getting old...

 

[NA8]

Horizontal and Vertical Hold controls.

 

[kelmo]

Mood rings.

Head shops.

Crappy athletic shoes (PF Flyers).

IBM punch cards.

FORTRAN compilers.

Tape drives.

Reel to reel players.

Abstinance.

Rabbit ears to get the 3 channels of TV.

UHF TV.

 

[Monocrom]

Rotary dial phones

Floppy disks

The phones = Thanks for making me feel old.

The disks = I hated those ridiculously fragile things! I had to carry one to school every Friday. No matter how carefully I packed it, those damn things would get one tiny fold on the plastic, and that was it! Instant lose of data! Perfect example of useless, but better-than-nothing technology.

 

[KC2IXE]

...snip..
5) the subway system at its worst (having lived through this, it makes you appreciate what we have now all the more)
...snip....

Yeah - remember that commute up to High School? Soph year I took one of the bus companies (Not Gagnon, the other one), and in the Mornings I mostly to the x32 express buss, but the afternoons home - the 4 or the D, with all the graffitti, and breaking down constantly - Joy, eh?

(JTR1962 when to the same High School, same graduating class)

 

[KC2IXE]

...snip...IBM punch cards.
.

Still have 2 boxes of them - use them as note paper

 

[Burgess]

Still have a few dozen IBM punchcards, myself !


How about --


Drinking water right outta' the garden hose


Buying Eveready D-cells one-at-a-time,
from a clear-plastic S-shaped, gravity-fed dispenser.
They cost 20 cents each !


Remember when KODAK had an Instant Camera ?

(one model was "The Crank") !

Only lasted a year, until Polaroid sued them to stop.



I love this thread ! :twothumbs

_