[wdb]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I must be among the fittest, then. We had this game and survived it. Clackers, too.

I know right. Now it's "cornhole" fercryinoutloud.

[upstatedoc]

Originally Posted by wdb

I know right. Now it's "cornhole" fercryinoutloud.

You can put an eye out with one of those bags!

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by dscabra

That's the point. We survived childhood in spite of all the "dangerous" things we were surrounded by.

Parents had no clue where we were hanging out as young kids during our free time (weekends, Wednesday afternoons and vacation periods) and trusted us. No means of communication (no mobile phones or walkie talkies). You definitely had to take care of yourself - act responsibly.

Instructions: "Be home by dinner time, stay with the group, don't do stupid stuff and ignore candymen offering to show you their so-called 'little rabbits' or 'puppies' nest at their homes. If you did stupid stuff that we need to know: tell us straightaway when you come home". And that was about it. Arrive too late for dinner: your food was definitely cold and you risked to be grounded (sometimes we rushed home to make it on time).

And so you first decided with your neighborhood friends about the adventure of the day: either play games in the neighborhood or cycle away to do something more adventurous (climbing high trees, visiting or building camps in the woods, trespassing huge industrial premises avoiding to get spotted by guards on patrol (the imaginary 'enemy'), walks near railroads and a dangerous canal, visiting long-time abandoned houses, visiting places with special World War stories, etc.). Wherever we all left our bicycles: no need for locks because usually no theft.

Fond memories of innocent childhood days without home computers, without mobile phones, without cameras in lots of places and without parents freaking out because they are without news about your whereabouts. All went pretty well ...and we never encountered the rabbits/puppies weirdo.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by wdb

I know right. Now it's "cornhole" fercryinoutloud.

Heh, heh, heh...he said CORNHOLE!!!!!

[SpeedBuggy]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Heh, heh, heh...he said CORNHOLE!!!!!

I laugh every time I hear CORNHOLE, certainly had a different meaning when I was a kid

[TiMSport]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Heh, heh, heh...he said CORNHOLE!!!!!

Lol. Yeah, cornhole has a different meaning where I'm from.

[SpeedBuggy]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Parents had no clue where we were hanging out as young kids during our free time (weekends, Wednesday afternoons and vacation periods) and trusted us. No means of communication (no mobile phones or walkie talkies). You definitely had to take care of yourself - act responsibly.

Instructions: "Be home by dinner time, stay with the group, don't do stupid stuff and ignore candymen offering to show you their so-called 'little rabbits' or 'puppies' nest at their homes. If you did stupid stuff that we need to know: tell us straightaway when you come home". And that was about it. Arrive too late for dinner: your food was definitely cold and you risked to be grounded (sometimes we rushed home to make it on time).

And so you first decided with your neighborhood friends about the adventure of the day: either play games in the neighborhood or cycle away to do something more adventurous (climbing high trees, visiting or building camps in the woods, trespassing huge industrial premises avoiding to get spotted by guards on patrol (the imaginary 'enemy'), walks near railroads and a dangerous canal, visiting long-time abandoned houses, visiting places with special World War stories, etc.). Wherever we all left our bicycles: no need for locks because usually no theft.

Fond memories of innocent childhood days without home computers, without mobile phones, without cameras in lots of places and without parents freaking out because they are without news about your whereabouts. All went pretty well ...and we never encountered the rabbits/puppies weirdo.

Sounds exactly like my childhood, thanks for the reminder, tend to forget about those innocent days.
Turned 65 back in October, man that was a long time ago.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by SpeedBuggy

I laugh every time I hear CORNHOLE, certainly had a different meaning when I was a kid

Originally Posted by TiMSport

Lol. Yeah, cornhole has a different meaning where I'm from.

Since we're all old, I'm sure that the lyrics of a certain Frank Zappa song come to mind whenever you hear that word.....

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

Since we're all old, I'm sure that the lyrics of a certain Frank Zappa song come to mind whenever you hear that word.....

I did not know the slang meaning until I saw the Beavis and Butt-Head episode "The Great Cornholio" someday in the 90s on MTV. Those episodes were outright hilarious.

[bobowar135]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Parents had no clue where we were hanging out as young kids during our free time (weekends, Wednesday afternoons and vacation periods) and trusted us. No means of communication (no mobile phones or walkie talkies). You definitely had to take care of yourself - act responsibly.

