Safety First (childhood last)
by David Benzion · 10/18/2006 5:55 amI hate this crap:
Children at the Willett Elementary School in Attleboro are not allowed to play tag, touch football or any games involving contact during recess.
Prinicpal Gaylene Heppe cited the safety risks and the school’s liability in case of injury as reasons for the recess ban. Heppe, who is in her second year as principal, told CBS4 the ban is not new and has been in effect for years.
[Hat-tip: WCBS4 in Boston]
A few years ago the Benzion family spent a couple of days at Chain-O-Lakes, up past Cleveland. Highly recommended.
The best part was discovering an Old School playground on the premises, complete with “Wheel You Can Spin Around On While Clutching a Metal Bar Until You Puke,” and an authentic wooden See-Saw. Benzion Jr. was introduced to the fine art of making your See-Saw companion slam his butt on the ground by jumping off while he was in the “up” position.
Good, finger-slamming, bloody-nosed fun.
Is it any wonder Osama Bin Laden thought we would collapse like paper tigers? We are a nation whose children play on rounded barrels of space-age foam.
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I well remember the elementary school I went to: the swings went so high, you really thought your feet could touch the sky; when you jumped off, and landed on the hard packed grass, you had to get back on the swing so you could do it again. I also remember the seesaw and wheel of puke, as David so graphically put it. We played on asphalt and hard packed grass, not astroturf, tree bark and foam. I remember I learned to move very fast to miss the dodgeball. I also learned to be a better person: you never wanted to purposely hurt anyone, and you tried to let the one who always lost not get hit with the ball, to try to give them a little self-esteem. How many of us died during those romps? Maybe a few broken arms and legs, but what is childhood without a few broken bones? I remember I broke my collarbone just falling out of a standing swing in my own back yard; how clutzy can you get?
You cannot raise your kids in bubble wrap; eventually they are going to go out into the real world; the longer you delay it, the harder it is for the kids.
flygal
I think Mrs. Herpy must have fell off a swing as a young child and her parents probably sued the crap out of the school, town and manufacturer of the swing allowing her to live a life of priviledge and no risk thus causing her current banning of anything risky to other kids. No wonder no good football players come from Boston.
Oh my gosh! Thank you so much Mrs. Heppe. It is now going to be my mission in life to make sure that every child in this world has their gaming fingers wrapped in bubble wrap. They could get a blister from the buttons, don’t cha know…/sarcasm off
I think her cited reasons are reversed in their order of importance. I wonder if, between lawyers and insurance companies, we’ve haven’t become wussed-down past the point of no return.
BTW… on short drives in my neighborhood… I still let my kids ride in the open bed of my pickup truck. Neener neener boo boo do-gooders.
“school’s liability in case of injury”
Pretty much says it all. Being a teacher, I hear this crap all of the time. That’s all the administration cares about, making sure that no parents get mad and sues. Example, near the end of school a few years ago we had a student wearing flip-flops get the back of them stepped and tripped and fell down some stairs. Now, you would think that that parent was the one threatening to sue, but it wasn’t them. The next year the principal added “No open back shoes” to the dress code. One single parent called and threatened to sue, because her child was uncomfortable wearing full shoes, so the principal decided to delay enforcement until further investigation could be done. Needless to say, that was the end of that. Never investigated and dropped from the code. SOS DIFFERENT DAY in education, IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY, not educating our children.
Too bad many children live in a bubble wrap these days. In my generation (boomer) we played hard and learned valuable lessons in how to protect ourselves physically and how to negotiate with our friends and most of all we learned how to take turns and be fair and have loads of fun without hurting one another. Gone are the days of real living.
What do you expect from Massachusetts, the State that gave us Senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry? It’s hard to believe that Massachusetts is one of the most communist States in the union, but it’s where our freedom started. Their forefathers are surely turning in their graves at the outcome of their great state.
BTW; don’t forget the two story high, monkey bars.
Do the schools still have those metal slides that get hot enough to cook on, or have they all gone plastic?
