Grandparents, Uncles and Aunts... have times really changed so much?

[ultrarunner]

Have you noticed Parents tend to be much more cautious today then in the past?

So many of the things I'd look forward to doing with my Grandparents and Uncles and many of my fondest memories of spending time at the family farm around the holidays seem to no longer exist for kids today...

The cousins and I would think of nothing of spending the day hiking the woods or up to look-out peak... the only rule was to stay together, be safe and be home in time for supper... ages would range from 5 to 12... older kids would usually have too many chores to come along, unless it happened to be Sunday.

I know my own nieces and nephews and their friends are kept on a very short leash... stay out of the woods or don't go anywhere where you can't hear me... I would have thought with cell phones, kids today would have a little more freedom... instead of less?

Grandpa's workshop and tractor always fascinated me... I would spend just about every minute I could following him around and learning by watching and doing and he always made time for us and the neighbor kids.

In my spare time, I've restored a number of antique cars... from a Curved Dash Oldsmobile to Model A's and T's... As a child I always enjoyed going for a ride in the rumble seat.... as many kids as we could fit... I never imagined the day would come where any car without Airbags, ABS Brakes and shoulder belts would be too dangerous or unsafe to drive a mile or two down a country road...

Summer haying was another favorite time... we'd all climb on the hay wagon for the ride home... much too dangerous to do now days...

It's probably just my age is showing... but, it seems we no longer let kids be kids.

 

[Egon]

I'm wondering how so many of us managed to survive to old age.

Non pasteurized milk, uninspected meat, guns with shells, no seat belts and on and on.

 

[mikim]

Times do change--- if a kid got hurt back when, his folks would just get him fixed up and tell him to be more careful next time ... now they want to set blame....it's all about the "not my fault" generation and the laws that have been passed that support that. A lot of it is good ....but like anything -- the pendelum swings too far so you have to put up with the ridiculous along with the sensible. And kids experiences will naturally be affected along with the attitude. I too remember wandering well away from home on my own....my grandkids would never be allowed to do so.

 

[Bird]

For many years, my granddad's job was hauling the mail back and forth between the post office and the train station. It was a contract job for which he just had a half ton pickup on which he built his own flatbed for the purpose. Eight trains a day around the clock, 7 days a week. He'd go to the post office, load up the outgoing mail, drive 3 blocks to the train station to be there when the train arrived, then would drive right up next to the train to put the outgoing mail on the train, get the incoming mail, take it back to the post office, and go home until time for the next train. He started that job when I was 3 years old and I know at least from the time I was 5, I rode on the back of the truck with him, usually standing up so I could see better, many, many times. Sometimes it was 2 to 5 grandkids at a time. Can you imagine letting a bunch of little kids ride on the back of a truck on a job now?

 

[rox]

For many years, my granddad's job was hauling the mail back and forth between the post office and the train station. It was a contract job for which he just had a half ton pickup on which he built his own flatbed for the purpose. Eight trains a day around the clock, 7 days a week. He'd go to the post office, load up the outgoing mail, drive 3 blocks to the train station to be there when the train arrived, then would drive right up next to the train to put the outgoing mail on the train, get the incoming mail, take it back to the post office, and go home until time for the next train. He started that job when I was 3 years old and I know at least from the time I was 5, I rode on the back of the truck with him, usually standing up so I could see better, many, many times. Sometimes it was 2 to 5 grandkids at a time. Can you imagine letting a bunch of little kids ride on the back of a truck on a job now?

Bird,
No I can't imagine that at all today, a bunch of kids int he back of a pick up truck. The driver would be arrested and everyone seeing with a cell phone would call it in. Times are different. We spent our whole childhood exploring and rigging up pullys onto trees and building way high up tree houses etc. If I would have raised my kids in the country I would ahve let them do the same thing, however how many kids live int he country nowdays? Not many. Our kids were raised in the suburbs of Milwaukee and I knew where my kdis were all the tme. Contrailiy my mother never knew where we were, we just came home in time for meals.

 

[ore540]

Bill Bryson wrote "Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" about his growing up in Iowa in the 50s. I recommend it - lot of laughs and it sure spoke to this Oregon boy. One of the things he wrote about was how many kids there were back in the early days of us Boomers. He figured that parents let us do all that stuff because we were so common and easily replaced

 

[Bird]

Yeah, Rox, sometimes I get to thinking about it and wonder how we survived when we were kids. I think I only fell out of the hayloft in the barn once; not sure how many trees I fell out of, teased bulls, then ran in the barn and climbed the ladder just ahead of them, only been kicked by a horse once (no, for those wondering, I wasn't kicked in the head), was only bucked off once, fell off on my head another time when the cinch wasn't tight enough and the saddle slipped around under the horse, been bit too many times to count, was drug down a borrow ditch once by a panicked horse I was leading and I wouldn't turn loose of the rope in spite of mother screaming at me to let go, only fell off the bed of a truck once when Dad went around a corner and I was sitting too near the edge, and a few other little things like that.

And perhaps the dumbest of all the stunts I pulled was when I pulled down a big old dead oak tree with the John Deere L without thinking about the fact that the chain I was using wasn't half as long as the tree was tall.. That big tree came down right along side the left side of the tractor, and I sat there hoping Dad wouldn't ask me how I got that tree down. It it had fallen 3' farther to the right, he'd have had to bury me and buy another tractor.

 

[Bird]

Bill Bryson wrote "Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" about his growing up in Iowa in the 50s. I recommend it - lot of laughs and it sure spoke to this Oregon boy. One of the things he wrote about was how many kids there were back in the early days of us Boomers. He figured that parents let us do all that stuff because we were so common and easily replaced

That sounds like my kind of book. My favorite author is Patrick F. McManus, who writes about hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, etc. both as a kid growing up and as an adult, so for some of us who grew in circumstances in which we can identify with his stories, they are hilarious. The first book I read of his was A Fine and Pleasant Misery, and I read it the first time while our daughters were still teenagers, and my wife and our daughters thought I'd lost my mind (probably right, too) because I sat in the den in the evening reading that book and laughing until tears ran down my cheeks.

And for how many kids there were back then . . . I'm the oldest of 5; had two brothers and two sisters. My wife is one of 7; has one sister and 5 brothers.

 

[gotrocks]

Bird, always good to see your posts. Hope you and you wife are well and ready for a Merry Christmas.
You reminded me of a true story about hauling mail.
An old friend had the job of picking up the mail at the train station in Columbus Ga - deliver to PO in Phenix City AL just across the river. Then he would have to wait a couple of hours an take the sorted mail to Opelika AL
Just so happens the river is suppose to be the line between Eastern & Central time zone. However; Phenix City runs on Eastern. Now Opelika AL is about 30 miles away and uses Central Time. Enough setting the stage.

One afternoon, this fellow stopped at the PO and asked for money to catch the bus to Opelika. No one would offer any money but they told him he could wait and see if Mr. Tim would give him a ride.
He asked what time did Mr. Tim leave Phenix City... they told him 6 o'clock.
He asked what time does he get to Opelika..... they told him 6 o'clock.

Well he sat down outside the backdoor to the PO and a little before 6 someone asked him if he was going to ask Mr. Tim for a ride.

He replied;" Naw Sur...... I just wants to watch him leave."
Norris

 

[Egon]

Of course there is always "Tom Sawyer" ! Or Huckleberry Finn!