What did you do as a kid?

[barry]

Go anywhere these days and you will likely see kids misbehaving in public, even young adults acting as if they have no manners. When I see this the first thought that comes to mind is... "If I had acted like that when I was a kid I wouldn't be able to sit down for a few days."
There are exceptions but kids today are spoiled for the most part.

I'm now 51 years old and back when I was a kid...

There were no "Timeouts", I got Whippin's. I'm pretty sure once I got whipped for something I never did that again.

I went groundhog huntin' in the summer and squirrel huntin' in the fall with a single shot .22

I'd walk to the nearby creek and fish for hornyheads and suckers.

We'd damn up the creek to make a "swimming hole"

I'd play catch with my brother or a friend with either a football or baseball.

I'd spend hours at a time batting rocks with a broken hoe handle. (This served me well in my 20's and early 30's  playing on a traveling softball team that won many tournaments and even a national championship played in Steamboat Springs Colorado.)

Sometimes I would just play with the dogs. Whatever I did for fun it was done mostly outside as there were no computer games or cell phones.

When I was a kid we raised a big garden and I had to do my share of the weedin' and hoein'.

I fed the cows square bales by hand.

I milked a cow by hand every evening for our daily milk.

I "slopped" the hogs.

We had a hog killin' every year around Thanksgiving.

We said the Pledge of Allegiance every day in school.

I took shop class in school where I learned how to weld and do woodwork.

I was taught to say "Yes Sir" "No Sir" "Yes Mam" and "No Mam", speak when  was spoken to and above all Respect your Elders!

We ate evening meals and Sunday dinner together as a family and gave thanks to God before each meal.

Went to Sunday School and Church as a family.


What are some things you did as a kid?

[guesswho]

As a child I spent time doing what my parents told me to do, in return I got to ask for permission if there was anything I wanted to do.  And the answer was usually yes, maybe with some adult stipulation added to my original request. 

I had chores that were expected of me.  Mowing, keeping the flower beds weedless, washing our one and only car, feeding and taking care of "my" dog, helping my Dad with any kind of construction work around the house, ect.  And get this.  I did all this for free.  I wouldn't dare ask either of my parents for money for my labor.  My rear end new that that's the way it was supposed to be.  My payments came in the form of weekend hunting/camping trips for whatever was in season, and yes turkey was my favorite.  I also played baseball from five years old through school, won four state titles in four years, played in three Dixie Majors world series out of state which my parents went to every game.  I remember my Dad telling his Boss on the phone one day that if he wanted to meet with him that afternoon it would have to be at the ball park because Ronnie had a game that day.  I also got to box, play football, wrestle, lift weights and anything else I wanted to participate in, both parents supported me in anything I wanted to try.   

Some of my activities that received parental criticism "known today as child abuse"  included parachuting off the roof of the house, jumping a dirt bike over a boat and watched my buddy jump his dirt bike through a boat, beating up the fat neighbor kid who stole my glove ect.

So I am a product of my up bringing.   

[flintlock]

You can't put a price on that upbringing for sure!   I wouldn't change a thing either.  As a matter of fact my brother and I were talking at a recent family funeral on such things.   It was nice to go back and think on those days for a while.   Good times indeed!

[Eric Gregg]

I was blessed with the family that I have. My highlights as a young boy were summer baseball and deer hunting in the winter. When school let out for summer if we were not playing or practicing for baseball, we were riding bikes, fishing, or building trails through the woods in the fall. As we got older football was the thing and was blessed to be on a really good highschool team. That taught me teamwork, discipline, kept in great shape, and learned how to prioritize responsibilities. Not to mention traveling to other schools and meeting new folks. Video games were there but who really cared about that stuff when you could go out in the woods. We had guns, most of all of my friends had one or two, and we never shot each other or anyone else (imagine that). Nor did we ever committ violent crimes. A few things were settled by a fist fight, but that is all it ever got to.

The main thing that I remember is that our parents were always there. All of ours. Mine knew all of my friends and their parents. and they knew us. Everything wasn't perfect, but we worked things out by talking. I thanked my parents on a couple of occasions for their hard work and discipline they instilled in us. No need to only pay respects over a casket when you can do that while they are living. Yep, I had a great childhood and highschool life

[redarrow]

I too was a blessed young man. If I had to name one thing that i feel was the most important lesson my folks taught me,it would be INTEGRITY.My Father is no longer here but he was a man of integrity. My Mom ,bless her heart is 90 years old,she has always been a woman of integrity.I told my dad he was crazy once.I recall vividly the head lock and the threat of "knocking my lights out" He would never had hit me that way but i learned the meaning of respecting my parents.I can't believe the things kids say and do these days.I rode my bike everywhere,trapped rabbit,caught tadpoles and toads,raised guinea pigs and generally stayed out of trouble.

