Now politically incorrect past times of childhood…

[Fyrefox]

When I was a child, I owned numerous toy guns, including cap pistols that used paper rolls of caps that would make a “bang” sound when the toy gun was fired. - -Heck, my parents bought them for me! This was, after all, ‘Merica…


I had a cap pistol that looked almost exactly like the one pictured above! It was used in childhood games such as Cops and Robbers and Cowboys and Indians in which the “bad guys” were always gunned down by the “good guys,” namely the cops and cowboys. Playing a “bad guy” in the games wasn’t all bad as you got to act out an elaborate death scene, the playing out of which could take some time. Such games would be quite politically incorrect by today’s standards…



I’m curious as to whether British, Canadian, or other cultures had such childhood games in past decades of our youth, or was it largely an American thing? The play patterns coincided with cowboy heroes on television, but when they retired, “secret agent” or military toy guns came into fashion. In today’s climate, toy guns and their possession is largely unacceptable, ill advised, and can get their owners into trouble (or more) in certain settings…

Did you engage in any play or past times as a child that would be considered inappropriate, politically incorrect, or rare today?

 

[CallMeKate]

I can't think of any for myself personally, but my brothers had those cap gun with the rolls of red "caps"... I still remember that exact smell they made all these decades later. Ah yes, back when we could be normal kids and not everything anyone did "offended" someone.

 

[hearlady]

Some things were better back in the day, some needed much improvement.

 

[Beezer]

Dad used to smoke in the old station wagon with the kids on board...rolling around in the back with the groceries. (No seatbelts on)

 

[Radrook]

We had cap guns. But we weren't trying to cave in each other's skulls in the school restrooms, classrooms and hallways.

 

[GoneFishin]

I had cap guns, bow and arrows. Played cowboy and indians

Rode in the car or truck no seat belts dad smokin a cigar

 

[hollydolly]

I can't think of any for myself personally, but my brothers had those cap gun with the rolls of red "caps"... I still remember that exact smell they made all these decades later. Ah yes, back when we could be normal kids and not everything anyone did "offended" someone.

it's not that some people weren't offended at small things back in the day, but if they complained people laughed at them or at the very least didn't take them seriously. Today those weirdo minority who take offense at everything, have become so pandered to by the woke community they've become the majority

 

[Radrook]

I had cap guns, bow and arrows. Played cowboy and indians

Rode in the car or truck no seat belts dad smokin a cigar

Remember how a few cowboys would eliminate dozens of Indians as if they had been engaged in fire practice, and all that the Indians did was to ride around in circles shooting at the sky?

 

[Warrigal]

When I was a child, I owned numerous toy guns, including cap pistols that used paper rolls of caps that would make a “bang” sound when the toy gun was fired. - -Heck, my parents bought them for me! This was, after all, ‘Merica…

View attachment 367471
I had a cap pistol that looked almost exactly like the one pictured above! It was used in childhood games such as Cops and Robbers and Cowboys and Indians in which the “bad guys” were always gunned down by the “good guys,” namely the cops and cowboys. Playing a “bad guy” in the games wasn’t all bad as you got to act out an elaborate death scene, the playing out of which could take some time. Such games would be quite politically incorrect by today’s standards…


View attachment 367472
I’m curious as to whether British, Canadian, or other cultures had such childhood games in past decades of our youth, or was it largely an American thing? The play patterns coincided with cowboy heroes on television, but when they retired, “secret agent” or military toy guns came into fashion. In today’s climate, toy guns and their possession is largely unacceptable, ill advised, and can get their owners into trouble (or more) in certain settings…

Did you engage in any play or past times as a child that would be considered inappropriate, politically incorrect, or rare today?

I certainly did the same. Cap guns were a favourite toy. I bought my own Davy Crockett cap rifle because no-one imagined that a girl might like one.

We also played Robin Hood using home made bows and arrows. Pirates was another game inspired by Saturday afternoon outing to the movies.

