When I was a kid

[mommiepoppins]

My parents would let me play Pac man while they sat at the bar
I could not get past the first level of Donkey Kong
school bus seats you could turn around and see the person behind you.
my dad would make a seat for me in his van... flip a container over and put it between the 2 seats
We would play pick up sticks on the merry go round
the boogie man lived in the park

 

[1Prince2Princesses]

I love this thread! I remember so many of these things.

 

[camreesmom]

Dimetapp was a prescription cold medicine.

There was no MTV.

We wore penny loafers with pennies in them.

 

[mommiepoppins]

Leftovers were kept warm in the oven on a plate wrapped in aluminum foil. There was no such thing as a microwave!!

TV dinners came in foil packages (but we didn't really have those very often!)

There was channels 2, 5, 7, 9 & 11 plus if you were lucky you got the "U" channel which was 32 & 44 around here. To get the U you placed the DIAL at U through the little window & a 2nd dial for the 32 or 44.

Oh, hide & seek after dark was "flashlight tag"

OOOHhhh...I just thought of another one -- Rotary phone! We had a rotary phone that was on the wall in the kitchen that you rented from the phone company.

I know there are tons others but the TV with dials & no microwave are the big ones DH & I talk about all the time.

speeking of the rotary phone...when I was a teenager my mom would ground me and lock the phone...she would use a tiny luggage lock so I could not dail out

I went to my friend last year and her mom still uses a rotary phone...she has a huge super long cord to walk around the house with..boy I would have loved that

 

[Aidensmom]

No one had a cell phone.

Gas was less than $1/gallon.

There were no such things as baked potato chips.

We knew all our neighbors.

The only places to stay at Walt Disney World were the Contemporary, Polynesian, and Ft. Wilderness.

We wore "Toughskins" jeans.

 

[pearlieq]

--My mom made us sit absolutely silent while we recorded something with the new VCR for fear it would some how "pick up" sounds from us.

--there was no such thing as a scrunchie

 

[disneyfan67]

When I younger there was only 3 main channels and one local one to choose from.

CBS had the lock on most of the popular programs of that time period. When I was a kid they had: All in the Family, Mash, Maude, The Jefferson's, The Carol Burnett Show, The Bob Newhart show, The Mary Tyler Moore show, Barnaby Jones, Cannon, and the list went on. Those shows were either new or just in their prime. Saturday night was a big TV night in my house growing up and my whole family watched The Carol Burnett show together. A lot of families don't seem to watch things together as a family anymore, at least it seems that way to me.

My parents only had one TV in their house and it had a unique remote control feature, ME! I remember my dad barking out orders to change the channel and lucky there was only 3. He would also yell if my sister and I turned the dial too fast and the famous words spoken were, "Hey, you will burn it out turning it that fast."

When I was really young my dad bought Pong for the TV and we thought it was cool to play table tennis on the TV.


I remember trick or treating at night and a group of kids my age were allowed to go out by ourselves as long as we were together somewhat. It never entered our minds about kidnappings and child molestation.

No seat belts were used in the cars, at least not in mine. I never remember hearing my parents telling me to buckle up. My parents had a big station wagon with those jump seats that were hidden in the floor, in back of the wagon. Not too safe by today's standards.

I used to go to the gas station on my bike when I was real young and buy my dad some cigarettes if he ran out early and nobody thought about it being wrong.

I'm sure there's a ton of other stuff I'm forgetting.

 

[Patch'sD]

There was no Disney World

Walt was alive

You Came home at the 6:00 PM Whistle

You had to walk to and from your Game, Friends, Library, School

Sports were played on the Street

Greg Brady Was A Geek

Movies Were all Day

You Walked to the Mall, and it wasn't enclosed

Kids Delivered the Newspaper

Vietnam was on the TV every night

Archie Bunker Was Funny

Laugh In Was discussed at School

Nuns and Teachers were allowed to Hit You

You threw Snowballs only at Cadilacs

Skitching was holding on to the bumber of Car in the Snow

Batman was on TV

Gilligans Island was first run

The Dr Made House Calls

 

[ducklite]

Penny candy really cost one penny. It came in bulk and the lady at the candy counter used her bare hands to pluck your choice out of the canister and into your little white paper bag.

All bags were paper.

Your sandwich was wrapped in wax paper, and if you were poor it was wrapped in yesterdays newspaper.

Everyone had the paper delivered every day.

The mail man delivered twice a day, except Saturday, that was only once, and Sunday which they had off.

Everybody went to church on Sunday except that one "weird" family that lived off down the dirt road, and we were all cautioned to stay away from them.

Women and girls had to wear hats or veils to church.

The elastic chin strap itched something fierce.

So did the wool blankets on your bed if you got twisted up in them at night.

The B&W TV never came on until after dinner.

Dinner was at 5:30.

Then dad watched the news while mom cleaned the kitchen and children took baths and did homework.

Homework was done at the dining room or kitchen table, it was not done in a bedroom or with the TV or stereo on.

It actually wasn't a stereo, it was a Hi-Fi.

And we played vinyl records.

Some of them were large with a small hole, others were small with a large hole.

The best ones were by the Partridge Family.

David Cassidy is still a hottie

Anne

 

[BunsenH]

We went sliding on a sled with metal runners down a hill that ended at a chain link fence.

I walked to school and knew that shopkeepers were looking out for me and would report any irregularities to my mom.

A haircut was 50 cents and that left over 50 cents for candy.

Toys were made of metal, had sharp edges and small loose parts. I never heard of anyone being injured by an Erector Set.

We played a stack of 45's.

PBS didn't have commercials.