Instructions: "Be home by dinner time, stay with the group, don't do stupid stuff and ignore candymen offering to show you their so-called 'little rabbits' or 'puppies' nest at their homes. If you did stupid stuff that we need to know: tell us straightaway when you come home". And that was about it. Arrive too late for dinner: your food was definitely cold and you risked to be grounded (sometimes we rushed home to make it on time).

And so you first decided with your neighborhood friends about the adventure of the day: either play games in the neighborhood or cycle away to do something more adventurous (climbing high trees, visiting or building camps in the woods, trespassing huge industrial premises avoiding to get spotted by guards on patrol (the imaginary 'enemy'), walks near railroads and a dangerous canal, visiting long-time abandoned houses, visiting places with special World War stories, etc.). Wherever we all left our bicycles: no need for locks because usually no theft.

Fond memories of innocent childhood days without home computers, without mobile phones, without cameras in lots of places and without parents freaking out because they are without news about your whereabouts. All went pretty well ...and we never encountered the rabbits/puppies weirdo.

As long as I was home before the street lights came on, all was good....

[wdb]

Originally Posted by dscabra

That's the point. We survived childhood in spite of all the "dangerous" things we were surrounded by.

The elementary school had swing sets that were about 12 feet high. We of course climbed them. We also had competitions to see who could swing the highest; did you know that if you swing up high enough, past horizontal, the chains will go slack and you will drop straight down instead of arcing down? I did. Oh and the sliding board was 12 feet high too. Waxed paper made it really fast. We'd have races -- better be quick to get out of the way at the bottom!

The home swing sets were paltry by comparison, but had the added feature of not being fixed to the earth with concrete. Two people swinging in unison could make very interesting events occur.

We played kickball at recess. You made outs by hitting the runner with the ball as they ran to the next base. That was cool. When we got bored with that we tried kicking the balls onto the roof of the school building. That was a true challenge. Or we "rumbled", which was little more than grabbing the kid next to you and tumbling down a hill, laughing and trying not to lose your shoes.

I honestly feel sorry for kids today. The adventures they're not allowed to have. The imaginations they're not allowed to stretch. The limits they're not allowed to test.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by wdb

The elementary school had swing sets that were about 12 feet high. We of course climbed them. We also had competitions to see who could swing the highest; did you know that if you swing up high enough, past horizontal, the chains will go slack and you will drop straight down instead of arcing down? I did. Oh and the sliding board was 12 feet high too. Waxed paper made it really fast. We'd have races -- better be quick to get out of the way at the bottom!

The home swing sets were paltry by comparison, but had the added feature of not being fixed to the earth with concrete. Two people swinging in unison could make very interesting events occur.

We played kickball at recess. You made outs by hitting the runner with the ball as they ran to the next base. That was cool. When we got bored with that we tried kicking the balls onto the roof of the school building. That was a true challenge. Or we "rumbled", which was little more than grabbing the kid next to you and tumbling down a hill, laughing and trying not to lose your shoes.

I honestly feel sorry for kids today. The adventures they're not allowed to have. The imaginations they're not allowed to stretch. The limits they're not allowed to test.

I broke a bone in my hand rumbling on the side of a hill at a friend's house. I remember my brother getting a nasty black eye when he bumped heads with someone while rumbling. When we played street hockey, I was always the goalie. My knees were a mess from just dropping down on them with no pads. I had water on the knee all the time. Injuries were a part of life growing up.

Don't get me started on the BB gun vs wrist rocket fights...

[dscabra]

Originally Posted by wdb

The elementary school had swing sets that were about 12 feet high. We of course climbed them. We also had competitions to see who could swing the highest; did you know that if you swing up high enough, past horizontal, the chains will go slack and you will drop straight down instead of arcing down? I did. Oh and the sliding board was 12 feet high too. Waxed paper made it really fast. We'd have races -- better be quick to get out of the way at the bottom!

The home swing sets were paltry by comparison, but had the added feature of not being fixed to the earth with concrete. Two people swinging in unison could make very interesting events occur.

We played kickball at recess. You made outs by hitting the runner with the ball as they ran to the next base. That was cool. When we got bored with that we tried kicking the balls onto the roof of the school building. That was a true challenge. Or we "rumbled", which was little more than grabbing the kid next to you and tumbling down a hill, laughing and trying not to lose your shoes.