From Chain-O-Lakes website, Rules
No Pets
No Firearms
No Alcohol
No Motor Boats
No Off-Road Driving
Kinda leaves a Red-Neck like me out of the picture. ;=)
I wonder what it is, that a person would do there?
We had fun growing up. Kids nowadays are weiners. Leave it to some east or west coast moron to screw something up like oh… childhood.
I wonder what kinds of fun filled activities will take their place?
Pass the sponge: All the kids sit in a circle. A sponge is passed from left to right. When the sponge reaches the first kid, they will switch directions. If this is completed without someone dropping the sponge, they will liven it up by adding another sponge of a different color! WOOOOOWEEEEE…..
I remember playing smack the fat kid. (I didn’t like when they hit me in the face, but I played any way.)
But… It’s ok to play Grand Theft Auto on the Playstation?
http://news.softpedia.com/images/reviews/large/gta_010-large.jpg
This goes with the “protect their self-esteem” policy. Don’t let them earn self-esteem by working hard, failing, getting back up, learning a lesson, working hard, SUCCEEDING! Nooooo, just tell them they are worthy and precious, too worthy and precious to endanger their precious bodies by playing dodge ball, high swings, etc.
You didn’t have a proper childhood unless you were rushed to the emergency room with your mother applying direct pressure to stop the bleeding.
#10 - That was fun….lol. I wouldn’t trade my childhood for anything. It was rough but oh so much fun. Kids now don’t have a clue how to have fun….if it’s not in front of a gameboy or TV screen. There were six of us and we could come up with all kinds of ways to have fun. We had ah…sling shot fights with the kids from the next street across the drainage ditch….using china berries. We kept the kids horse from down the street and rode him bareback. We played cowboys and indians for hours…..drinking RC mixed with cool-aid as our liquor at the saloon….ate balony sandwiches for lunch and back outside for more play. We put old tires on the neighbors cedar fence posts to use as our horses….layed boards out on the grass to make rooms for the bunkhouse and kitchen…on and on. Yeppers…wouldn’t trade any of it. This was all off of Hardy Street….not far from Sam Houston High….before the school was built.
First, we took the discipline out of the schools. Now, we take away any contact between the kids. This country, trying to be “politically correct” has soften up our kids. It’s no wonder the Democrats don’t want us to be a super power. Heck, we headed to becoming French!!!!!
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think when I was growing up many governmental bodies were immune from these types of lawsuits. I can understand the way people feel about administrators like principals, but if a lawsuit occurs that’s exactly who the school district is going to hold responsible. One of the crueler facts of life is that money is a great elixir. It will dry widows tears, bring comfort to children of parents that died of cancer from smoking, made whole the rape victim who was jogging through a high crime area at 1AM, and a myriad of other unfortunate events that with a little prudence could’ve been avoided.
If you can read this thank a teacher.
If you can read this in English thank a soldier.
If you are now well heeled due to the benefit of one of these lawsuits thank an attorney.
When I was a kid, many, many years ago, I loved to climb trees. The kid across the street wasn’t allowed by his parents to climb trees. He was perfectly healthy, but they were afraid he would get hurt. I used to feel so sorry for him.
I can read, and for that I thank my mother who taught me to read before I entered public school. I do thank soldiers for all they have done for us. Attorneys? You must be kidding.
All this protection from a state that will still license a Kennedy to drive!
Fourth of July, we had real fireworks! Ones that could be used as IAD’s in the wrong hands. We had firecracker fights and Roman Candle wars. I’m lucky to have both eyes and all my fingers. I did get a tooth shot out with a BB gun…
We used to jump off the top of our chicken coop.
We used to jump off the roof of our house.
(Can’t do THAT anymore!)
We used to climb to the very tip-top of the willow tree and sway in the wind. (With so many of us, I’m sure my mother hoped one of us would fall like ripe fruit from those trees!)
