: What's something that absolutely screams 'american childhood’ to you?’

[Spinneret]

As someone not from America can't answer

 

[citruscurtis]

Availability of fresh summer vegetables and fruit... we found Clarkson farm the other night..so using that as measure

Eater .. sitting on the porch... grandmother table.. church picnic table..state Fair eating contest, autumn orchards

 

[China Expat]

Great question, and it depends on the era! My childhood was devoid of screens and filled with bike rides, hide and go seek on the street, scouts, camping, and hands on outside playtime. My students seem to not have any of that.

 

[barkley]

when I was a kid? since it's in the 90's here today and school gets out in a week- I immediately think of- summer school! in elementary it was fun and games stuff for a few hours a day, getting to wear clothes to school not normally allowed (shorts/tank tops/flip flops). in jr. high it was light weight academics but the benefit was getting to continue to socialize with friends we would'nt otherwise get to see during the summer. in high school-drivers ed, drivers training, multi hour music/extracurriculars classes OR you could whack out an entire year's required course over a handful of weeks

 

[citruscurtis]

Swimming... one big outing... cousin pool, public pool, camp pool, water park, river, lake, ocean an event that is associated with friends

In the Mojave desert a weekly trip on park bus to high school complex...then to Oregon we moved with no public pools so after harvest traveled to a creek with rope swings..then when a friend had a car.. to the snow melt rivers

 

[citruscurtis]

when I was a kid? since it's in the 90's here today and school gets out in a week- I immediately think of- summer school! in elementary it was fun and games stuff for a few hours a day, getting to wear clothes to school not normally allowed (shorts/tank tops/flip flops). in jr. high it was light weight academics but the benefit was getting to continue to socialize with friends we would'nt otherwise get to see during the summer. in high school-drivers ed, drivers training, multi hour music/extracurriculars classes OR you could whack out an entire year's required course over a handful of weeks

Where did you live

 

[NannyBeBe]

Friends pulling each other around in a Radio Flyer wagon, playing hopscotch on the sidewalk, playing hide and seek around the neighborhood after dark.

 

[mjkacmom]

Ice cream truck.

 

[easyas123]

Boys riding their bikes down the street w/ fishing poles over their shoulders...actually saw some kids the other day and thought that was the most refreshing thing I've seen in a long time.
Out the door in the morning, home at lunch (maybe) and back home by dinner!
Dirty feet and ice pops.
Swatting flies while baiting a trot line.
Snowball fights & building forts.

 

[MICKIMINI]

Growing up on a farm in NH in the 1960's, it was being outside every day, summer or winter.

September meant school was starting. I can still smell fresh pencils and remember my freshly starched and ironed
dresses. Lunch was a PB&J wrapped in wax paper and a macintosh apple in a paper bag. We rode our bikes after school.

October brought colorful leaves, lots of pumpkins and trick or treating on Halloween. We'd roam the neighborhood in a pack - no parents.

November was cold and we were getting equipment ready for alpine skiing. Thanksgiving meant a table full of cousins and the smell of roasting turkey...there were a multitude of pies waiting on the screened in porch.

Christmas brought the scent of evergreen and the chore of hanging each piece of tinsel individually. It was joyful anticipation on Christmas morning.

January, February and March was about getting up at 5 am on weekends to go skiing. After school we dug snow forts as the snow was as high as the barn (really!)

We tapped the maple in March and watched sap pour out of our huge roadside maple. The smell of gently boiling maple syrup filled the house.

April was always a disappointment as we had to wear a jacket over our Easter clothes. It seemed to rain or snow daily.

May was about watching Dad get the boat ready for the lake and flowers blooming all around.

The feeling of freedom and a summer that will last forever on the last day of school in June.

July and August were about exploring the barn, climbing trees, fishing for trout in the brook, boating, swimming as often as possible and just laying in the grass watching the clouds go by. Days were carefree and endless, though we were all expected home for dinner at 5 pm.

There was not a care in the world. I will cherish those memories forever.

