Kids these days...

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

^^^^^^
I remember something like that called Jackpot..One person would throw a football in the air and yell out points or 'jackpot' and everyone else would try to catch it...Basically it was full hitting crazyness.

Loved that game!

[Buff]

I remember one summer day, I had to be about 8 or 9. My friend and I were playing in his backyard and we found a hollowed out aluminum chair leg that was broken off of the chair. We also found a pail of nails. We discovered that you could launch the nails at a very good velocity from that chair leg. There was about 100 nails embedded into the fence, side of his deck, and even into the window sills that were facing his back yard. His mom wasn't too pleased when she came out and saw what we were doing.

In my backyard we could climb up onto the shed roof (and onto the garage roof too if we wanted to). We would jump over to my neighbour's shed roof and pull off the shingles and chuck them like frisbees, pretending that they were gigantic throwing stars. I don't think anybody ever knew that we would do that, because once we broke a car window and nobody ever came to question us or our parents. They probably thought it was my neighbour's teenaged son, who was always in trouble with the police. We could whip those shingles quite far though. The car window we broke was two doors down, but we were really proud of how far we could throw the shingles when we got it three doors down and hit or at least scared our friend's black lab. I remember his dad being confused as to where the shingles they were finding in their backyard was coming from.

Oh those were fun days. I kept my friend out of trouble (well big trouble), and he got me into trouble... we did get away with mostly everything we did though. We only got caught for stupid things, like throwing clumps of dirt onto the road. We would throw them as high as we could and see them explode on the pavement. We would ride our bikes around from park to park, and we'd be playing nicely with whomever else was there, then suddenly he would decide that one of the other kids wasn't playing by his rules and beat them up. I don't think I ever got involved in any fights this way, but I don't think I was ever sympathetic to the poor kids who got in my friend's path.

The thing about my friend, is that we both shared the same first name. To differentiate between the two, people often just called him Trouble. If somebody said I did something, his mom would get the call from some other kid's parents, and he'd get in trouble.

His mom gave us old syringes to use for water fights. They were big syringes, probably from a vet clinic or something like that. They could shoot water much farther than the dinky little water guns most other kids on our street had. One day he got the wise idea to pee into it. He got some unsuspecting kid too. After that nobody wanted to water fight when he was around. Which reminds me of another time, at the zoo, as we're standing in line to get some food. We were probably around 5 at this time. He just turned around, dropped his pants and peed on some lady's leg. Now that I'm a parent, I can just imagine the horror his mom felt as she turned around to see what her son was doing.

I moved to Lethbridge when I was 11. All in all I was a well behaved kid, but I'm sure some of the people in my neighbourhood in Lethbridge couldn't figure out where I suddenly came up with some of the antics I would pull off. They were few and far between (compared to my days in Calgary) but they no doubt shocked people that I was the one to do such things. They were just a result of the influence of my old friend from Calgary. He helped me to realize that I could get away with more things than I thought/wanted to.

[corporatejay]

It's funny that most people here who willfully destroyed or stole other people's property chalk it up to the "good ol' days" but i'm sure I could find many-a-post talking about how our justice system is too soft on young offenders and that kids these day "have no damn respect".

It's the circle of life. Old people hate young people and vice versa.

[tete]

I'm a girl, so my memories are much more tame than most of you, but here's a few memories of mine, growing up on a farm in southern Manitoba:

Climbing up the outside of our falling apart barn to get into the hayloft - my brother falling from said hayloft through a hole down to the concrete below. How he never hurt himself, I have no idea.

Playing amongst the large round haybales, falling inbetween them and getting trapped and fished out by my cousin.

Swimming in dugouts, using anything you could find as a makeshift dock/diving board

Skating on the dugouts in the winter - the ice so pebbly and rough, but it was still fun. Strengthened the ankles, right?

Our hometown hockey rink was natural ice - indoors, but natural ice. Outside temps would be -30, it'd be a balmy -28 inside. Never stopped us from skating for hours and hours, playing "Crack the whip" and other games. I remember one ringette game where our goalie froze her toes before the end of the first half it was so cold. Threw in anothe goalie and the frozen toe-d girl dressed as D for the rest of the game.

Horseback riding without any protective gear at all. Gettting thrown off. Running through cow pastures. Biking for miles on end - never thought twice about the 2 1/2 mile trek to my cousin's place.

We had an old rural school 1/4 mile down the road. The owners of the land let us play in it - their grandchildren and us created a huge bicycle course throughout the first and basement level of the school using ramps and such. I remember missing a ramp on the way back up and flipping the bike over backwards and cutting the crap out of my leg. Tetnus shot? Meh. Too far to the hospital.