I used to dump crawdad holes on top of water moccassins, which meant I had to get within 10 feet of them. (silly me)
We used to ride horses.
We used to run on top of barrels, rolling them around like circus clowns do.
We used sharp implements, like hoes, in growing our food.
We used to slide down our stairs on outdoor cushions or large pressboard trays. The good ones could make the right-hand turn at the landing and slide the last three steps down right to the front door! But only when Mom left to go “big shopping” and wouldn’t be back for hours.
We used to play tag on our bicycles.
We played dodge ball in the front yard. My older brothers threw the ball HARD.
My sister and I used to jump over the gardenia bushes.
We played baseball, not softball, my family against the neighborhood (there were enough in my family to field our own team!).
One of my younger sisters actually fell out of our second story window. Finger scratch only.
None of us died. One serious injury, when one of my older brothers fell on a stick and it went into his neck. That was it.
Where did my youth go???
All great comments above and i’m sure to come later on this subject. I’m sure all of us who grew up prior “this type of thinking existed” can remember the things we used to do that these intended “do-gooders” would not think to be allowable today. You’ve listed many of them already:
How about playing baseball with no protective gear?
Football with no helmets or padding?
Playing kick the can on a gravel playground - plenty of skinned knees and elbows daily!
Anyone remember the steel monkey bars? Three legged races? Ever ride your bicyle without a helmet and/or knee pads and play bicycle tag after school?
Our skate boards were made out of real skate wheels nailed to a 1 x 6 or a 2 x 4. I never rode mine with any protection and had my share of scrapes and briuses. Ever choose up sides and shoot china berries out of a home made slingshot and when you got hit you were out of the game? (I bet that would cause the above principal to have a heart attack!) Ever make a go-cart with rope steering and pull it behind a bike with another rope as fast as you could ride? Ever swim in a pond with no lifeguard? Play king of the mountain?
Even with all of these “scary” things we some how survived our childhood. Kids are not allowed to be kids today. Too many lawyers and folks who think they know what’s best for “The Children”.
When my two grandsons (10 and 5)come visit, the TV and the Computers are always somehow “not working all the time”. We go out in the shop and make some sawdust (rubber band powered boats, birdhouses, etc. shoot the BB guns, go fishing, ride our bikes (Their dear mother insists on them wearing helmets!) play catch, swim or do some physical activity! IMHO There’s not nearly enough of that these days for kids.
/malcolm shuts up now.
Why are Palestinian boys luckier than American boys? Because every Palestinian boy will get to join a rock group!
#14 Butch and #21 tedtam:
I started writing my #22 back when there were only 12 posts. I had forgotten many of those you listed. Brings back fond memories! Thanks!
In the last few months our city took down the playground equipment in the city park because one kid fell off the swingset. Now they have “proper” play equipment with soft plastic edges, bouncy pavement and, of course, no dreaded swings. And this only cost the taxpayer $30,000. Guess what - I don’t see any kids playing there much anymore.
Any intelligent being wears a helmet while cycling. Why have a serious head injury that can be so easily prevented?
I raced bicyles for a number of years and observed multiple injuries due to the helmet being worn improperly. There was even a death because of it in one of my races. Even the pros wear them.
One other thing I’m seeing here. That is a lot of people remebering a idyllic childhood that is probably a result of SELECTIVE MEMORY.
26
I have the scars and a missing tooth to prove it…..
#26
Nope. No selective memory. We really didn’t get hurt doing these things. I remember being shocked that my little sister wasn’t hurt falling out of the window. My mother sprained her ankle falling off a stepstool. My football brother hurt his elbow playing this school sponsored sport. But we never got hurt playing bicycle tag or any of the other things I described. I don’t know why, but we didn’t. And even if we did, I’d rather suffer a bruise or occasional injury than be treated like a priceless Ming vase.
The point these Marxist/Socalists are missing of course, is that is not the government’s place nor is it possible to create a utopian environment for anyone to be completely free from the possibility of insult or injury.