 

[tvguy]

when I was a kid? since it's in the 90's here today and school gets out in a week- I immediately think of- summer school! in elementary it was fun and games stuff for a few hours a day, getting to wear clothes to school not normally allowed (shorts/tank tops/flip flops). in jr. high it was light weight academics but the benefit was getting to continue to socialize with friends we would'nt otherwise get to see during the summer. in high school-drivers ed, drivers training, multi hour music/extracurriculars classes OR you could whack out an entire year's required course over a handful of weeks

You left out the most important part, at least for me in the 1960s. We did that in classrooms WITHOUT air conditioning. Well, I did take typing class (called these days "keyboarding") during Junior High summer school and THAT was taught in one of the two air conditioned portable classrooms on campus.
Of course they have added air conditioning to all schools here now. Currently 2:30 pm and 98 degrees here.

 

[JLTraveling]

It's so cool to see the differences between how everyone grew up. For me (80s kid), summer meant day camp. We rotated through periods based on age group. Game room was free time with board games, foosball, pool tables, and arcade games. Gym was organized activities like kickball, aerobics, or my favorite, shipwreck. Swimming in the huge fancy pool, with a separate diving pool where I learned to dive off the high dive and a snack bar that made fantastic french fries. Walking down the street as a big group to the bowling alley once a week and the skating rink once a week. Every two weeks we alternated between the movie theater and field trips to smaller local theme parks or water parks. One summer I got to go to YMCA day camp, and my parents paid extra for Caravan Camp. That was field trips all week long, every other week all summer, to bigger places like Busch Gardens. Loved it, but my parents sent me back to my regular day camp the next summer lol. I also had dance classes a couple of afternoons a week and did a ton of community theater.

Funny story: The theater and the day camp program were literally in the same complex. Out the door, about five feet down the sidewalk within the plaza (far from the road), in the theater door. I'd been part of the theater troupe since I was five, and they had a very laid back attitude about the kids coming and going on our own. The day camp? Not so much. The year I was 12, I volunteered part-time at the theater during the day, organizing the costume loft, painting sets, that kind of thing. The day camp wanted my mom to leave work, come sign me out, walk me to the theater, and then go back to work. Mom was not impressed. It took a major meeting with a bunch of higher-ups, but I got special dispensation to check myself out of camp every afternoon when it was time to go to the theater. The really ironic part? This is the same day camp that allowed us to wander alone (on the buddy system, but no counselors) at theme parks and water parks starting on our 7th birthdays. That was part of Mom's argument: "You trust her to go on roller coasters alone, but not to walk 5 feet alone?" Ah, the 80s.

 

[mylilnikita]

Oh wow so many things: I am Gen X and I didn’t live in the US the whole growing up period.

But: ice cream truck( we have that now still )
School about to start : go new clothes shopping and for supplies. I still love doing that now having a dgd. Lol.

Being at my grandparents house (no ac) but near the water. Running without b permission from grandparents house corn field across the lane ( it is still a lane now ) to grandmothers sisters house and help in the field so I can get a piece of chocolate cake. Just to have my name yelled out asking if I was across the lane lol.

Doing tricks in my bike. Winning the Presidential Fitness Award .

Staying out all day to okay had to go home when street lights come on.

And it was a big deal then to go out to dinner or go get like fast food. I would go with my father to Hardee’s and get the glasses with characters on them.

I sometimes went with my dad when he worked for a nearby city and could swim in the pool while he was working and we woukd go get a Big Gulp when it first came out(once again a treat not everyday.

 

[barkley]

Where did you live

northern california-this was in the 60's and 70's (before the property tax revolution killed out the funding).

Friends pulling each other around in a Radio Flyer wagon, playing hopscotch on the sidewalk, playing hide and seek around the neighborhood after dark.

flashlight tag?

