WE WOZ BRUNG UP PROPER Please read

[tdodd]

.....kids can often do what they like.That doesnt make them happy. They need rules, boundaries and guidance and lots of fresh air, play and exercise.

They sound just like dogs.

 

[AndyB1976]

Had a crossbow that fired clothes pegs built for me by my Granda when I was 7. I also help nail it together - haha

Had a catapult at the age of 8, GAT .177 slug gun by 11

Could tie and bait fish hooks by 9.

Learned to go a hand-me-down bike, without stabilers, safety gear or even supervision on the road/pavement at 8.

Played 5 a side footie on the street, the goalies were the car watchers.

Built dens from scrap wood in skips.

Collapsed dens for bonfire night, and additionally someone always had some fire accelerant usually from a 'big brother' nicked from a shed with either a scooter or petrol lawnmower resident.

AND.....played computer games that loaded from a cassette tape that could take 30mins to load (and crash) 8bit, 16colours, stereo sound Commodore64 - played through a blacknwhite, mono-sound tv - Daley Thompsons Olympic Challange, Emlyn Hughes International Soccer and Pitstop 2 (ahh the golden age of gaming)

 

[Rob 80386]

Riding over the top floor and under the ground floor of a paternoster lift, (before H&S shut most of them down)

using BBC B computers that needed 5 inch floppies

had an Amstrad CPC464 that had to load from cassette, on a glorious green and yellow monitor.

did lots of injuries to the same leg playing football.

 

[CT]

He probably thought kids of your day didn't know how to have fun, with your new-fangled bikes and the luxury of co-op numbers (whatever they are )! No, things were done properly when HE was a kid!

Co--op numbers...

The Co-operative Society had grocery shops in in most towns and operated a dividend scheme in post war Britain at which time rationing was in place of course.

The way it worked was for each quid you spent at the Co-op you had one shilling (5p in todays money, although a shilling was worth a lot more then) credited against the Co-op Dividend number which accrued throughout the year, and your mom was able to take quite a substantial dividend at Christmas - which of course had to be spent at the Co-op, but it was a huge help towards Christmas expenses.

There were few fridges in those days - people shopped for food daily, so most days you were sent off to the Co-op with a shopping list and ration book. The shop staff would say "What's your mom's divvy number?" to which you'd reply "One two one nine eight five" like a trained parrot.

You were rewarded with a "Good lad" and a pat on the head each time which is probably why I have no hair today.

 

[Michael Sewell]

Clackers

er.......... and the optional broken wrists?

 

[chivers67]

Green shield stamps.
skateboard ramps,
bikes with a cow horns,
mags with porn,
fruit salads and black jacks,
Pogo sticks and chopper bikes,
helter skeltering by the sea,
round your mates for some T
Beef burgers, Smash potato and beans,
wearing your single pair of (Levi) jeans,
Zodiak Zephyrs on the road
British bulldog at your school
Mary Mungo and Midge,
Vision on and Jackanory
Sticky backed plastic on Blue Peter
just three channels on TV
the list could go on.
Apple scrumping
deposits on bottles

 

[Doog]

Bay City Rollers

 

[chivers67]

Showaddywaddy

Pea shooters

Yeah the summer of 76 was hot hot hot. Did rain for ages and when it did one evening I rember my brother holding a cup out the window and it was full in about ten seconds

 

[Joe T]

Short life expectancy

 

[onomatopoeia]

Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes.

This was not a good thing.

 

[Jelster]

Thanks for that, just brought back memories of one hot summer, 76 it was and playing all day with an old washing up bottle filled with water, soaking each other and having a laugh. up out early anf not back till tea time, did my mother worry?? not one jot she knew we where happy and playing, we never did do cowboys and indians, it was always Japs and commando's, snap a branch off a tree and that was your gun.

Best bike to own at the time was either a chopper or if you where not old/big enough you had a tomahawk, (smaller version of the chopper).

Kids today aint got a clue how to have fun.

spike

That summer of '76 was amazing. I was 14, and during the summer holidays I spent a week at the side of a local lake carp fishing. My Dad would drop by with some fresh sarnies on his way to work. Later that summer me & my mates made a "camp" in the local woods and would sleep out overnight, catch rabbits or pheasants and cook them over an open fire in the evening. We listened to the "Top 20" on a transistor radio on Sunday evenings....

We didn't "buy" bikes, we'd get an old racing bike, stick a set of cow horns on t, change the gearing and paint it - because we could !!

I left school in '78 and I can't believe how much it's changed...

Steve

 

[MisterE]

Riding over the top floor and under the ground floor of a paternoster lift, (before H&S shut most of them down)

I saw one of those, never used it and always regretted it [demolished now]. I wondered what happened at the top and bottom if you didn't get out. Turned upside down?