Of course, reality is not these people’s strong suit, anyway. But they sure are good at sponging off the fat of the land, which is the only way a moron like this lady could get a job.
The fact that she is in position now to spread her socialistic posion to those children is what is really concerning. Typical weak-minded, deluded, tree-hugging, neosoc fool.
Fun for all ages:
http://www.acsol.net/~firedept/dynamite.html
#26
No selective memory on this end….just fond ones.
BTW Do you wear protective gloves, have adequate lighting and eye protection when you “hammer”? Just curious!
Speaking of bubble-wrapping people…
FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS TO SEE WHAT A TRULY LIBERAL SOCIETY WOULD BE LIKE…
Read the sci-fi short story “With Folded Hands”. I believe the author is Jack Williams, but I may be wrong. The first time I read this story, my blood ran cold.
Time: Future, where robots are household help
Synopsis: A new type of robot appears, much more sophisticated than current models. Robot salesman “Joe” is concerned and resists allowing one of these new-fangled robots into his home. The robots offer their services for free to households in the area, and work so well that Joe’s business fails. During this time, he takes in a boarder, a strange old scientist, who eventually divulges that he is the creator of these monsters and that their main goal is to enslave mankind with kind protection. His wife allows a robot into their home, and for a brief time she loves it. It fixes her hair, helps the daughter with schoolwork, cleans the home. Eventually, however, it takes over. The humans are not allowed to handle knives, hobby equipment, etc., because of the fear that they might hurt themselves. I won’t ruin the ending, but I think the title says it all.
(There is more after this short story, but it involves humans being able to make something out of nothing and reaching a state of being that I don’t think is physically possible. I can, however, see the short story being played out using today’s players.)
Part of my #31 disappeared???
Rest was
OK David. I give up. What’s the deal?
Few nights back The Simpsons ran an episode showing kids on the school playground in their new drab grey uniforms wandering around all morose with all of life’s vibe drained from them. “…Back at Springfield Elementary the uniformed kids at the school begin losing their individuality and creativity. When it starts raining, their uniforms change color and bring a surge of rebellion.”
Ain’t it great when school beats all the fun and inventiveness out of your kids?
#34
We weren’t supposed to say anything, but he just doesn’t like you!
We need a class action suit against trial lawyers and liberals for Effing up our entire way of life.
Malcolm, email me the rest of your comment, and I’ll see if I can find out what the problem is.
mattbramanti@gmail.com
I can remember BB gun fights, bike jousting, and lots of just rough and tumble for fun. Only got stiches once, and that was from running in the house, tripping and busting my head open on a china hutch. Pain is a natural teaching instrument. Why is it that the same people who vociforously promote evolution in schools want to deny schools the ability to use the training receptors (read pain receptors) that evolution built in to us?
Yep, the fun police are sucking the life outta everyone these days
I thought that sucking sound was supposed to be jobs going over our southern border?
#26
When you say “cycling”, do you mean riding around the neighborhood with friends? Or, riding down the side of the highway at 25 mph while cars, who’s owners paid high vehicle registration fees to be able to use those roads, go speeding by at 60-70 mph?
And I would assume that ANYONE who is riding competitivly is required to wear protective gear. But if not, would do so due to common sense.
Gary, it was more fun to hold onto the car going 40-50 on your bicycle. Also, I remember jousting on bikes using bottle rockets!!!
When my children were toddlers I remember all the child safety items - plug covers, cabinet hooks, toilet seat locks, etc. etc. My mother commented that “ignorance was bliss” when I was little, what with my lead-laden crib with too-wide bars (that I used with my kids thank you), placed under a window that had venetian blinds and a dangling cord, stuck my finger in a light socket (only did that once, then learned), rode a bike without a helmet, skated without kneepads (and my mother ran over my hand with ice skates on time!), raced our sleds down the side of a mountain and ended up in a almost-frozen creek, played on jungle gyms, swings, slides, dodgeball, kickball, no seat belts in the cars. Wow - how did I ever survive?