 

[disneyfan67]

Leftovers were kept warm in the oven on a plate wrapped in aluminum foil. There was no such thing as a microwave!!

TV dinners came in foil packages (but we didn't really have those very often!)

There was channels 2, 5, 7, 9 & 11 plus if you were lucky you got the "U" channel which was 32 & 44 around here. To get the U you placed the DIAL at U through the little window & a 2nd dial for the 32 or 44.

Oh, hide & seek after dark was "flashlight tag"

OOOHhhh...I just thought of another one -- Rotary phone! We had a rotary phone that was on the wall in the kitchen that you rented from the phone company.

I know there are tons others but the TV with dials & no microwave are the big ones DH & I talk about all the time.

As soon as I saw your post, I knew you grew up in the Chicagoland area! The channels alone gave it away. I never could get channel 44 to come in at my house. Channel 32 didn't have too much going on, if I remember correctly. Kids didn't answer the phone too much at our house, but I do remember the rotary phone though.

I do remember my dad comming home from the Navy for the last time and then retiring. He did his last tour of Vietnam and I remember my mom not watching the news too much when he was gone. She didn't show it too much, but she had to be worried.

 

[mommiepoppins]

I went to see Star Wars in the drive in movie
dogs would walk all around the neighborhood
we did Trick or treat for Unicef (sp)
I had a record player and an 8 track
I had a 10 speed

 

[Becky2005]

As soon as I saw your post, I knew you grew up in the Chicagoland area! The channels alone gave it away. I never could get channel 44 to come in at my house. Channel 32 didn't have too much going on, if I remember correctly.

Yep...which is why to this day (and I know it's basically debated too) FOX news is NOT a network! FOX at one point was channel 32 (before cable just completely messed me up with channels), which was a U channel and was never ever a network...I remember once when FOX was mentioned as a network & I went "HUH? " I really don't remember a whole lot that was on the channel. We had the black & white old TV in the basement with the vinyl couch (which I think was orange?). Upstairs was the colored TV on the TV stand that had wheels on it (but it never went anywhere...it was this flimsy basic tv tray we put the TV on!). I know the colored TV was fancier & I don't think it had 2 seperate dials like our black & white did.

No such thing as a VCR either until later when my brother got them. However, we all crowded around the TV to watch The Love Boat & then Fantasy Island right afterwards.

We also used to go to our local swimming pool unsupervised. We walked there cutting through the graveyard and there was some really, really, really deep water there with a high diving board even (which I never got the nerve up to try!).

 

[cybrkitn]

I could walk the one block to my grade school without my parents being worried (this was starting, I believe, when I was in 1st grade up to 3rd grade).

I could ride my bike up to the corner deli and buy cigaretts for my father (way before he quit smoking).

I remember when toys were made out of heavy plastic and were made to last!

Cartoons were on all the major networkds on Saturday mornings.

Game shows were on the major networks in the morning before the dreaded talk shows.

We actually went outside to play and played games with the neighborhood kids in the street (dodge ball, monkey in the middle, running bases, etc).

Thanks Mommiepoppins for one more for me to add....

I remember drive in movies! The last one I saw was Back to the Future in 85 before they started to become obselete.

 

[HSMndLKfan92]

When I was a kid:

Barney was president and the Spice Girls ruled the world.

 

[flipturngirl]

When I was a kid:

Barney was president and the Spice Girls ruled the world.

Hehee..


When I was a kid

gigapets were the rage
you wanted to be in the babysiters club when you were 6

 

[LisaNJ25]

we stayed out until the street lights came on.

We didnt have arranged "playdates"

We had no remote.. you had to get and and change the channel... actually flick that plastic dial from left to right across the cable box.

 

[Patch'sD]

Oh I forgot

If You watched the late late show it was followed by the National Anthem and then a test Pattern.

There were Cigarette Comercials on TV and the Radio

Cousin Brucie was Old Then

Everybody Listened to WABC

Cool Kids Didn't Watch Dick Clark and Bandstand

GI Joe was 12 Inches Tall

Hotwheels were way cooler than Matchbox

Hoods were Cool Kids that Hung out at the Burger Place

You Could not wear Jeans to School and Girls had to wear skirts

Everybody played with Fireworks

1965 GTO was the Coolest Car Everybody Made

Penny Candy was a Penny

The Mets Ruled New York

Volkswagens looked the same every year

No one talked about a Beatles Reunion

Batman Meets the Green Hornet was the Biggest Event on TV

Sean Connery Was James Bond

Reality TV was Romper Room

There were no Video Games

Lyndon Johnson Was President

John Wayne was the Biggest Name in Movies

 

[barkley]

mr. potato head (there was no mrs. at the time) was a box of parts only-you used a real potato you had to beg off mom.

you had maybe 2 pairs of shoes-the 'good ones' for church, assemblies and stuff like that, and your school shoes. once summer vacation hit everyone ran around barefoot (and boy did it hurt going back to having to wear shoes come fall when school started again).

it was cool if you're parent payed the extra charge NOT to have a party phone line.

gas stations gave premiums to entice customers-in addition to trading stamps there were dishes, glassware and toys (i loved my arco 'noah's ark' and the president coins shell gave out).

-something scary i had forgotten about but remembered very clearly when i saw a commercial the other night for the new movie 'zodiac'-when our school busses had police escorts because of the threats to shoot kids on the busses. we lived right down the way from 2 of the sets of killings-and i remember my parents telling my brothers to keep away from the area (it was a popular make out spot for the teens)

 

[msdznyduck]

American Bandstand was from Philadelphia

You could smoke in the movies

Our main source of money was bringing back soda and beer bottles from the construction site up the street