 

[Rob 80386]

I saw one of those, never used it and always regretted it [demolished now]. I wondered what happened at the top and bottom if you didn't get out. Turned upside down?

Nope it just goes sideways

here is a video of me riding one

[YOUTUBE]ENF_NPVY5TE[/YOUTUBE]

 

[Cobra]

also not forgetting, 20 years ago all kids ate peanut butter, none of this nut alergy crap where someone would open a sunpat jar and kids within a 50 mile radius would collapse to the floor gripping their throats, what has evolution done in 2 decades?

Its called bandwagon jump on type thing another of "todays"
little "pluses"

And we ate salt, had dripping sandwiches (with salt) and knew how to cross a road.

We could ride a bike without having to use the pavement!

We could have fun with shared telephone lines....... I didn't press that button on the top of the phone if I could hear someone talking ........ I used to listen and then make silly noises, to wind them up

We could go abseiling, canoeing and camping on school trips whilst the teachers went to the pub.

School bullying ended as soon as we lost or won the fight and if it didn't we could shoot them with our airgun

We were taught how to fix cars.

We could smoke on the bus.......... because the local shop would sell us single cigs

We could play 'Cowboys and Indians' without being called racists.

We could eat jam and collect Golliwog badges and wear them without upsetting anyone.

The local coppers scared us if we had done something we shouldn't

We had rip-raps, Catherine wheels and bangers to play with

We had the black and white minstrels on Saturday nights for entertainment.

Ah yes the good old days

Clackers

Jeeze I had forgotten about them,smashed me thumb more than
once on the bloody things

This was not a good thing.

Hmmm but we didn't "do" what ever it was again,
nor did we go running to mum or dad to tell them that we had been caned,
They would not have screamed human rights and dragged the teacher through the law courts, NO!
we would have had a clip around the ear for being caught
Having done "it" in the 1st place

 

[cyclamens]

The more this thread grows.......the more I am loving it

 

[TriggerHappy]

I'm sure corporal punishment comes up more times here than wedding photography threads!

 

[MisterE]

Nope it just goes sideways

here is a video of me riding one

Interesting. Thanks Rob.

 

[kenny_ip_2000]

lol

 

[cambsno]

Surely its all down to us as parents to show the way. I make sure my 3yo does experience the things I did and not to be afraid of falling over. Took him out on his newish bike - didnt bother with a helmet and glad to see the older lad and girl over the road dont bother.

Unfortunately too many parents (some we know) wrap their kids up in cotton wool which does them no good at all.

 

[gazza2168]

Ah the good old cane, had it several times, summers were never ending, getting my first pair of monkey boots to go with my 6 inch waistbands with hhhhuuuugggggeeeee pockets on the leg and public phone boxes cost 2p or a shilling, loved every minute

 

[TriggerHappy]

Surely its all down to us as parents to show the way. I make sure my 3yo does experience the things I did and not to be afraid of falling over. Took him out on his newish bike - didnt bother with a helmet and glad to see the older lad and girl over the road dont bother.

Unfortunately too many parents (some we know) wrap their kids up in cotton wool which does them no good at all.

I didn't realise not protecting your child's head was a measure of good parenting

Sure, kids learn from their falls and we shouldn't stop them from these entirely, but there's no extra lesson to be learnt from an unprotected head hitting tarmac over a head with a helmet on.

 

[Rob 80386]

Interesting. Thanks Rob.

No worries

 

[photon]

I didn't realise not protecting your child's head was a measure of good parenting

Then shouldn't they wear helmets when using swings, climbing trees, riding in cars etc?

 

[Splog]

Then shouldn't they wear helmets when using swings, climbing trees, riding in cars etc?

Plus..... knee and elbow protectors?

 

[chivers67]

I'm sure corporal punishment comes up more times here than wedding photography threads!

I remember being spanked on the back of my calf by the Head Mistress at infant school. As she did it she always said the words:
"I Do Not Like Dis-obedient Boys" rather loudly

People pay money for that type of thing these days

 

[TriggerHappy]

Then shouldn't they wear helmets when using swings, climbing trees, riding in cars etc?

Swings - I've never fallen off one myself, nor have I ever even seen someone fall off one so I suspect the risk factor is much lower than cycling.
Trees - Typically over grass so a softer surface to hit, plus you're more likely to land feet/hands first.
Riding in cars - If they're belted up in a child seat their heads shouldn't be able to impact anything dangerous.

Plus..... knee and elbow protectors?

Knees and elbows are rather different to heads.


"According to the Brain Injury Association, traumatic brain injury is the most frequent cause of disability and death among children and adolescents in the United States. Each year, more than a million children sustain brain injuries, ranging from mild to severe trauma."

