How times have changed....just had to post!

I was about 6 years old and I had a neighbour who used to pour honey in her hands and we all licked off of it.  non of us got sick. Also there was a drain gutter that ran at the back of the house all the way through to the next block it was always filled with rain water and the neighbour's fruit trees would lean over the fence and all the fruits would fall in that gutter we would all go look for the fruits and ate them guava , mangoes, donce, cherries and many more that you are not familiar with.....no body got sick.I remember when walking home from school a lady would call me and ask me to help her in her garden to pull out some weeds and when I was finished she would give me 2 dollars and a small loaf of bread.how precious was that.Gone are those days.  When I read your post I had a good smile.  Also we had down syndrome child among us and when we were late for school or late going home we literally used to drag him around and he would still wait for us every day.I remember one of my brothers telling him that there is noting wrong with you, you are just too lazy, so he had no choice but to keep up with the pace. We had no problems back then. How did you treat a cut on your foot?  we used to sit on the grass and take a stick and bit the cut until it stop bleading. HAHA. it worked. never got infected.  No paper towel to clean it. thanks jan

n

I remember that we had a whole group of kids on our street and then some visiting grandkids that showed up occasionally.  We took over the back yard of one of the girl’s houses that had no fence and had a creek running through it.  We cleaned up the yard and built a kitchen, with tables and chairs (out of big chalk rocks), built a couch too.  Kept our drinks in the creek to keep it cool and played there all day.  We would walk the creek to the all the way to the Zoo, going under bridges, railroad tracks, through tunnels, swim through some areas because it was so deep.  Saw fish, raccoons, possums, snakes, crayfish and all the other things that use to be in the wooden area and creeks.  We would store food under the table to keep it cool and out of the sun. Had different rooms going up the hill and would sit on the tree limbs that were low enough.  This same group had MDA talent shows in the garage and set up chairs on the drive way for our parents and neighbors to come to watch then donate the money for tickets to the MDA every September.  All of the girls took dance and tumbling, not gymnastics as it is called now.  Ran the whole street, road our bikes, skateboards and scooters down the hill and around the sharp corner at the bottom, sometimes we did not make around and hit the curb but jumped up to do it again.  But if we got in trouble and did something wrong, the house we were at, the parents would punish us and by the time we got home, our parents knew about it and punished us again. 

Miss those days.  I think all the bad things that go on now were taking place back then too but there was no social media to tell us about it as it happened.

Thanks Jan for sending us back down memory lane. trish

My husband was the Orthodox Rabbi of a small New England town. Almost all of my kids' play friends, they went to a Jewish parochial school one town over, we're Catholic.  So many great stories. Two come to mind. First the neighborhood kids playing hide and seek outdoors with my four on Sataurday. As it is getting darker there seems to be a huddle in the middle of the block. Thinking that someone got hurt I go to them. There they all were trying to count if they could see the first three stars of night which would mean our Sabbath was over and maybe we could cook fresh popcorn! 

The second was Haloween, we don't observe All Saints Day, but we always had candy and stuff waiting for the neighborhood kids to come by. One of the mothers commented on how sad it was that our kids missed the dress up and get candy holiday. Yes, we do have one like it and I told her about Purim. The week before, she had asked her priest for the date, months after October! After Checking for kosher candies, she told me the neighborhood was ready for my kids.

And dress up and go around collecting they did!

Them were the days!

Thanks Jazzy for the memories!

Sara

jazzy1 said:

Kathy

Sun-in?  Oh my does that bring back memories.  I remember one summer using this on my dark brown hair and I'd come inside to view the color change in my mirror.  Well, kept putting more on until my hair was STRAWBERRY BLONDE!~~~~  I looked like Lucille Ball with a short body...lol!  Then I was using iodine mixed in baby oil for suntan lotion....can you imagine!  Wonder how we made it thru.  

How about all the old records?  I've inherited my moms stash when we moved her from a home to her retirement home. Bet I've got a huge box of 75 record albums...now what the heck do we do with them?  Notice a few people out there in internet land do buy them, so might be an option.  Better in someone elses home vs. taking up space in mine.

 

Oh the memories......

Jan

Jan:

With regard to the old records, at one of our church functions there was a spin art booth and they used the old albums and used them to make spin art.  (spin art - dropping paint on a spinning object to make a design)    

Kathy

JAN:

Just to add to you list (one or two may have repeated), but I added the consequence if it happened today.

Then                                      Now

Gather a group of kids                   Must be in an organized sport and must have

to play ball                                        started playing before kindergarten

Use to ride in the back of                Parents get pulled over and face criminal charges

pickup truck for ice cream              for endangering the welfare of children

Find odd objects of wood, etc.       If it doesn’t come in a box with instructions and parts,

and build go carts, tree houses      it doesn’t happen.

etc.

Had to try out for sports, band,       Now everyone makes it whether you just sit on the

chorus, swimming.                           bench or not or even if you can’t play or sing, etc.

Only first place winners got           Everyone gets a trophy so that there are no hard

trophies                                            feelings.  (Where's the incentive to do better?)

If you didn't make a team,                Parents file complaints or lawsuits against the organization

you went home and cried and        or make such a commotion that your child gets on the team anyway

tried to do better next time

When you were 12 or 13 you          Today, parents are charged again with endangering

could watch your little brothers      the welfare of children

and sisters by yourself

Kids had lemonade stands               Must have permits to sell or you will be fined and you

                                                                have to report your income

Would shoot off firecrackers             Now you would be charged with Terrorist Threats

or other small fireworks                     or other similar charges

Drive-in Theaters with family            Alone in your room on Skype, computer, ipads, etc.

and friends           

Also, have you ever seen the movie "October Sky"?   It was about the Rocket Boys.   How they learned to make rockets.  If they did what they did back then today, they would be criminally charged with so many "crimes".   What would have happened to NASA?

Thanks again, Jan, for sharing this.