Now politically incorrect past times of childhood…

We played Cowboy and Indians, WWII battles, and anything else you can imagine. We had play guns, bow and arrow toys, various swords and knifes, toy of course or homemade.
We had snowball fights in the winter, including on the playground while waiting for the school to let us in. I lived in the mountains of Colorado where we had heavy snow in the Winters. We build large snow forts in the school grounds and had snowball fights during recess and before school. We played war using dirt clods, when we had no snow, but not in the school yard but after school on the way home...

I don't remember anyone getting hurt permanently, only a bit of crying if they got one in the face or head.

We all had BB guns which we never shot at anyone or anything we should not, we all understood what would happen if we damaged anything or hurt anyone. Regardless, we had them and carried them all around with us...just in case.

Kids today would freak out if they saw what we did...

In the small town I grew up in, boys had to be willing to fight, if you were challenged, you had to fight. Win, lose, or draw you could not back down... The fights did not last long and usually were more wrestling than punching. But getting a bloody nose or blackeye was common...but nothing more.
 

The older boys would go into the woods at night and play "Vietnam". I think it was catch the other teams and beat them up with restraint. I was too young.
 

Well, the boys played Cowboys and Indians. If the girls tried to play, they were rejected with scorn...."girls can't play Cowboys and Indians!!!!"

The girls played dolls. Heaven help any boy who wanted to play dolls.....or dress-up. I had a neighbor boy who LOVED to play dress-up or as we called it, "Fashion Designer". He was welcomed by us because he was really good at it, but was constantly in danger of getting beat up by any boy who caught him at it. He grew up to be a fashion designer and, I assume, made a good living doing it.
 
I guess you could say that we were “groomed” to be future alcoholics and nicotine addicts by the Mock-tail “Shirley Temple” drinks and candy cigarettes that were commonplace back in the day.

I never cared for the chalky taste of the white candy cigarettes, but chocolate cigarettes were another matter! Some chocolate cigs came in a fancy plastic snap case, like export cigarettes. I can also remember getting bubble gum “cigars” and licorice “pipes.” Cigarettes were so much a part of American culture that kids would pretend to be smoking invisible cigarettes outdoors when it was cold enough to see your breath…

As recently as the 1970’s, I can remember when it was ok for people to smoke at their desks at work, too! Smokers kept ashtrays on desks, and had an impressive butt collection in them by day’s end. Second-hand smoke was not even remotely a concern…🚬

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My brothers had cap guns, I can still remember that smell.

They also had real knives with which they played mumbletypeg. That's where you throw your knife and see how close you can come to your sister's bare foot without actually stabbing it. Yes, I remember that one well.

I had dolls and an old shack to use as a playhouse. I would be happy as a lark in there, playing house, when the brothers would storm in with their guns, grab my teddy bear and kidnap him. There would be running and screaming.

One of our favorite things to do would be get down our fathers jar of mercury. It was fun to stick our finger in it and watch it spring back or we would roll it on the floor and separate it into marbles.

My mother never worried about us unless we came inside with broken bones (me a few times) or thirty bee stings at once (my brother.)
 
Radrook said:
So his father pinched and his son pitched? :LOL:

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.
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No indeed. Today we do not touch children not our own.
 
Fyrefox said:
I guess you could say that we were “groomed” to be future alcoholics and nicotine addicts by the Mock-tail “Shirley Temple” drinks and candy cigarettes that were commonplace back in the day.

I never cared for the chalky taste of the white candy cigarettes, but chocolate cigarettes were another matter! Some chocolate cigs came in a fancy plastic snap case, like export cigarettes. I can also remember getting bubble gum “cigars” and licorice “pipes.” Cigarettes were so much a part of American culture that kids would pretend to be smoking invisible cigarettes outdoors when it was cold enough to see your breath…

As recently as the 1970’s, I can remember when it was ok for people to smoke at their desks at work, too! Smokers kept ashtrays on desks, and had an impressive butt collection in them by day’s end. Second-hand smoke was not even remotely a concern…🚬

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People could smoke indoors here and at work until 2007
 
Caps -- when you wanted an even bigger bang than what you'd get out of a toy cap gun, we'd get a hammer and a whole roll of caps. Put the roll of caps on some concrete and whack it with a hammer. Nice big bang, though some of the shots didn't "take". So you'd have to inspect the roll and "dispatch" those that survived the hammer.

Remember that lawn dart game called Jarts? Each jart (big plastic dart) had a weighted, pointed end that, when you tossed it, wound up stuck in the sod. Sorta like horseshoes -- if you stuck your jart inside the plastic ring, it was worth 3 points or something similar. If they didn't stick in the sod, nothing. The closer you got to the plastic ring, also worth a point or two. First one to 21 wins the game.

You can't get that game anymore. Too many stupid people, evidently. The lawyers got hold of those who were burdened by stupidity and injury and the resulting lawsuits put the game out of production.

Sigh. As comedian Ron White famously intoned: "You can't fix stupid."
 
Eupher said:
You can't get that game anymore. Too many stupid people, evidently. The lawyers got hold of those who were burdened by stupidity and injury and the resulting lawsuits put the game out of production.

Sigh. As comedian Ron White famously intoned: "You can't fix stupid."
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And you can't blame stupidity on the stupid.
 
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Muskrat said:
@MarkinPhx ….remember drag racing??? Mattress hill? Tubing the rivers?
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I do remember going to the boonies to watch others drag race. I never had a car that was drag race "worthy" :D. Tubing the Salt River was always a big deal during the summer and I did jump off the high cliffs. Looking back it was a stupid thing to do but it was fun at the time. Tubing the river now is a full commercial operation.
 
MarkinPhx said:
I do remember going to the boonies to watch others drag race. I never had a car that was drag race "worthy" :D. Tubing the Salt River was always a big deal during the summer and I did jump off the high cliffs. Looking back it was a stupid thing to do but it was fun at the time. Tubing the river now is a full commercial operation.
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I went tubing on the Mad River here in Ohio once and ended up stepping a hive of something or other bitey. It was my last date with that guy.

Growing up in West Virginia "shooting the rapids" in your grandpa's canoe was always a thing. Most of us could reach the New River, the Kanawha, or the Poca River just out back down the hard road, then off to the dirt road. You did have to watch out for Water Moccasins and snapping turtles.
 
jujube said:
The girls played dolls. Heaven help any boy who wanted to play dolls.....or dress-up. I had a neighbor boy who LOVED to play dress-up or as we called it, "Fashion Designer". He was welcomed by us because he was really good at it, but was constantly in danger of getting beat up by any boy who caught him at it. He grew up to be a fashion designer and, I assume, made a good living doing it.
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Uh...I remember the so-called "action figures" like G.I. Joe. "Dress-up" wasn't a part of that scenario, but certainly those "action figures" (a euphemism for "dolls") certainly had a following.
 
How ridiculous. Never met anyone, ever, who thought saying or hearing Merry Christmas to be an insult. Way overblown nonsense. Political and conspiratorial too.
 
Ahh, the cartoons I watched! They fed me stereotypes of Asians, Mexicans, and more! The Dick Tracy cartoon show was notorious for this, with characters of Go Go Gomez and Joe Jitsu! In fairness, however, the stereotypes were good guys, which is to say cops!

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…and some of these characters were cool rather than scornworthy to me! Joe Jitsu amped my interest in martial arts, was very polite, and drove an awesome car! 😸

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