It all comes down to how we perceive justifiable risks and we all have different opinions on where the line should be drawn. Cycling, especially when learning balance etc., is a fairly high risk activity and the likelihood of hitting your head when falling sideways or over the handlebars is pretty high. In my opinion the couple of seconds it takes to fasten a helmet on your child's head and the £20ish pounds for a decent helmet is well worth the effort to prevent injury.

In my opinion it all boils down to how you answer this question: If the worst happened and your child fell off their bike and suffered significant brain injury when not wearing a helmet, could you live with yourself knowing you never made them wear a helmet when it could have made the difference?


I completely respect the fact that people will think differently to me and I'm not saying anyone who disagrees is a bad parent.

 

[Yv]

Child of the late 60's, thank god I made it

Anyone remember not only the hot summer of 76, but the greenfly/ladybird invasion that accompanied it?

1 week caravan holidays were the norm.....only really posh people went abroad!

picking blackberries and being sick because you ate more than ever made it to the basket...or bowl if your mum had recently visited a tupperware party!

mum did work, but gran looked after us, she only lived a mile away, nan lived 3 miles away, aunties and uncles were all within a mile or two aswell, some only a few streets away - apart from my uncle who was the 'odd' one, he moved over 200 miles away, which was just plain weird

O-Levels!! and anything below a C grade was a failure.... but you understood that you were never going to good at everything, because you had sports day from 4 yrs old, though no proper exams until mid-teens, apart from the dreaded 11+ ....

I dont remember mums co-op number, we didnt have one locally so it was the one on town at weekends and that was possibly before my time, but I recall being the official 'sticker of green shield stamps in the book'


...and finally, for those of you that were teens in the 80's...ra ra skirts and legwarmers - Fame had a LOT to answer for :razz::razz:

 

[photon]

In my childhood days, kids launched themselves off swings, hung upside-down from the framework and re-enacted the less gravity-defying aspects of Tom & Jerry cartoons.

I can't think of any children known to me who've been seriously injured cycling. That's not the case for adults, unfortunately, and without wishing to labour the point, helmets wouldn't have saved their lives or prevented other injuries.

There's "risk compensation" to consider, and the overall detriment to public health due to any reduction in cycling.

I've not yet found any percentages, but it still looks to me that plenty of other activities may require the use of protective helmets if a conscientious parent wants as many bases covered as possible:
Road traffic accidents are the most common causes of head injuries, especially when the child is a pedestrian or cyclist. Other common causes include falls from cots, windows or down stairs and sports injuries. Occasionally what seems to be a very small blow to the head, perhaps during some rough and tumble as kids play, leads to significant problems.
Source

 

[photon]

Stats related to head injuries in children: http://www.cyclehelmets.org/1148.html

Our study has shown that the greatest influence on the likelihood of serious head injury is motor vehicle involvement, independent of whether a child is cycling, walking or a car passenger. We conclude that improving the safety of the cycling environment is likely to be more effective in reducing head injuries than the promotion of helmets, and it would also benefit child pedestrians who outnumber cyclists 5 to 1 in receiving head injuries.

Remember folks, when sharing the road with vulnerable road-users: Twenty's Plenty!

 

[TriggerHappy]

In my childhood days, kids launched themselves off swings, hung upside-down from the framework and re-enacted the less gravity-defying aspects of Tom & Jerry cartoons.

The children of today are no different; they still learn the laws of physics the hard way

I can't think of any children known to me who've been seriously injured cycling. That's not the case for adults, unfortunately, and without wishing to labour the point, helmets wouldn't have saved their lives or prevented other injuries.

Unfortunately I do, and maybe (just maybe, not conclusively, but maybe) a helmet would have saved her life. That's probably why I can see no justification to not wear a helmet.

I'm not saying that putting a helmet on WILL make the difference, but if it COULD make the difference, is that not reason enough?

 

[onomatopoeia]

Hmmm but we didn't "do" what ever it was again,
nor did we go running to mum or dad to tell them that we had been caned,
They would not have screamed human rights and dragged the teacher through the law courts, NO!
we would have had a clip around the ear for being caught
Having done "it" in the 1st place

I didn't do it in the first place, but got the punishment anyway. I was trying to be helpful and the headmistress was so annoyed about whatever it is that she didn't listen and targetted me as I had drawn attention to myself by doing so. And yes, my parents always sided with the teachers, so I didn't even bother to tell them I'd been whacked with a gym shoe for trying to be helpful.