Inappropriate? Not unless the play led to squabbling.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Modeling adult behavior with mocktails, candy cigarettes, etc…

 

[JustDave]

I remember playing with toy guns. It seemed normal, although sometimes I remember adults expressing displeasure. I disregarded it. But I don't know how many parallels we can draw between toy guns and the real guns that shoot fast moving projectiles and are judged on how lethal they are. The two don't seem like they are in the same ballpark. I enjoyed my toy guns, but I never became a gun fanatic as an adult. I've owned them for hunting, but I don't anymore. I quit hunting. I never felt shamed as a hunter. I just lost interest in it.

 

[Tazx]

When I was a child, I owned numerous toy guns, including cap pistols that used paper rolls of caps that would make a “bang” sound when the toy gun was fired. - -Heck, my parents bought them for me! This was, after all, ‘Merica…

View attachment 367471
I had a cap pistol that looked almost exactly like the one pictured above! It was used in childhood games such as Cops and Robbers and Cowboys and Indians in which the “bad guys” were always gunned down by the “good guys,” namely the cops and cowboys. Playing a “bad guy” in the games wasn’t all bad as you got to act out an elaborate death scene, the playing out of which could take some time. Such games would be quite politically incorrect by today’s standards…


View attachment 367472
I’m curious as to whether British, Canadian, or other cultures had such childhood games in past decades of our youth, or was it largely an American thing? The play patterns coincided with cowboy heroes on television, but when they retired, “secret agent” or military toy guns came into fashion. In today’s climate, toy guns and their possession is largely unacceptable, ill advised, and can get their owners into trouble (or more) in certain settings…

Did you engage in any play or past times as a child that would be considered inappropriate, politically incorrect, or rare today?

Oh god it was exclusively cowboys and indians! The best thing was when you dad gave a more realistic looking version! Best times!

 

[gruntlabor]

We kids played 'King of the Mountain' endlessly. That was a sort of war game, I suppose. If you could make it to the top of the mountain without being tackled and thrown off, you were King (or Queen).
But football and chess and tag are war games too and they're politically correct.

 

[JustDave]

My last fling with toy guns came in high school. Older friends started a game of cops and robbers with rules and interesting environments. At first, I thought we were too old for kids games, but we all found a certain enjoyment in reliving our childhood experience, but with more adult like rules. We would play the game in houses under construction in what would be considered trespassing today. Back then, houses under construction would be partitioned and sheet rocked before doors and windows were installed. We were not there to damage anything, and while trespassing, we actually respected property, and no one ever chased us out. You probably wouldn't see much of that today.

But we could walk right in after the crews left and hide in closets and around corners, and then the other team would come in searching for the others. We never argued over whether we were shot or not. You knew if you were shot because the attacks were always done with stealth and surprise.

To play the game, a fancy engraved Roy Rodgers revolver was not acceptable. We were not playing cowboys. You needed a more gangster type. The toy of choice was the Hubley Automatic, which back then cost $1.00. I had to buy one to be allowed to play. They are no longer manufactured, but you could buy this one on ebay:

 

[MarkinPhx]

Modeling adult behavior with mocktails, candy cigarettes, etc…

View attachment 367494

Whenever my parents took me out with them for dinner they would order me a Shirley Temple while they enjoyed their vodka on the rocks. And anytime we went on a road trip they would buy me candy cigarettes whenever we made a stop at Stuckey's.

There were orange groves around the home I grew up in so my friends and I would take our toy guns with us into the orchards and play "war". We also played Cowboys and Indians but one time I almost had a finger chopped off because one of the kids had taken a real axe that was out by a tool shed and used it on my finger ! I don't remember much of the incident but I don't remember playing Cowboys and Indians much after that.

One other thing that we used to play with were matches. They were always laying around so we would take some and light things on fire. One time things got a little out of control but we contained the fire before any of the parents found out about it. Not necessarily politically incorrect but it's probably a good thing matches aren't laying around as much as they used to be.

The grade school I went to had a "slave auction" day once a year. Kids would volunteer to be a "slave" and the other kids would bid on them. Whoever ended up being bid on had to carry the kids books for the day and do other chores for the kid during the school day. It was an actually organized event run by the school. I have no idea where the money that was raised went to but I am guessing for the student council fund. I know that local charities did something similar for adult events.

 

[Pepper]

Slave Day? Outrageous and disgusting, not to mention racist FGS! After my husband died, I was thinking of moving to Lake Havasu for personal reasons. I didn't, not only because the job market was poor, but mainly because the kids in school were allowed to be physically punished. NO Effin' Way would I tolerate that, or allow my son to live that way.

