Old stuff that wouldn’t pass muster today...

[Fyrefox]

When you were in school, most likely you drank from a water fountain something like this, or worse. The water was often warm, and tasted funny. Often there was a piece or two of chewing gum floating in the drain. In elementary schools, you could even see the occasional kid put his mouth directly on the fountain! And just think of the elevated levels of lead and copper such fountains brought into your body...

What other things common in your childhood would horrify parents today?

 

[Sliverfox]

Probably the fact I rode horseback without a saddle & rope in horse's mouth.
And no helmet to protect my head when horse tried to brush me off by running under low hanging branches.

 

[Chris P Bacon]

This might make a few heads spin. Especially since there wasn't any soft cushioning to fall into beneath it.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Showers after PE class.

 

[hollydolly]

Showers after PE class.

View attachment 180217

yes I hated those... we had to get undressed altogether in the cloakroom as a class before heading for the showers..so embarrassing when you've just hit puberty as a girl... fortunately I was in an all girls class. but most people weren't in our school.....

 

[hollydolly]

There was a 'swing park' as we called it back in the 60's opposite my granny's house.. and when we went to visit my siblings and I would run straight to the park to play on the witches hat.. ( as we called this one.)

Thought nothing of drinking from the water fountains....

The r/a...

The see-saw

The giant 'shutes' .. as we called slides...

..where on a blistering hot day we didn't have the sense not to slide down and burn the back of our legs.. no-one tried to sue the council...

 

[fatboy]

smoking inside public buildings

 

[win231]

Lawn Darts were banned in the U.S. and Canada after hundreds of injuries & at least one death.
In April 1987, seven-year-old Michelle Snow was killed by a lawn dart thrown by one of her brothers' playmates in the backyard of their home in Riverside, California, when the dart had penetrated her skull and caused massive brain trauma.

 

[Butterfly]

This might make a few heads spin. Especially since there wasn't any soft cushioning to fall into beneath it.

Had very similar ones to this at my elementary school. We all survived, despite doing many not-very-bright things on those bars. Great fun!

 

[Butterfly]

There was a 'swing park' as we called it back in the 60's opposite my granny's house.. and when we went to visit my siblings and I would run straight to the park to play on the witches hat.. ( as we called this one.)

Thought nothing of drinking from the water fountains....

The r/a...

The see-saw

The giant 'shutes' .. as we called slides...

..where on a blistering hot day we didn't have the sense not to slide down and burn the back of our legs.. no-one tried to sue the council...

One of life's early lessons -- do not slide down the slide in August in shorts!

 

[Don M.]

Given today's "standards", it's a wonder that those of our age managed to survive childhood.

 

[cdestroyer]

In portland oregon the so called "benson bubblers" are on nearly every street corner

 

[fmdog44]

Public phones!

 

[CinnamonSugar]

Trick-or-treating by myself after dark. Unthinkable now

 

[RadishRose]

Safety Concerns of Outdoor Darts​

For safety reasons, outdoor dart games have been surrounded by controversy. After many reports of accidents, injuries, and deaths related to the use of such darts, The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission eventually banned the product in December 1988.

 

[Aunt Bea]

The old metal framed seats with aluminum back panels on the school bus.

 

[hollydolly]

Trick-or-treating by myself after dark. Unthinkable now

yes , oddly I did this alone too.. ( as well as sometimes with my siblings)....I say oddly, because my parents allowed it even tho' I'd been abducted as a 2 year old...(not while trick-or -treating..obviously)..

 

[hollydolly]

One of life's early lessons -- do not slide down the slide in August in shorts!

Nope I don't remember any of learning that one... not until we'd slid down at least once every heatwave..

 

[Alligatorob]

Old stuff that wouldn’t pass muster today...​

And a good thing! Signs like these were all to common when I was growing up.

 

[hollydolly]

View attachment 180230
And a good thing! Signs like these were all to common when I was growing up.

never in my life have I ever seen those signs in this country. Thank God.. or I would be enraged!

Throughout modern history I learned that before I was born, in the 40's and 50's.. boarding houses would have signs up at the windows saying No Black, No Irish... but in my lifetime it's never been a thing.

 

[hollydolly]

 

[Furryanimal]

Disappearing for hours on end and no one having a clue where you were!

 

[hollydolly]

Disappearing for hours on end and no one having a clue where you were!

...as long as you got home for tea..!

 

[win231]

View attachment 180230
And a good thing! Signs like these were all to common when I was growing up.

Hard to believe humans were ever that stupid.

 

[Fyrefox]

Yes, those Jungle Gyms complete with Monkey Bars! The ones at my elementary school were installed right out of the macadam, so if you fell either the steel bars or the unyielding ground surface would get you...and we liked it!