Have you ever shot a bottle rocket into the water? It looks like nuclear explosion underwater, and it’s silent. Just this huge flash of light - WHOOOOSH. Screaming Meemies are hilarious when dumped into water after being lit.
#36 :
Holy moley:
#36 I think you’re right!
#44
No seatbelts. Man, does that bring back memories. My dad brought home a small Toyota when I was about seven. There were 14 of us living in our house at the time, including adults. All twelve kids wanted to ride in the car. We packed 5-6 kids in the back, one sitting forward, one back, forward, back, and one or two on laps. We got all us in the car in two trips.
We eventually got a large cargo van for Mom to haul us around in. No seat belts because there were no seats. We sat on the floor of the van. We also did time in the back of a pickup truck with a camper on it. It’s a wonder we survived, too!
I remember packing 11 of us into the cab of a Chevy pickup back in the 60s and pulling into the Jack in the Box at the corner of White Heather and Fuqua and asking for a small coke and 11 straws. The jerks wouldn’t give us the 11 straws after we went thru all that trouble!!
I remember living near Lufkin as a kid and my mom had a Ford Galaxy 500. I liked to ride laying in the back package shelf looking out the back window as she careened around curves at about 70mph like Daisy Duke running from Sherrif Roscoe…. while my little brother Larry played with those little plastic army men in the floor board.
Remember these?
http://www.photostogo.com/store/GetThumb.asp/ImageNum=954505&VOLID=3608&gc=gc1&ss=1/Tank,%20Armored%20Vehicle-954505.jpg
This is exactly why I dispise socialists, these uptight a$$holes just won’t be happy until they squeeze all the life out of living, to staisfy their misguided utopian fantasies.
Freakin’ nazis!!!
Seriously. Read “With Folded Hands”.
50
I loved those things. What am I saying - I LOVE those things. (Thank goodness my five year old nephew does, too.)
#31 malcolm
To hammer is a cycling term for riding hard, hence luv2hammer=love to hammer). By the way I’m a cop not a carpenter and yes I do wear a vest.
We used to play a game called “Swinging Statues”. The person who was “IT” would swing each player around in circles until the legs cleared the ground. When the swingee was in full flight, IT would let them go. When the swingee hit the ground, he/she was supposed to hold the position they landed in. (Cheaters who rolled to a desirable position were thoroughly chastised by the group.) IT would then choose the most interesting statue pose, and that person would then become IT.
Can you imagine this being played today?
55
I remember playing that. I got thrown into the trunk of a sweetgum tree. It hurt. We moved about 15 feet and kept playing.
Wow - I am glad I am a girl. We played the statues game but it was a tag type event. If you were tagged, you held the pose and someone else would come around and untag you. If the tagger got everyone to pose before the untagger could do his stuff, then the tagger picked someone else to be “it”.
Yeah, dude, Freeze Tag!
I remember trying to get my little brother to jump off the roof of the garage. We were up there with him trying to coax him to do it. I slipped and fell off. No broken bones, but it knocked the wind out of me. Needless to say he wouldn’t jump.
Remember a triple dog dare? No matter what, You gotta do it!! Or you’re a wuss…..
I forgot the rolling on barrells to see who could stay up longest… The only time I remember getting hurt was when we went swimming..or started to go swimming….at Spring Creek and as soon as my sister and I went out on a sand levy to get into the water we both cut our feet on jagged glass sticking out. Stiches for me. Almost cut off my big toe….oh, and the next year I cut it in the same place in the ditch out back..more stiches. Guess we were lucky but we didn’t spend a lot time crying over it……went right back out and climbed the pecan tree to the very top and swayed in the wind. The thread is too much fun. lol
Getting in a tire and rolling down hills was fine. Couldn’t do that when we moved to Houston though…no hills. Somebody had to push the tire.
Fasternu, your big mistake on the roof was not having your cape. You’d have been just fine if you’d had your cape on.
