45 Things People Used To Do As Kids Back In The Day That Are Considered Totally Horrifying Now

Pure freedom!!

the oak hills I roamed as a child are now covered in townhouses :-(

For me, It was in the High Desert. As long as you avoided rattlesnakes and were careful with the scorpions, you were good.

I spent almost every day after school doing just that. By myself a lot of the time. It probably wasn't safe, but I'm still alive. ;)

I loved my solitary hikes in the woods outside Santa Fe. I was younger than 10.

Loved burning a couple layers of skin!!

Ph look at that lovely soft matting, where I grew up its was rough concreate, broken glass and f*g ends.

The slide. Oh that burned!

yeah, did it like five years ago.

When I see pics like these so many memories come back, like laughting with kids you just met, the simingly endless fun, the sight of your parents and running to them to take a sip of water, the sadness of realizing the day is ending and mmmmmm (chef kiss) the smell of tetanus of the whole rusty playground, we were lucky to end up in one piece.

I did this. Scaffolding was like this giant jungle gym.

We used to play in the bombed out houses at the end of our street (this was in the 80s and they had just been left since the war). We also played on MOD property that my mum later told me was an ammunition dump from after the war. We had no idea, just thought it was a lovely big mound hidden away in the woods that we had to jump over a stream to get to!

We used to have dirt-clod fights around the construction sites *edit to correct spelling

Late night construction water fights in the summer we're so much fun. For some reason no one ever realized how dangerous that was, but we were lucky no one got hurt and we had a awesome time.

my absolute favorite playground: abandoned houses and construction sites

Where else were you supposed to sit when the cab was full?!?!

The back of the station wagon was understood to be a huge playpen, except not just for toddlers. Fairly big kids, too. Then Dad got a hatchback. Ooo, fun to crawl back there while the car was in motion. Or to climb back and forth between the back seat and the front seat. Over the bench seat.

When we would go on vacations as a kid, my parents would put the camper top on and lay down sleeping bags with all our toys, then pack the suitcases all around us. The drive was as much fun as the destination! Impossible nowadays. And thank god we never got in a wreck.

CHECK. Outside (no canopy) for shorter distances. Also memories with canopy - three of us kids in back, sitting in folding chairs. Winding mountain road with really steep slopes / cliffs on one side. Chairs sliding around on turns. Exciting fun.

The truck would hit a pothole and you'd feel like you were flying out.

Reading these kind of post really show how divided the world is. I'm lucky to consider this a perfectly safe way to spend a day as a kid, but it's alarming how rare that is becoming.

Check. And one apartment complex I lived in in California had an olympic sized swimming pool so we didn't have to go anywhere except downstairs to the pool.

Still common where I live in Tennessee! Well, for teens at least.

I see kids walking school here (USA), even in the winter. And our winters can be nasty.

Yep

I am pretty glad to live in an area where walking to the store at 9 (and to school, to friends houses etc) is perfectly normal and safe

Also normal.

Did this all the time and walked to school.

Sen to the store two miles away for cigarettes.. at about 8 or 9 lol

walked to the store by myself with a note from my parent to buy a pack of cigarettes before i was a teenager. the only time an adult walked me to my school busstop was during the riots after MLK Jr was asassinated.

That's my entire generation. Gen-X never had any Fs to give.

We (Gen X) weren't called latch key kids for nothing.

Latchkey life! Except we didn't actually lock any doors.

Me and my siblings were left alone from dawn to dusk almost every day one summer , we were aged 6, 7 and 9.

Ppl are sometimes horrified that I sometimes leave my 7yo at home alone for up to about an hour. Sometimes with her 5yo sister as well. But she can make some food for her self, she can entertain herself though I often just leave the tv on. Also, I make sure to have at least one door unlocked, so if she needs to get out of the house fast, she can do so. I was left alone for hours on a daily basis when I was 7yo. Sure my kid can do the same occasionally.

Bet you never told her, either...

I'm so glad you were safe. My great uncle died as a teen after jumping in a quarry. Hit his head on a post. Just tragic.

Sounds like a Bloomington thing!