Jumping into the back of grain trucks full of wheat for fun. I remember doing that at my birthday party when I was about 6. It's amazing none of us died.

Man, there's more but my brain is a sieve these days. What just boggles my mind (and makes me a bit sad) is that my child won't experience any of that. I now live in downtown Calgary in a condo - a far cry from my upbringing. I guess for excitement, I'll just have to let the hobos babysit the kid every now and then -whatever doesn't kill them makes them stronger, right?

[Superflyer]

All this talk about Big Wheels made me remember the one that I had



The Knight Rider Big Wheel. This was awesome!

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

I was an 80's child and we had it good! Saturday mornings were all about cartoons and not infomercials like today. We had the best cartoons ever! Smurfs, He Man, Thundercats, ect... Our toys were awesome and were made of metal which means they were durable and dangerous. You could knock someone out with your Transformer whereas now they are all made of weak plastic. Even a Rubik's Cube could kill someone and an original Slinky could take your finger right off! We had cool games like Hungry Hippo as well that could break your finger with those big metal mouths. Todays edition of Hungry Hippo has such weak plastic hippo's they break within a few rounds of play. Action figures for the likes of He man were obviously on steroids, even Skeletor was huge! Todays edition of Skeletor looks like a damn cancer patient! The internet was none existant to so you would play outside all the time during summer holidays. Back then your mom had to bitch at you to get in the house, now they have to force kids to get the hell of the computer and go outside. Instead of sitting in front of a screen you went swimming, riding bike, catching bugs and frogs, playing sports, and being healthy. My favorite place in my small town was Skate Estate where you would roller skate every weekend. I would be there every Friday night from 7pm to 11pm by the time I was 8 years old and my parents were never paranoid about somebody trying to snatch me up or anything like that. They ended up closing it and turning it into a bingo hall, b***urds! There was no hands off policy at school, if someone bullied you then you fought him and it was over and half the time you ended up friends. Now kids bully a kid and he either retaliates and gets suspended or kills himself. I think things were better when I was kid but maybe that is just me.

I got stuck with Go-Bots, because my parents were too cheap to buy me real Transformers. Anyway, I still have them because they were so well built and now my son plays with them.

The other cool thing was people were too lazy to return their bottles to recycling, so I spent one summer going from house to house, and scouring the drag race strip at Ashcroft and Simalt (sp?) to get enough money to buy myself a tent and this metal detector from Radio Shack.

Saturday mornings used to be a ritual of getting enough sugary cereal and watching the best cartoons. It was a lot better when there was only 3 major networks. I remember Smurfs, Pacman, Pee Wee's Playhouse (hey Cowboy Morpheus), and Ed Grimley's short lived tv show.

I vividly remember making my second smoke bomb, this time I tried doing it inside, well, got the sugar and potassium nitrate all nice and melted in a pot and everything was going well, suddenly the whole thing went off (gas stove was a little bit too hot, go figure) aside from melting the pot, ignitiring the curtains on the kitchen window, and scorching the whole area around the stove the house was completely filled with smoke. At first it billowed lightly along the ceiling, like clouds in the sky, and then it started falling until I was wandering around the house in a dense fog unable to see anything. Of course as the smoke started pouring out of the house, neighbours came by to see what was happening, and not one of them thought it was necessary to check on me, or to make sure that the house wasn't going to burn down, or call the fire department (thanks neighbours). Funny though, I don't remember catching any flack when my parents came home and saw the kitchen devastation.

Other times, riding my bike and my friend was throwing rocks trying to hit my tire. Well, he hit the tire, the rock bounced up and hit me right in the temple narrowly missing my eye. Blood went everywhere and cars stopped to see if I needed help. I just rode home and called my mom at work, she gave me hell for bleeding on my clothes and getting her to come home from work early. Also riding my bike in the middle of street around in circles not really paying attention, then a car hits me. I don't remember being hurt, but the lady was freaking out that she hit me with her car. My mom came out asked me what happened and then apologized to the lady for any damage to the car. I felt loved. I still had to go to school, I guess because I was still conscious. Next time I got hit by a car was going to 7-11 to play video games. Riding my bike across the street, got nailed by a 78 Thunderbird. Knocked unconscious, broke the growth plate in my ankle. My parents were pretty sympathetic, though I think the ambulance ride wasn't free and my dad wanted to know why he wasn't called so he could just drive me there instead. In the hospital, my only memory is getting some comic books from my dad, and watching this lady's family bring her KFC to eat, and I was stuck eating the default hospital food.