One of my favorite things to do was to walk on top of the swing set. We had one of those big, steel, ones that was the envy of the neighborhood. If I fell it was on St. Augustine grass so no biggy. Would scare my Aunt Bessie to death. Of course Aunt Bessie wasn’t my aunt at all. All the neighborhood kids called her that…and Aunt Mae….and Grandma Prejean. My mom worked (dad took a hike when I was four) while the six of us kids took care of each other….along with the neighbors yelling at us for doing stupid stuff. lol. You see….back then it was a real neighborhood…were folks knew each other….shared veggies and helped out when they could. My neighbors now don’t care to know me or the wife..though we have tried to be friendly. Sad situation out there.
I know….I know……way too much information. lol
Sorry. Got carried away.
#51 Luv2hammer:
My post was cut short. There was a tongue in cheek referral to my comment that didn’t get posted. I knew you were a cop! My Pop was a Cop for 22 years. Thanks for your service!
Big #62: You’re correct. I used an old sheet with a superman emblem drawn on it with my super duper pack of 96 crayolas. Worked everytime! I believe I have a photo somewhere my folks took, but I’ll be danged if I’ll go look for it and post it!
Anyone remember tree houses? We made ours from any scrap lumber, cardboard and nails we could find or “borrow”, wood strips from furniture and appliance crates and a strip of tin for a roof and a rope ladder with knots tied every foot or so. Spent the night in one when I was about 8 or 9, rain came during the night and we got soaked, but wouldn’t go in the house for nothing! Man, what a blast!
#61 Butch: Good stuff, huh? Brings back some great memories. Glad that I can still remember them. I’m going to copy some of these and share with my two grandsons. They’ll never believe some of the things we did as kids!
I recently had a friend say that with homework and organized sports his daughter didn’t have time to waste just playing. He was proud of that too.
Some of us must be getting old, this is a nice trip down memory lane. I haven’t seen anyone mention rock fights or holding fire crackers long enought so they would explode before they hit the ground when dropped. Dumbest thing I remember is climbing a 350′ radio tower just to say that we did it, sometimes more than once. BB gun fights were a regular part of the entertainment, especially when we had one in a friends house while his parents were out of town.
We used to throw ropes from the train cars behind the South Main Drive In over the fence and crawl over and listen to the movies next to somebody’s car until the old man would chase us out. Couldn’t do that once they opened the McClendon Triple….no train cars, metal fences that were too high.
I for got to mention putting the clear plastic on the old black and white TV and having to draw an excape route for Tom Terrific when he got into trouble.
#65 - I remember tree houses well. We also spent the night up there…woke up next morning drenced from dew…we fried crayfish tails down at the ditch and dared the other to eat them. Back then we didn’t think it would ever be on a menu. My borther worked at Kiddie Wonderland Park out on South Main. He ran the horses. He would catch a freigh train on Hardy and ride it out there and back. He always smelled like the horses. We slept together and I always dreaded him coming home. lol. Six kids (4) girls and (2) boys and mom in a two bedroom house. What fun! I shot a BB gun at the paper boy from way off and was shocked that it hit him. Never felt so bad. They came calling that night but I stayed at the supper table. lol Who??? Me???
#62 - speaking of capes, when my son was about 3 he crawled on top of the picnic table and tried to fly. Needless to say he landed face first on the concrete and had the scabs to show it. Guess if that happened now I would have been hauled off to CPS.
I’m lovin’ this thread, but business calls. I actually have money to put INTO the bank for a change, so must take my leave. Nobody get hurt while I’m gone, okay?
As an adult now, I have to look back and wonder how much lumber and hardware housing contractors had to factor into each unit for undocumented treehouse contractors?
#74 Big:
LOL! We never thought about that when we were building them but…. that is priceless! I had an appliance store a couple of blocks away when growing up. They were a great source of wood for tree houses and club houses.
Dodge ball ruled… It was great to bash the head of some kid with the ball from close range. Plus, it was a real rush to dive for cover when the other side had me in the same position….