 

[MarkinPhx]

Slave Day? Outrageous and disgusting, not to mention racist FGS! After my husband died, I was thinking of moving to Lake Havasu for personal reasons. I didn't, not only because the job market was poor, but mainly because the kids in school were allowed to be physically punished. NO Effin' Way would I tolerate that, or allow my son to live that way.

I've told this story before but we had one teacher who use to pinch hard on the sides of the neck of kids who misbehaved. I didn't think much of it until I received the "pinch". It hurt a lot. His name was Mr. Gentry and his son , Gary Gentry pitched for the NY Mets at the time. That is why I became a Baltimore Orioles fan even though I lived way out in Phoenix. I rooted against the Mets in the 1969 World Series. I did meet Gary Gentry later in life and told him the story and to paraphrase him, he said "yes, my dad was a fricking Ahole."

 

[Pepper]

I had a teacher who hit kids. It was the fifth grade. I saw her pick up a student and throw him against the window. She threw him over three rows of desks! She made me so nervous I began pulling the hair out of the front of my head, and still to this day have a small, dimesized, place on my scalp where my hair won't grow.

 

[Aunt Bea]

One other thing that we used to play with were matches. They were always laying around so we would take some and light things on fire. One time things got a little out of control but we contained the fire before any of the parents found out about it. Not necessarily politically incorrect but it's probably a good thing matches aren't laying around as much as they used to be.

The private lives of kids!!!

I remember a couple of close calls around a fast moving creek, and a few other things that we dealt with and kept to ourselves.

I’m not around kids enough to know but somehow I think that we were better prepared to take care of ourselves than today’s kids seem to be.

 

[Feelslikefar]

Remember sliding up to the kitchen table wearing my 'Have Gun will Travel' double cap guns and telling
the 'Barkeep' (Mom) to give me a 'Shot of Red-Eye' and she would pour a small amount of Kool-Aid in a glass.

I'd head out to find someone who needed a wrong to be set right...

 

[Paco Dennis]

So what we're saying is every generation has had it's taboos, and weird authorities. Each Gen acts out in the way they can, and there is always a struggle. Now it so divided that kids act out in drastic ways. The taboos have become criminal.

 

[hollydolly]

I certainly did the same. Cap guns were a favourite toy. I bought my own Davy Crockett cap rifle because no-one imagined that a girl might like one.

We also played Robin Hood using home made bows and arrows. Pirates was another game inspired by Saturday afternoon outing to the movies.

Inappropriate? Not unless the play led to squabbling.

..and the best of it all.. even if only one in the group had a gun..( my brother).. we all had make-shift guns... and we were almost just as happy with that, people still got shot, and lay dying........ but it was ok.. they all got up again and we shot them the next day

I always felt a little cheated with rubber sucker arrows...

 

[chic]

I had a good time playing Cowboys and Indians and playing with cap guns.My friends and I smoked chewing gum and paper cigarettes and blew the powdered sugar out pretending it was smoke. I was a child. I had fun and I'm grateful for those days. My conscience didn't bother me then and it doesn't bother me now.

 

[Jules]

We played the same cowboy and Indian, etc in Canada. Our sources were the American tv shows. There were no issues with fake guns or candy cigarettes. I’m not sure what decade these things disappeared. Mine kids were born in the 70s; the cigarettes were gone, maybe the toy guns weren’t popular.

 

[Radrook]

I've told this story before but we had one teacher who use to pinch hard on the sides of the neck of kids who misbehaved. I didn't think much of it until I received the "pinch". It hurt a lot. His name was Mr. Gentry and his son , Gary Gentry pitched for the NY Mets at the time. That is why I became a Baltimore Orioles fan even though I lived way out in Phoenix. I rooted against the Mets in the 1969 World Series. I did meet Gary Gentry later in life and told him the story and to paraphrase him, he said "yes, my dad was a fricking Ahole."

So his father pinched and his son pitched?

BTW Reminds me of how our science teacher would firmly grasp us by the arm then thrust his thumb's overgrown nail into the muscle while ominously uttering negative opinions about how our futures would pan out. Not a good idea to try that with kids today.