I didn't get into a lot of fights, only thing I remember was having this ongoing quarrel with one kid, and I recall having my friend push him while I was kneeling behind him. To get revenge, while I was going to climb on some monkey bars, he pushed me from behind, and have my mouth hit the metal rungs. Not much damage, but my angry mother felt put out by having to take me to the dentist to get my chipped tooth repaired. I am trying to think what medical plans were like back then, because my parents seemed really put off whenever I got injured.

My big brother also coordinated fights between the little kids in the neighbourhood for his and his friends amusement. It was like Fight Club, but not really voluntary, or it didn't feel voluntary anyway. Two of us would start off, and you weren't supposed to punch in the face, but ultimately it would happen and then somebody would cry and I think the first person to cry or who gave up lost the match.

And those are my memories of growing up in the 80s. We also had a Coleco, which was way better than an Atari. Also temporarily had a Vectrex, which was pretty cool, even if only in black and white with film you put over the screen to give the impression of colour.

[return to the red]

painful and fun childhood memories that the parents just shrugged at:

1) having to walk 2 km's home with my cousin after he put a fish hook through my ear and we didn't think of cutting the line so I was hooked to the rod the entire way.

2) having "dirt bomb wars" consisting of throwing large dirt clumps at each other, the harder the better.

3) "Welters"

4) playing tag in houses under construction at night. The more black you had on the better you were able to hide.

5) Taking a bottle cap and drilling a hole through the center, Attach a rubber band, take a q-tip and melt a pin into the end...taaadaaa! I mini bow and arrow that we used to fire into unsuspecting asses on the playground.

Everyone always asks me if I was always accident prone and upon further reflection it's not that I was/am accident prone more I just did/do extremely stupid and dangerous ####

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

Check out my first 'real' skates...Don't get excited, I know I was a pretty big deal.

I just bought those for my boy at Play it Again Sports in Harvest Hills.

[dissentowner]

Another game my friends and I invented was throwing our WWF wrestling dolls at my parents back fence. The dolls were hard rubber and came in all these stupid poses so you could get them stuck in the fence. If a guy got his doll stuck in the fence he was up 1 point and you would try and knock his doll out while getting your own stuck. I still have all those dolls, they look naked because all the paint on tights and stuff are gone from being thrown into the fence.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by tete

Man, there's more but my brain is a sieve these days. What just boggles my mind (and makes me a bit sad) is that my child won't experience any of that. I now live in downtown Calgary in a condo - a far cry from my upbringing. I guess for excitement, I'll just have to let the hobos babysit the kid every now and then -whatever doesn't kill them makes them stronger, right?

Just a question, why did you let your kids get a PS3 or xbox or whatever? I am the "young generation" but I don't own a PS3 or wii or xbox or anything. I don't play any video games at all, I don't watch TV or anything. Not because I was poor or anything, just cause my parents didn't want me to be a zombie, so I was always doing something. Now I'm mid-20's, and I'm used to the lifestyle of always being outside, and you'll never find me sitting at home for more than a few hours... I'm outside every weekend, or if I'm not playing sports, I'll take my motorcycle out. If I have a full day, I want to go to the mountains or the beach. Much like "the good old days" I play pickup soccer a few times a week, and I used to play pickup hockey till I moved out of Canada. I think if you are brought up in a sheltered lifestyle, you get used to it. I grew up with my parents taking me out to Banff or Kananaskis every other weekend, so it was a natural progression for me to carry that kind of lifestyle and go bigger and more adventerous.

[tete]

Originally Posted by Phanuthier

Just a question, why did you let your kids get a PS3 or xbox or whatever? I am the "young generation" but I don't own a PS3 or wii or xbox or anything. I don't play any video games at all, I don't watch TV or anything. Not because I was poor or anything, just cause my parents didn't want me to be a zombie, so I was always doing something. Now I'm mid-20's, and I'm used to the lifestyle of always being outside, and you'll never find me sitting at home for more than a few hours... I'm outside every weekend, or if I'm not playing sports, I'll take my motorcycle out. If I have a full day, I want to go to the mountains or the beach. Much like "the good old days" I play pickup soccer a few times a week, and I used to play pickup hockey till I moved out of Canada. I think if you are brought up in a sheltered lifestyle, you get used to it. I grew up with my parents taking me out to Banff or Kananaskis every other weekend, so it was a natural progression for me to carry that kind of lifestyle and go bigger and more adventerous.