I honestly feel sorry for kids today. The adventures they're not allowed to have. The imaginations they're not allowed to stretch. The limits they're not allowed to test.

We used to do the same on the huge swings at school, but we took our stunts one step further. As we reached the apex and the chains went slack, we'd slide out of the seat letting it slide up our back as we held onto the chains. We called this "parachuting".

[Kowalski2011]

Originally Posted by Artemis

I did not know the slang meaning until I saw the Beavis and Butt-Head episode "The Great Cornholio" someday in the 90s on MTV. Those episodes were outright hilarious.

CORNHOLE: now a college level sport?! WTF!

MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (KBTX) - Representing Texas A&M, the four-man Aggie team of Logan Chamberlain, Brett Berg, Kyle Trejo, and Nathaniel Acevedo won the National College Cornhole Team Championship in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on January 1, 2022.

American Cornhole League. ARE YOU READY FOR SOME COLLEGE CORNHOLE? ... The National College Cornhole Championship (NCCC) crowns the best collegiate players and teams from around the country. It provides scholarship money to students and the open format allows for any size college to participate.

[Artemis]

Originally Posted by bobowar135

As long as I was home before the street lights came on, all was good....

In winter time I often came home with neighborhood friends at dusk. Time was our master, more than the weather or daylight.

And during scouts trips we also marched at night. Every camp featured a long game in the middle of the night (from 2am until dawn): you were 10 years or so, sent out in small groups (± 4) into the woods with just a compass and a mission map, and had to visit several target locations without getting caught by the scouts leaders who played 'the enemy' (deleting one of the previously reached target locations on your mission map, so you had to revisit that one): learning to adapt your eyes, co-operate, operating quietly and without fear of the dark (those who were afraid were ordered to shut up, man up, refrain from whistling "and no, there are no wolves or bears over here"). I also recall a long evening walk from camp to the sea. It evolved from one scout boy on the shore stepping into the water to everyone going knee-deep into the sea, some pushing for fun, and finally the whole group swimming with clothes on in the sea. Now that was fun, except for part II: the looong walk home in the chilly night with the sea wind merciless blowing on wet clothes.

Originally Posted by wdb

The elementary school had swing sets that were about 12 feet high. We of course climbed them. We also had competitions to see who could swing the highest; did you know that if you swing up high enough, past horizontal, the chains will go slack and you will drop straight down instead of arcing down? I did.

We had swings with ropes, chains and plain steel bars. The ones with plain steel bars allowed 'the brave' to swing to the 2 o' clock position, mostly standing (instead of sitting) on the swing. Blind trust that the swing was sufficiently strong to handle the force.

A deck of cards attached with clothes pegs onto the bicycle to make some noise (regularly requiring to re-adjust the cards position to get the optimal 'noise angle'): the BMW M Performance exhaust of the childhood era. Music for the kids, noise for the adults.

Originally Posted by M_Six

I broke a bone in my hand rumbling on the side of a hill at a friend's house. I remember my brother getting a nasty black eye when he bumped heads with someone while rumbling. When we played street hockey, I was always the goalie. My knees were a mess from just dropping down on them with no pads. I had water on the knee all the time. Injuries were a part of life growing up.
Don't get me started on the BB gun vs wrist rocket fights...

Trivia. French bicycles invert the brake handles compared to Flemish bicycles: left brake handle to operate the rear brake and right brake handle to operate the front brake. On Flemish bicycles it's the other way around. So one day a French neighbor and I exchanged bicycles to go for a ride. An intentional rear wheel slide ended badly for me: at high speed I pulled hard the right brake handle to start the slide ...but without realizing that I operated the French front brake handle. I don't remember what happened next but according to friends I went spectacularly airborne head over heels and smashed violently onto the street, knocking me unconscious. The next thing I recall: hearing my name repeatedly, opening my eyes and beholding the ceiling of a room inside an unknown house and the heads of both my mother and an unknown woman hanging over my face and saying: "At last... he's back. All is fine". Nothing broken - just a commotio cerebri (concussion). I was 5.

Also I once fell during some pushing and shoving with friends into broken glass, requiring stitches: I still recall people gathering around me doing absolutely nothing except for watching at me and saying something along the lines like "oh poor boy - damn, his wrist is bleeding like hell" until a man and woman pushed onlookers aside to take care of me (they used a belt to bind my arm to limit the bleeding and rushed me to a doctor to get stitches). I was 9.