That incident had a major effect on my life, although seven year old me didn't realise it at the time. Since I was one of the people that did all my work, didn't cause trouble and didn't break rules, it left me with a feeling of injustice and resentment toward my teachers and authority in general. I am convinced it was the genesis of what I do today, in actively supporting campaigns for the rights of the oppressed, for self determination, civil liberties and human rights. Including hauling those that abuse children by whacking them up before the courts. And yes, it made me one of those awkward people that insists people with authority respect the limits that the law places on that authority, so I'm one of those who wouldn't tell a policeman my name and address and what I was doing unless I was legally obliged to do so.

Had I been more aware of human rights issues and less wrapped up in teaching myself assembly language programming on my ZX Spectrum and BBC Model B as a teenager I might well have ended up studying law at university rather than an engineering / nerdery degree.

 

[onomatopoeia]

...and finally, for those of you that were teens in the 80's...ra ra skirts and legwarmers - Fame had a LOT to answer for :razz::razz:

Reading your post makes me think you're a similar age to me (42 later this month ). I didn't wear ever ra ra skirts or legwarmers though

 

[leftcurl]

parka coats with the zip up hood and fur lined so you could only see through a 2 inch gap.

i remember one summer (approx. '78) we set a fire going in the woods - first a small pile of leaves, think we got it going with a magnifying glass... within minutes it was roaring up the tree trunks with about 10 of us ferrying water in cupped hands from the stream to put it out... oh how we chuckled.

my first pair of 'docs'... i felt like my legs were in irons... but they were my pride and joy.. only 10 eye to start with mind.

i remember a copper driving alongside me in his car and winding the window down... 'you'll get bloody knocked over if you keep riding with no hands on the main road... now pack it in!'.... i went bright red and apologised.

playing out till 10.00pm on a school night while my mum chatted with my mates mum on the front step... we only went in because it was officially dark by then. I think my dad must have been playing snooker

 

[u8myufo]

Post your mom's' Co-op number here or you weren't there!

121985

And if you did not collect the Divi Stamps you couldn`t get buried

 

[u8myufo]

People used to leave money outside under the Milk Bottles or the Paraffin can. Ahhh! Paraffin heaters indoors A tin Bath in the back yard was the only way to scrub up, the Belfast sink got a bit cramped by the age of five, especially when the pots and pans were still in it You had a proper breakfast before school, now you see the kids stuffing their fat faces with the likes of Pasties and Sausage Rolls.

 

[Jelster]

People used to leave money outside under the Milk Bottles or the Paraffin can.

And we used to work, at the age of 14 I had 2 paper rounds and used to help out the milkman. I loved the milk round, especially on Saturdays when we'd have to collect the money and I'd get paid :nuts:

One thing I can remember, being in school when we had to date our work 7/7/77, oh, and tapping the pick ups on the pay phone so you didn't have to pay to listen to "Dial-a-Disk"

Steve

 

[jimmyriddle]

I think a lot of the original post applies to the '80s as well, with the exception of the last bit

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow
up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives
for our own good.

As it's the people from the '50s '60s and '70s who are now the 'lawyers and the government'

 

[CT]

Fire cans - anyone remember them?

Get an empty tin - punch a few holes in it around the sides, attached a long wire handle 3 or 4 feet long. Fill up the can with burning coal from the grate and swing the thing around your head in a circle so that the draught whipped up the embers to furnace intensity. Always done in the dark of course - you wanna talk impressive light trails?

Social Services would have you in care today!

 

[Di Stone]

No protective clothing but if you fell off the bike or just tripped over and skinned the knees, you just picked the stones out the cuts and carried on again

If I did get out to play after tea, as soon as Dad called for me to come home, I had too otherwise I'd be in trouble. Dad ruled that one :rules:

When we did cause a continual disturbance kicking the football off someones garage door, the mention of "I'll tell your father" was enough to move us on (well for a short time anyway).

Great days

Di

 

[whatdoesthisbutt]

All this brings back great memories!
I broke my arm during the summer holidays of '76 (High waisted '8 pocket' flare trousers caught on the fence posts as I was jumping over the fence calling for the kid next door)

I broke my arm again in '77 (playing follow me leader in a big oak tree when the kid in front of me had snapped the branch, I bounced off all the branches before hitting the ground)

And I broke it again in '78 (Skateboarding ......on the board my Dad made from wood and an old pair of rubber wheeled skates, it was far faster than the few 'shop bought' ones some lads had)

All those broken bones, thats why I cant nail focus (Thats my excuse, anyway!)

I remember all the tricks to get free phone calls, how to get around phone locks on round dial phones, making things out of what was to hand and not realising just how skint the family was because it was FUN to be a kid.

I wonder what kids growing up now will look back on as the 'early days' of a technology, and how they could get away with things or just make stuff work.....
I'm really looking forward to see my 2 year old grow up and discover the worl around her!