My kid is still in-utero, so I haven't screwed them up too badly yet. I was more lamenting that I think it'll just be a completely different upbringing for them than mine was! It's really tough for me to fathom right now, to be honest.

[Phanuthier]

Originally Posted by tete

My kid is still in-utero, so I haven't screwed them up too badly yet. I was more lamenting that I think it'll just be a completely different upbringing for them than mine was! It's really tough for me to fathom right now, to be honest.

Its cool, just trying to help. I think what gets kids outdoors is just being active, raising your endorphines (I think I have it right?). Besides for a period where I had a broken foot, I'm active every day. I don't even really drink anymore, just because I'm so busy and/or focussed with my (active) goals. My parents had me in pretty much every active sport you can think of, usually 2-3 at a time of soccer, hockey, basketball, etc etc etc. Do that for your kid! I know you are probably busy, my mom was, but I managed to bum a ride from friends for games... I biked to local games, or when I was older, I just took the bus... if your kid isn't into team sports, I have other recommendations, I enjoy both team sports and individual equally!

Sad to see a kid just stay at home and let his body and brain rot. I didn't do stupid stuff like jump off houses or anything, but if it wasn't sports, it was me jamming away on a drumset or something like that. Always too busy to just sit at home and do nothing.

[CaramonLS]

I remember when I was 6 years old in afterschool care - there were a couple kids on the playground and one of the older kids (was 9) proceeded to punch me in the face a couple times and gave me a black eye.

The response from the teacher who supervised us was "you shouldn't have been hanging out around those kids".

Oh, how things have changed.

[puckluck]

Also remember in grade 4 my substitute english teacher was having a hard time with all of us and I was misbehaving admittidely so he turns around and screams out "if you keep this up later in life you're going to find yourself laying in a backalley wiith chalk line around you" I burst into tears and ran out of the classroom. Mother ####er still pisses me off till this day.

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally Posted by puckluck

Also remember in grade 4 my substitute english teacher was having a hard time with all of us and I was misbehaving admittidely so he turns around and screams out "if you keep this up later in life you're going to find yourself laying in a backalley wiith chalk line around you" I burst into tears and ran out of the classroom. Mother ####er still pisses me off till this day.

Subs were the best, obviously.

We had one Mr. Martin-Pools. He was subbing for our gym teacher, and when someone touched the ball with their hands during a Soccer game, he yelled, loudly... "Hand job hand job!"

It was innocent, he just meant someone touched the ball with their hand, but oh lord, that group of 14 year olds didn't let up.

There was another infamous sub that went around for years in the area I grew up in. Her nickname was Granny Dynamite. She had it for years. Habernac might be familiar with her.

[CaptainCrunch]

I remember when our house burned down in Winnipeg, and I was forced to move to Coaldale and stay with my grandparents and I was stuck going to a Catholic school run by nuns.

They certainly didn't believe in sparing the rod. I remember I was whispering to a kid next to me and the nun teaching the class stomped over to me and broke a ruler over my head.

I remember getting called into the principles office because I was over heard saying a bad word, and I get 10 lashes across the palm of my hand.

Of course I was young and upset, and when I got home I complained to my grandpa, and he took my hand, looked at it, then looked at me and said "That's some nice work, you understand you had it coming right?"

[CaramonLS]

I also remember how in some of our classes (like grades 3-7) we were completely and utterly racist in our speech. I remember we had this girl from Pakistan who we kept calling the N-word (without really knowing what it ment).

[Phanuthier]

Sort of related, the talk about the "good old days" of taking your bike out and exploring, one thing they have down here is something called bike party. Once a month, a few thousand people on bikes get together and get drunk/high/whatever on a route thats usually about 27 miles (40km I think?).

http://www.sjbikeparty.org/

I've done it a few times, its pretty fun. Or what I remember of it anyways. Some people really get into it and have floats and everything for a theme. Other cities should pick it up.

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by puckluck

Also remember in grade 4 my substitute english teacher was having a hard time with all of us and I was misbehaving admittidely so he turns around and screams out "if you keep this up later in life you're going to find yourself laying in a backalley wiith chalk line around you" I burst into tears and ran out of the classroom. Mother ####er still pisses me off till this day.

We had one of the Hart brothers that subbed for us on many occasions. There was one person in my sister's class who ended up pushing his buttons one to many times and he got he feet taped to the door handle of the little storage cupboard they had in every room.

[CaptainCrunch]

We had Bruce Hart as our drama substitute, he was a complete dufus

I had Keith Hart as a sub in shop, he was pretty cool.