And sooner or later every boy of the neighborhood accidentally encountered 'electro-nuts': peeing on a wire in the fields without realizing that farmers sometimes put these under tension (electricity) for their cows. We always had a laugh when someone got 'nut-nuked' (or got tricked by the group to 'test' a wire that way, like a Russian roulette).

As young kids we knew many places, pockets and hideouts where adults never came. Walks next to a canal: you perfectly realized that you'd inevitably drown if you slipped into the canal: zero credit, so don't become overly confident, know the limits. To nowadays standards the risk-exposure was substantial. But from hindsight, maybe exactly because of this clear and present danger awareness and self-restraint as kids, the older generations acquired and developed useful skills through 'real life' experiences, instead of through countless simulations in video games. Many moons ago I flew gliders. Suddenly I felt a large metal object shoving over one of my shoulders, noticed that it was the co-pilot's unscrewed flight stick and I heard the flight instructor saying: "You're now in complete control of the plane, I trust you". Not sure if they still pull that joke nowadays, but you can't emulate the feeling by any video game simulation.

I love to take my car for long 'spirited' drives in the mountains (actually till darkness kicks in). But no reckless driving endangering other road users. Quite likely, childhood days experiences of danger awareness, self-restraint and keeping your cool in treacherous conditions helps - to some extent - in keeping you safe from harm. But a constant reminder not to get over-confident: zero credit like falling into the canal. An orthopedic surgeon treating serious leg injuries from a traffic accident, once told me that I was one of his most stress-resistant patients he had ever treated. I guess also my childhood days are part of the answer.

Last Sunday a work colleague died at the age of 65. Second month of retirement. You only live once ? No, you only die once, you live every day. Make the most of each day.

[wdb]

And sooner or later every boy of the neighborhood accidentally encountered 'electro-nuts': peeing on a wire in the fields without realizing that farmers sometimes put these under tension (electricity) for their cows. We always had a laugh when someone got 'nut-nuked' (or got tricked by the group to 'test' the wire that way, like a Russian roulette).

I worked on a dairy farm for a few years. For a while we had a local high school kid help out after school. Cyril. I could tell he was very intelligent but he didn't have much practical 'common' sense. Once we had to chase some cows out of a field; he grabbed the wire to go under it, not realizing it was electrified. 'OW!" he said. Then a second or so later, "OW!" again. (The fence electrification worked this way, turning on and off.) This went on for some time, until I finally stopped laughing long enough to say, "Cyril, let go of the wire!"

[SpeedBuggy]

Originally Posted by wdb

The elementary school had swing sets that were about 12 feet high. We of course climbed them. We also had competitions to see who could swing the highest; did you know that if you swing up high enough, past horizontal, the chains will go slack and you will drop straight down instead of arcing down? I did. Oh and the sliding board was 12 feet high too. Waxed paper made it really fast. We'd have races — better be quick to get out of the way at the bottom!

The home swing sets were paltry by comparison, but had the added feature of not being fixed to the earth with concrete. Two people swinging in unison could make very interesting events occur.

We played kickball at recess. You made outs by hitting the runner with the ball as they ran to the next base. That was cool. When we got bored with that we tried kicking the balls onto the roof of the school building. That was a true challenge. Or we "rumbled", which was little more than grabbing the kid next to you and tumbling down a hill, laughing and trying not to lose your shoes.

I honestly feel sorry for kids today. The adventures they're not allowed to have. The imaginations they're not allowed to stretch. The limits they're not allowed to test.

Sounds just like the elementary school yard I grew up in. Fell off the slide and broke my collar bone. Couldn't wait for the doctors excuse to expire so that I could swing and slide again. I lived a block away from the elementary school so spent a lot of time there while even when school wasn't in session.

Now, all the school equipment is plastic with soft material surrounding the it. I can't remember all the scrapes, bruises torn clothes from playing on a play ground that was all gravel, not to mention the asphalt basketball courts.

[dscabra]

Originally Posted by Kowalski2011

CORNHOLE: now a college level sport?! WTF!

MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (KBTX) - Representing Texas A&M, the four-man Aggie team of Logan Chamberlain, Brett Berg, Kyle Trejo, and Nathaniel Acevedo won the National College Cornhole Team Championship in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on January 1, 2022.