[savduck]

Barry, Im younger than you, but pretty much was raised the exact same way.

[TRKYHTR]

Barry I live in California and had about the same upbringing as you. I never milked a cow but did feed a few with a bottle. When I did something wrong I got whipped. I remember one time when I was out shooting my BB gun and a neighbors cat needed a shootin, or so I thought. It happened to be in the front of the kitchen sink on their lawn. After I shot it ran away. My BB gun wouldn't have hurt if if I would have hit it but that wasn't the point. When I got home, the neighbor had already called my Mom and she was waiting at the door. She whooped me until I couldn't sit down and then grabbed my BB gun by the barrel and slammed it on the ground until it broke in half. Then those famous words " Wait till you Dad gets home". You learn real quick when this type of punishment happens. It's a different world now nut thats what the older people was saying when I was a kid.

TRKYHTR

[5bites]

I fished, hunted, played outside, rode my bike miles around country backroads and (gasp!) played video games. I also got my hind end tanned when I needed it, as do my boys. Not a week goes by that my wife and I don't get complimented on our boys behavior whether it be at Church or a store.

[stone road turkey calls]

wow, all these butt whippins you guys got ( and i got my share of them also) makes me miss my father even more. dads should have passed down there belt and mabey a little taste of that would have made a difference to some of these troubled kids.

[5bites]

No doubt if a kid is going to respect anyone he has to first respect his parents. Whippings is a good way to get there! Lol.

[barry]

" Wait till you Dad gets home". TRKYHTR

I remember these words as well Joe!
I got 2 whippins on those days!

[Neill_Prater]

Barry, I have 10 years on you. I grew up in a small town (600 population). My maternal grandfather was the town doctor for 60 years, my mother worked at the bank, and, we, literally, knew everyone.

I grew up hunting with my dad, who was an avid, for want of a better word, quail hunter. He simply lived for November 10th, the traditional opener here in MO. You could walk less than a mile from our house and be "out in the country", and I often did as a kid. Two miles away was a small creek, and many a summer day, I'd ride down there on my brother's hand-me-down bicycle and fish. In the fall, starting at around 10 years old, I'd run home after school, grab my shotgun, put a lead on the bird dog and walk outside of town and hunt until dark, and then walk back. Killed quite a few birds that way, too.

If dad could get off work, many times he'd pick me up at school with the bird dog in the back seat and two shotguns stuck between the driver and passenger seats. No one ever thought a thing about it. In high school, it was common for guys to carry their guns to school in their vehicles, so they could go hunting as soon as the final bell rang. One of the coaches even used to go with the boys for a quick circle of bird hunting during the lunch hour.

I went to work in a local grocery store when I was 12, staying there until I got out of high school. I learned work ethics, always had my own money for things I wanted (usually hunting or fishing stuff ), and learned to deal with the public, a skill that has served me well for my entire life. My folks helped me out buying my first car, paying half ($500), but after that, I was on my own, paying for my own insurance and operating expenses.

I don't recall ever being "bored" as a kid, unless I got stuck going to visit someone with my parents.  All us kids always found something to do to occupy our time, and we didn't need soccer, or karate, or cheerleading, or dance, or softball, or any organized activity to do so. Most of my friends were farm kids, and they all had chores to do, and most of the boys hauled hay in the summer. When we went on a trip, or even just a "day" drive, I loved to watch the scenery and imagine where the Indians might have camped, or wonder if cowboys once drove cattle over the land. Now kids, including my grandkids, can't ride anywhere unless they have a sack full of dvd's to watch, or an I Pad to keep them from getting bored. Sad state of affairs, in my opinion, and I find it little wonder we have so many dysfunctional young people in the world.

[barry]

I hear ya Neill, you brought back some memories from the past.
I remember looking for arrowheads as a kid, after chores were done of course, on a creekbottom where we raised corn.
How many kids today you reckon have ever looked for arrowheads?

[Devastator]

got my  wipped when needed and worked on my uncles and cousins farms for 10 bucks a day and learned more on them farms than anything in this world could have taught me.bought my first 2 guns with the money,was in my glory.

[savduck]

Any of you guys ever have to bite down on a bar of soap. At Grannies, if you said a "Bad" word, which back then included, shut up, stupid, and fart, you had to go pick your own pear switch and sit on the toilet and hold a bar of irish spring soap until Granny though you had enough.

To this day I wont buy irish spring.