How Did We Survive? »
Tuesday, November 17, 2009 at 6:56AM ;)
Sometimes I wonder how we all survived our childhoods. I am not talking about living through an era that embraced John Travolta in skin tight leisure suits, disco or the belief that anything on a toothpick passed as an hors d'oeuvre. Disturbing to the psyche of a child as these things might have been, they did not pose the physical threats that resided in and around our homes that our parents were neither aware of or, let's be honest, concerned about on a daily basis. Compared to the hypervigilance of today, the homes of even two or three decades before were laced with land mines just waiting for an unsuspecting child to walk in to.
I remember the days when there were no plastic covers for the outlets. Any one of us could stick little fingers in exposed sockets. Windows were left open, cords to draw blinds up or down dangled within reach. We rode bikes without helmets and crossed busy intersections by ourselves. There were no car seats. Second hand smoke wafted about freely. The advent of bubble wrapping one's child to within an inch of its life had yet to take root.
But, the days of unstructured play time and glass coffee tables within the reach of a toddler's cranium have gone the way of Tab cola and leg warmers. No more would you ever think to allow a ten year old free reign with a sling shot. The potential for mischief is too great. Eyes can be put out, neighbors tormented. Unless, of course, there is constant supervision in the guise of an organized activity; preferably one that requires an excessive amount of money in order to participate with the promise of long weekend journeys to meaningless events. I imagine slingshot tourneys a minimum of a three hour car ride away to be the next step.
I remember owning a pogo stick as a child and now thinking back on it how fraught with potentially disastrous consequences this activity was. No protective headgear, no padding reminiscent of a footballer's lineman, I bounded around like a Mexican jumping bean with little more than shorts and a t-shirt. Uneven terrain or the slippery surfaces of a carport, I bounced here and there with nothing more than skinned knees and elbows to show for it. I survived even with the stupidity of a child and the lack of full body armor before leaving the house.
Last week I knelt down to feed the cat and in my haste to look out the window in response to the FedEx truck driving up to my front door, I slammed my head into the side of the counter. I managed to get by with nothing more than a big bump and a headache. If only I were wearing a helmet. Maybe I should think about covering those electrical sockets.
Oh, right. I am an adult. Amazing I have made it this long intact.
children, pogo stick, safety, survival in Childhood 
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Reader Comments (21)
I actually noticed that too. That parents are somewhat over-protective these days. But I'm sure back in the day children did get hurt. I remember my sister and I playing in the kitchen, and when she got up from the floor where we were sitting, she banged her head on the corner of the table. That was probably just one of the many, many times one of us hit our heads. But yeah, we made it.
My Grandma told me that when my Dad and his sister were 3 and 2 years old respectively, she caught them in a really dangerous position: my aunt had a knife in her tiny hands and was fiddling with it between my Dad's fingers. Luckily with the non sharp edge touching the skin.
Today you'd be considered irresponsible if your child did that. Back then it was kind of "survival of the fittest (child)".
I always thought I would be a laid back parent, but I'm not, really. I'm not a headcase but the "what if's" surrounding my child's every move are definitely at the forefront of my brain. It's awful.
I remember no carseats, but I also remember kids dying. And that's when everyone drove tanks. My car is made out of auto-grade plastic.
I remember kids in casts all the time.
Now the only kids I see with casts are the ones that got into terrible fights or are abused by their parents.
That said, I can't stand the "helicopter parents" who hover all around their kids and don't let them do anything. It's so annoying.
So true. I think getting knocked around a little prepared us for life. Kids today? They have no idea what they're in for. Excellent post!
This is one of the 8 million reasons why I can't have kids--I would be so neurotic. Kids find freaking anything to get hurt on--I would be a basket case. That's why I'm sticking with dogs. :)
Alexandra - Thanks for popping by! We did get hurt all the time back in the day that's why I'm so glad we all survived.
Lora - If I had kids I would be a nervous wreck as well. I think things such as car seats are a fantastic invention along with just about all of the other stuff that innovative people have come up with to keep our children safer. And, cars were tanks back then.
Jayne - Having a little unstructured play time without the helicopter parents definitely was a good thing.
HipHop - You and me both. I'm sticking to dogs as well. They manage to get hurt sometimes but rarely abducted.
The hubs' siblings didn't even ride in carseats. Ahhhhhhhhhhh!
Amen.
Add to that climbing trees, something that I'm sure is illegal in this day and age.
As a kid, I was capable of getting on and off a school bus all by myself, without needing a bus monitor to make sure I didn't run underneath the wheels.