American Cornhole League. ARE YOU READY FOR SOME COLLEGE CORNHOLE? ... The National College Cornhole Championship (NCCC) crowns the best collegiate players and teams from around the country. It provides scholarship money to students and the open format allows for any size college to participate.

Every time I see Dodge or Ram truck with its tow mirrors Extended, I immediately think ... Cornholio!

[3.0L]

Originally Posted by M_Six

I broke a bone in my hand rumbling on the side of a hill at a friend's house. I remember my brother getting a nasty black eye when he bumped heads with someone while rumbling. When we played street hockey, I was always the goalie. My knees were a mess from just dropping down on them with no pads. I had water on the knee all the time. Injuries were a part of life growing up.

Don't get me started on the BB gun vs wrist rocket fights...

I grew up in an ideal neighborhood, I think. School yard was only a few blocks away; 3 seasonal creeks; railroad and junk yard; many hills to climb; eucalyptus grove; 2 abandoned mine shafts up in the hills, etc.

I still have my wrist rocket slingshot. We used to go out into the ag fields near the RR tracks at night and hide behind a rock outcropping. From there, we would shoot marbles across the tracks and into the junk yard. The clanking noise always made the dog bark. Click, the flood lights came on, followed by the junk man roaming around, looking for infiltrators. Meanwhile, we're hiding behind the rocks, laughing our asses off. The junk man would eventually give up and go back to his TV and turn the flood lights off.

Repeat.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by 3.0L

I grew up in an ideal neighborhood, I think. School yard was only a few blocks away; 3 seasonal creeks; railroad and junk yard; many hills to climb; eucalyptus grove; 2 abandoned mine shafts up in the hills, etc.

I still have my wrist rocket slingshot. We used to go out into the ag fields near the RR tracks at night and hide behind a rock outcropping. From there, we would shoot marbles across the tracks and into the junk yard. The clanking noise always made the dog bark. Click, the flood lights came on, followed by the junk man roaming around, looking for infiltrators. Meanwhile, we're hiding behind the rocks, laughing our asses off. The junk man would eventually give up and go back to his TV and turn the flood lights off.

Repeat.

There was an industrial park near our neighborhood. We got into all kinds of mischief there. One building had a guard dog inside. We'd go bang on the glass doors at night then watch the dog come running and go crazy trying to get us. One building had some sort of drain or vent pipes running up the side of it, so we'd use it to scale the wall (like Batman and Robin) and walk around on the roof. Banging on the skylights apparently set off some alarms, but the factory was at the dead end of a long road that you could see for a mile. We'd set the alarm off and then watch for the security guard or the cops to come around the corner of the road about a mile away. Then we'd slide down the pole and be gone long before they got there.

The best fun was messing with the rent-a-cop who was tasked with guarding the entire park. His shack was in the corner of a parking lot near the woods. He'd be in there at night with the lights and TV on and couldn't see shit outside. We'd wrap up a bunch of firecrackers in paper towel so the paper towel acted as a delay fuse. We'd sneak up on his shack, tape the thing to the wall just beneath his window, then light it. He would eventually see the flame and jump up to run outside just as the firecrackers went off. We'd be way off into the woods by that time. I suppose we're lucky he didn't shoot us.

[vreihen16]

...if you've ever sat in front of a doctor's office in the morning waiting for them to open!

From years of experience, I always schedule my doctor visits for their first appointment of the day. If you schedule a later appointment, you'll wind up sitting in the waiting room for an hour or more as they fall behind farther as the day goes on.

This logic almost burned me this morning, during my annual eye doctor appointment. The snow was just starting when I pulled in, and all of the local schools already closed for the day in a panic. There wasn't a single car in the parking lot five minutes before my appointment time, and the first thing to cross my mind was that they closed because of the snow and didn't call me to reschedule. Fortunately, I saw a few cars pull in and go behind the building, which I suspect is where the employees all park.

While I was being fitted for my new seeing eye dog, I overheard the doctor in another exam room telling a patient about a prescription for dry eyes that comes as a nasal spray. When he came back to check on me, I actually made the least funny person that I know giggle. "I've heard that there's a new prescription for dry eyes that comes in a nasal spray. I'm surprised that it took the pharmaceutical companies so long to bottle tear gas into little spray bottles."

