My (almost entire) elementary school walked to school, then walked home for lunch, then back to school, then home. If someone had nobody at home to make lunch they went to a friends house. If someone had nowhere to go they could bring lunch and eat it in the gym at lunchtime. That's what the kids in kindergarten did, they didn't walk home. Although some did if they had an older sibling they could go with.
How fucking long was your lunch break? Ours was 40 minutes. Ain't no way that's happening in 40 minutes.
So after a few minutes who the freak was dumb enough to catch the ball LOL?
We were all invincible masochists as kids.
Yes Jarts! Everyone at that time knew that was f'd up.:rolllaugh: Clackers sounds familiar but I can't remember what they were.
Me with a clacker was like Mel Brooks in this clip.
View: https://youtu.be/mnLMAT5UCt0
We also all carried pocket knives.
It was just part of being a kid.
We never even thought to use them as a weapon
My dad would get flat out pissed if I didn't have a pocket knife on me to use when we were working on things.
Our teachers used to be able to paddle your ass with paddles designed to leave signature marks on your ass. And... they perform this ass beating right outside the classroom so that your classmates could all hear the beating before your had to walk back into the classroom and sit your burning ass back down at your desk.
Friggin candy asses!
My second grade teacher "Miller the Killer" had a paddle with holes in it hanging right behind his desk. He would yard you out of your seat, have you bend over his desk with your ass facing the class and paddle you for all to witness. It really sucked because I.... shall we say... racked disciprine.
My 6th grade teacher had a switch hanging behind his desk. Fortunately, I learned a bit more disciprine by that time.
Paddling at my school wasn't decentralized like that. All paddling was performed by the principal in his office. His paddle was wrapped in barbed wire. Alright no barbed wire but it had holes drilled in it. Teachers did yank ears and slam rulers on hands in class though.
The difference back then was whatever punishment you got at school was easy compared to what was waiting for you at home. The absolute worst thing was a call from school to your parents.
Absolutely on the follow up punishment. My elementary school principal Forrest Woods (real name) had a black ring around the tip of his index finger from calling parents. I don't think I ever got paddled by him but I definitely helped make that ring darker.
You may remember, or maybe not, brewers (not all of them) made 3.2% beer and it was called "near beer" haha.
Near Beer was an actual beer with less than .5% alcohol. It was considered non-alcoholic. One of our Jr High teachers let us bring it on a field trip. He got suspended for it as the principal thought he was setting a bad example.
So.... my turn.
I grew up in the San Fernando Valley. We rode our bikes or skateboarded everywhere. In first grade, I rode my bike to school every day. Just Googled it. 1.2 miles one way from 8647 Corbin Ave to Winnetka Ave Elementary and..... What helmet? The school had huge bike racks that were always full. I also used to ride my bike to Reseda Park 4.5 miles away to go fishing in the little lake they had there. I don't remember catching much and the thought of eating anything out of that pond....
Kids are pussies these days.
If friends came over to our house and I had chores, they either helped or had to leave. But we had the only pool around so they usually didn't mind doing a little weeding, scoop leaves from the pool, etc... When your chores were done, you were on your own as long as you were home right after the street lights started coming on.
About a block away from my house, they were building a strip mall. After they had put up the shell, they apparently ran out of money. So while it was sitting there not being worked on, a bunch of us broke in and started building ramps out of the building materials inside. We were little Evel Knievels. The inside of the strip mall was about a hundred yards or more of clean concrete with no walls. You could get a pretty good head of steam going. All the kids wore helmets for this.
My house had a junior Olympic size pool that was empty about half the time. The deep end was 12' and of course, the goal was to start in the shallow end and see how high up on the wall you could get. It wasn't built for skateboarding so the wall went pretty much straight up. No - no helmets, knee pads, elbow pads. Just a banana board with a kick tail, Chicago Trucks and Cadillac wheels.
Got my first 22 when I was 8, 30/30 when I was 12, shotgun at 13. Hunted squirrels, deer, dove, and quail when I was 13. We would go out on our ranch and split up so 13 years old, 30/30 in hand, 900 acre ranch after moving to the SLO area.
We used to take those 22 cal charges for driving anchors in concrete and put them in our rifles and have war games. Fun times. My parents also had a Revolutionary war era cannon. The inside diameter of the barrel was the size of a large dog food can. My brother and I would load it with IIRR 5 oz of black powder and a few rags then a little in the fuse hole and rock the neighborhood. We had to spike down the hitch as it would go backward several feet if you didn't. When you spiked it down, it would lift its wagon wheels about 8" off the ground. We still shoot it off at least once when I'm down there for Christmas.
Riding in the back of a pick-up and also in the back seats of my parents '67 Chevy wagon.
Trick or treating with a big group of kids that ranged in age from 5 to 13 through what is now gangland USA.
Driving the pick up on the roads around the ranch when I was 14 acting like a Baja racer. I actually used to pull a pipe trailer between ranches that were 10 miles apart when I was 14. It really wasn't all that uncommon. Neither was operating all the tractors, swathers, herrow beds, 8 wheel tractor with plow, seeder, etc.. Put the sheeting on the roof of our pole barn 30 feet up when I was 15.