You left out the most important part, at least for me in the 1960s. We did that in classrooms WITHOUT air conditioning. Well, I did take typing class (called these days "keyboarding") during Junior High summer school and THAT was taught in one of the two air conditioned portable classrooms on campus.
Of course they have added air conditioning to all schools here now. Currently 2:30 pm and 98 degrees here.

elementary school-no a/c anywhere but summer school was strictly in the morning so it was'nt too bad (I think they were able to leave windows open at night to cool the rooms so it was'nt horrific by the time we were dismissed around noon). Jr/Sr. high both had a/c but again it was only a.m. sessions so not wicked hot when we were there.

what I remember being horribly hot was the bus rides (45 minutes minimum each way) esp. when we went back to school in September. no a/c and the only fan being a tiny one situated up by the driver (felt so bad for them-everytime they opened the door they were blasted with heat).

 

[citruscurtis]

when I was a kid? since it's in the 90's here today and school gets out in a week- I immediately think of- summer school! in elementary it was fun and games stuff for a few hours a day, getting to wear clothes to school not normally allowed (shorts/tank tops/flip flops). in jr. high it was light weight academics but the benefit was getting to continue to socialize with friends we would'nt otherwise get to see during the summer. in high school-drivers ed, drivers training, multi hour music/extracurriculars classes OR you could whack out an entire year's required course over a handful of weeks

So what is northern California..as a I -5 I -5 driver I thought that Corning was the Southern border and if so weren't high school age teens in the agriculture summer employment

 

[OrangeBirdGirl]

Growing up in the 80's it was just about being outside playing with your friends. Riding bikes, going to the local lake to swim, playing in the creek, playing ball, going to the park, etc. Mid morning either you'd show up at one of your friends house or they'd show up at yours. We all lived pretty close so we'd go to our respective homes when the noon whistle blew for lunch. The noon whistle was a tornado siren but they did daily tests at noon. Then I guess we just knew what time to be home for dinner. Then usually back out to play after dinner until it got dark. It was a wonderful childhood. I'm assuming kids now would find our childhood rather boring.

We didn't have pools, trampolines or elaborate swing sets. Some of us had those old aluminum swing sets. I don't even recall us actually having many things we'd play with. We had our bikes. Then a ball and that was about it. If we were really lucky we'd get to turn on the sprinkler and run through it. Then I got a slip n slide and that was sure fun.

A "treat" was when one of us got to setup a tent in the backyard. We never slept in there but we'd just hang out in a tent like it was a fort. It was a treat when that was setup as it couldn't stay up for long periods of time or the grass would get bad under it.

 

[White Cat]

Walking down the farm roads with AR-15 rifles going to shoot groundhogs for the farmers and getting $5 for each. The police waving as they drove by. Sometimes stopping to just admire the rifles.

 

[tvguy]

northern california-this was in the 60's and 70's (before the property tax revolution killed out the funding).

Boy has that changed with voters approving every school bond measure proposed and federal grants. I live in the San Juan Unified and over the past few years they have been tearing down and rebuilding from the ground up almost every school. Or adding huge performing arts buidlings. I graduated in 1975 and my high school shared a football stadium with two other schools. Now every school has their own stadium. And Tuesday they started tearing out San Juan High Schools football stadium to build a completely new one.
I am on the board of a non profit that gives out grants and we are having a hard time finding schools willing to apply for a grant. "We have all the money we need, but if your members would like to mentor, that is welcome". We did find a Junior High school that was rebuilt with a brand new TV studio as part of the campus.........they forgot to budget money for lights, so we donated new lights. Although I am still surprised that a JUNIOR High School has a TV studio. Although in this era of YouTube and TikTok, most of their students are looking for careers in that media, not over the air or cable TV.

 

[Praying Colonel]

Average summer day for me as a kid: Bike riding, some form of ball-and-bat games (wiffle ball, Little League baseball practice or game), riding to the local drug store to get a soda or a comic book, catching tadpoles or playing down by the creek, then after dinner playing spotlight with the neighbor kids. Go to sleep listening to Marty and Joe calling a Reds game from the Big Red Machine Era. Maybe it gets more American than that, but that has to be top-5.

 

[easyas123]

Walking down the farm roads with AR-15 rifles going to shoot groundhogs for the farmers and getting $5 for each. The police waving as they drove by. Sometimes stopping to just admire the rifles.

For us, it was pitchforks or 410s shooting the rats outside of the pig barn