If MKSixer is still lurking around, maybe he can give me some advice on how to patent this idea and pitch it to the drug companies.....

[Artemis]

12 reasons kids from the '60s and '70s shouldn't be alive right now
Do you ever look back on your childhood and think, "how did I make it out alive?"
Mar 4, 2016, 10:39AM By MeTV Staff
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/d...b-e5ebed659a52

If you grew up in the 1960s or 1970s, then you know how relaxed everything used to be. Our parents never forced us to wear seatbelts, we pretty much ate whatever we wanted, and were given way more responsibility than we should have been given. It's a little sad kids today won't get to experience half the things we did, but looking back, there's a good reason why they won't.

Were these 12 things we did as kids kind of dangerous? Yeah, maybe some of it was.

#1 Playing with dangerous toys
Parents were a lot more liberal with what they would let us play with. Forget about choking hazards, we're talking hot plates, noxious odors and sharp metal objects. It's a wonder how we made it out of the decade intact.

#2 No seatbelts
We never had to buckle up back in the day, which meant we could sit wherever. That includes stretching out across the seats, lying against the back windshield, or, if your parents had a station wagon, rolling around in the cargo area. What was better than all of that was hitching a ride in a flatbed pickup. No cushioned seats, no roof and nothing but the wind in your hair and sun in your face.

#3 No helmets
Just like seat belts, people didn't really see the value in this piece of life saving gear. Kids popped wheelies and raced each other without helmets, let alone knee and elbow pads. Falling was an art form too because you had to land without splitting your head open or breaking any bones.

#4 Running after DDT trucks
This one is probably the biggest "what were we thinking" moments of the '60s and '70s. We would run after these suckers when they rolled into our neighborhood and sprayed the air with a chemical fog. If your street had some traffic, it was just the risk you had to take to have a little fun.

#5 Unsafe playgrounds
Anyone remember swinging so hard that one part of the swing set would come off the ground? Or what about the burns we suffered sliding down scorching metal slides during the summer? And there wasn't a cushy rubber foundation back then, just asphalt.

#6 Latchkey kids
If your mom or dad worked late, then chances are they gave you the keys to the house so you could let yourself in after school. For those couple hours, you might as well have been a full-fledged adult. Sure, your parents expected you to do homework while you were alone, but you secretly watched an episode or two of The Brady Bunch before they got home.

#7 Leaving 12-year-olds in charge
If you had a younger sibling, then you best bet you would be watching after them at some point during the day (especially if you were a latchkey kid). You didn't need any certifications to babysit either. If you were at least 12 and able to dial 9-1-1, then you got some pretty sweet babysitting gigs. It was perfectly acceptable too.

#8 Diets
There was no such thing as "health foods" like kale and quinoa back when we were kids. If it was sold at the store, then it went in our stomachs. Plus, the less preparation that went into a school lunch, the better. Shout out to the Wonder Bread sandwiches, chips and Twinkies that probably stunted our growth as kids.

#9 Sitting in the front seat
The lack of seatbelts meant you could sit wherever you wanted, and no seat was more coveted than the middle seat in the front, back when front seats were benches. If there were six people in your family, then you fought your siblings for that position. If you sat there, you got to control which radio station the family listened to, and got the extra protection of your mother's arm when your father stopped too hard.

#10 Secondhand smoke
There was no escaping the haze of cigarette smoke in the 1970s. From airplanes to automobiles, we probably inhaled more secondhand smoke as children than some people do in a lifetime today. Looking back, we're happy to leave this one in the '70s.

#11 Explosive cars
It's basically a fact that cars were death traps back in the '70s, and the Ford Pinto is the prime example. Not only did we not wear seatbelts and sit wherever we pleased, we were driving in cars that could explode because the fuel tank wasn't designed properly. Luckily, the cars were discontinued in 1980, but only after we had risked our lives riding in them.

#12 Summer
Come to think of it, the three months between the school year were the most dangerous times growing up. We would leave the house for hours at a time, run around without shoes, and come home with more scrapes and bruises than we could count. There was no structured playtime and no cell phones, just long days of sunshine and absolute fun. Yeah, being a kid in the '60s and '70s wasn't all that bad.

Someone suggested, righteously, an additional entry:
#13 We would play games and lose. And that was okay. There would be another game tomorrow.