I hate what liberalism has done to America. No more Dodge ball. Everyone is all gay and sissy now.
We won WW2 because boys who knew how to fire guns came out of the towns across the nation. Now, feminist dykes have nuetered our boys and no one knows how to shoot a gun anymore….
What country can survive like this?
I say, give every boy a gun when he’s 7 or 8 and teach him how to shoot things… Boys shooting and killing things is good for liberty and freedom… It might make h.clinton’s Brownshirts think twice when they start coming…
Liberals make me want to puke…
Well, wasn’t that something. We didn’t call it dodge ball. That was a wimpy name. We used a more macho name…BOMBARDMENT….and it was played with a BASKETBALL, not a volley ball.
Poll question is up.
#76
A basketball? Ouch!!
I remember a kid in our neighborhood he was about 12 or 13 with a glass eye. He got his eye put out with a bottle rocket. (Sometime mom was right) He lit one and put it in a can or bottle, I forget which. It had a slow fuse and he leaned over to see what the deal was and….SHOOM! Right into his eye!
Pine cone fights at the bus stop waiting for the bus!
I can’t tell you what we did at a bus stop once. I’m not sure if the statute of limitations has passed!
Big
Did it involve a pussum, duct tape, a quart of Mazola and a harmonica?
Today’s topic made me really reminisce: Not that it ways too dangerous, but the guys sometimes use to play hide and seek with the girls. When it was the girls time to hide, the guys would go off somewhere else and play catch, football or something. We never did know how long the girls stayed hidden. When confronted later, we’d always say we couldn’t find them and gave up. That only worked a couple of times!
Are we as a nation going to demand “safer bullets” as did Joycelyn Elders? Let kids be kids, for crying out loud. Please stop the insanity.
No, it involved a home made stuffed dummy and a couple of ropes. When the bus turned the corner the dummy stood up right in front of the bus. Result: Bus located in front yard of the twins (who both happened to be cute).
We used to hide in a huge tree in my grandma’s yard. On garbage day, we would wait for the garbage man to get off the truck. When he walked away, we’d whistle like they did to let the driver know to go to the next house. They’d drive off with him chasing after….
Anybody here ever go pop bottle hunting? That was way back there when you could get money back coke and other soda bottles. We would get up before dawn to begin our search, which sometimes led us into certain garages or back porches! (Nothing was locked in those days). We’d take the bottles to the store, get the deposit back and go spend our “hard-earned” $$’s!
Neocon, small bottles were 2 cents, big bottles a nickle, and if you got REALLY lucky, 25 cents for a milk bottle!!
68 Big45Iron
Thru the magic of Google you can capture the ghost of the McClendon Triple on S. Main.
Wonder why kids are fat now? One mother got a note from her kids teacher to tell them not to run aimlessly around the playground. Gee…when I was a kid I always know where I was going and why.
Big45Iron
Exactly! Although I never saw or hunted for any milk bottles. A really successful morning could get you into a movie that afternoon!
Neocon - I thought we were the only ones to hunt soda bottles. We spent hours. The store close to our house hated to see us coming. lol. They got to where they wouldn’t take them if they were too dirty. The milk bottle was a true find. Sounds like a lot of folks here were the same as me…..I thought we were dirt poor but it does seem like we were all in the same boat. We also had a big pecan tree in the back (that I used to jump from the garage to) and we would go down the streets selling one pound bags. Great memories all.
#90 - My daughter was looking at some old pictures of my wife when she did competition square dancing. She commented how everyone was so slim. Exercise did that. My wife and I met at a square dance on my birthday….we square danced 5 nites a week until we married then just quit. lol
Climbed to the top of the water tower situated next to Westbury High School. Up the narrow ladder to a platform then to another ladder that led to a volcano hole at the tip of that pale green mushroom. Wandered around on top of that sucker one Saturday night, looking at the twinkly lights of the surrounding neighborhood and the blackness of the football field. A dangerous enviornment to be playing around in. Man, the things you never told your parents about.