I'm glad I got to grow up in a time when kids were allowed to experience life, rather than sit around watching dangerous activities on TV that they should never ever try, you know, stuff like golf and wrestling.
my sister slipped and her arm went through the plate glass "screen" door. Glad those are gone. It' likes the mafia. You know too much about what can happen to get out and be all easy peasy
I think children today are overly coddled in ways and yet ignored in more important ways. There is excessive strapping in, helmeting, foam covered corners, and yet the freedom of play, the reality of living in an adult home, the very core of what is it to eventualy be an adult, seems of little importance. I find it odd that children are often not allowed free reign in their own neighborhoods where one might know their neighbor yet in malls, I see children, quite young, running aobut unattended all the time. Rather odd indeed!
Kristin - Those were the days. Well, not really kids are safer.
Kit - Thanks for stopping by! I agree. Do kids even climb trees anymore? We need to get them away from the computers and running around outside again.
Jessica - Some things are better. Love the reference to the Mafia. We do know too much that is why we never let our kids do anything.
50s Gal - Thanks for the fabulous comment. I don't think we are teaching our kids how to be self reliant and fully functioning adults. It is very scary.
Great post...and so much truth. I cant believe the things we survived with out seat belts, protection, etc. At the same time, I am also sometimes shocked at what kids DO have access to today...topics/media/plots in shows. My 16 year old SIL knows things I never knew until college...and i was hardly naive. LOL.
As a child of the 80s I find it amazing that people ever bought pogo sticks. The things were damn impossible to use and I can't even envision it being fun for more than 8 consecutive seconds. And you can't really resell a pogo stick. I don't think there is a great resale value on any pogo stick. So you leave it in the garage until it rusts and goes from being a pogo stick to just... a stick. Pogo stick... I tell you that is one of the greatest scams perpetuated on the american public. Ok I am done. good post =)
My sister came home from the hospital on my moms lap in a Corvette for goodness sake! (1972) I moved to the high desert so I could stay home with the kids and in my house (I am a really mean mom) no TV during the week and because we live in a Leave to Beaver neighborhood they are outside on weekends. There are basektball nets in driveways of most of the houses and my doorbell usually rings because the kids want my SO to come out and play street football with them. I want to make my girls wear infielder masks during softball but they don't want to, so I knit while they play!! I try not to be freaky about safety I don't want them to have my fears!
This made me laugh...I remember that pogo stick....split my lip in two.
Still have the scar thank you very much...
And me too...I'm sticking with dogs....it's just so much easier....
More later..I LOVE your writing
Kary
Oh yes indeedy, we all seem to have survived, haven't we? The Spousal Unit wrote an entire post on the topic once, it is such a sore spot with him, and in most cases we concur. The hyper-vigilant environment has a flip side, the creation of a fear when facing things 'unprotected,' and it can really be a shame, denying the carefree, pure joy when accomplishing certain things on one's own. Unaided and unprotected.
Sigh. I am truly beginning to sound like my Mother. Hee-hee! Great post!
tp
What is up with you balanced-challenged people who couldn't pogo? geesh.....I bounced like Tigger on that thing all over the place and never turfed it.
we need to start a campaign to bring back lawn darts too....all the fun stuff isn't marketed anymore for fear of physcial injury meanwhile the kids aren't getting enough exercise and spend countless hours glued to the TV or their dumb video games. An every increasingly obese population of kids is far more dangerous that pogo sticks ever were.
I remember products, like packages of cookies, that you didn't have to use WIRE CUTTERS to open. Guess that really dates me. GREAT POST!
It's hard sometimes NOT to compare our childhoods with the lives of today's kids...they really are night and day. As you'd found in that talk-show comedian, we've seen an awful lot of technology come and go in our lifetime...even our kids can remember the VHS tape versus today's blu ray disks.
As for safety? Yeah, somehow we survived. As babies and toddlers, we were probably watched by real babysitters, instead of tv or daycare centers....different time, different environment. Don't you think??
I still think being a kid today is as carefree as it was for us...or, I'd like to think so. Just different stuff to amuse them...but I hope the fond memories will still be there for them....and hopefully, they'll remember the feeling of being so very loved. I can live with that.
I remember riding in the back of my dad's pick-up while whisking down the road at 60mph. If we were to do that today, we'd be jailed and our kids taken away from us.
So true! I really can't help wanting to wrap my kids in bubble wrap to prevent any injuries -- why are we such ninnies today when as kids, we ran around, got bumps and bruises, and pretty much were able to get through any mishaps? If you want to be amazed at how someone made it to adulthood, read The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. Truly jaw dropping account of her life growing up.