Climbing trees like Tarzan, riding bikes without even thinking of wearing a helmet, turning abandoned buildings into playgrounds—these are just a few of the things kids used to do back in the day that would make today’s parents cringe. But for some, these activities fostered some of the best childhood memories.
Members of the ‘Ask Old People’ community recently shared things they did as children that would have parents worrying today. Curious to see what adventures people embarked on as kids? Here are their stories:
Unsupervised play deep in the woods. It was glorious.
Utterlybored, Sebastian Unrau Report
Pure freedom!!
Does anyone remember the scalding hot metal playgrounds in the summer as kids?
ChillwithRon, Loegunn Lai Report
Loved burning a couple of layers of skin!!
Played with my friends on construction sites after the workers were gone. From about age 8-10, they built new homes in my neighborhood. We had so much fun playing in houses that were just wooden frames!
Chanandler_Bong_01, Brett Jordan Report
I did this. Scaffolding was like a giant jungle gym.
Riding in the bed of a pickup truck.
Infamous-Depth5982, Moth_Mentality Report
Where else were you supposed to sit when the cab was full?!?!
Going to the public pool all day with a couple of my friends, minus any adults. We’d either ride our bikes or one of the moms would drop us off there at opening time and pick us up late that afternoon at a pre-arranged time. We all somehow survived it.
DeeDee719 Report
It was and is still common in my hometown that kids go to school by themselves. But this is Germany.
Walked to the store by myself at 9 years old to get some items for my mom. My friends and I made an Evil Knievel kind of ramp over a creek that ran in the back of our houses. We then tried jumping it on our bikes. No helmets of course. I was maybe 11 or 12.
Ineffable7980x, Anete Lusina Report
I am pretty glad to live in an area where walking to the store at 9 (and to school, friends’ houses etc.) is perfectly normal and safe.
I grew up in a small town in Indiana. My sisters were 7 and 10 years older than me, and mom’s rule was they couldn’t leave me alone at home, so I tagged along with them and their boyfriends all the time. Indiana is littered with abandoned quarries, and they’re the best swimming holes you can find. 10 to 100 acres big, 200 to 500 feet deep, or more. They’d fill with rainwater over the years, and with no current, they would just warm in the summer sun to about 85 degrees or more. However, below 15′ or so, the water was about 58 degrees year-round. While the boyfriends were 17-21, I was 10/11. And when the boys climbed up the walls and jumped into the water, I would follow. You kept your shoes on and dropped feet-first into the water, but you would zip down to 30′ or more instantly. The cold shock would zip up your body and take your breath away, then it’s time to struggle back to the surface. Sometimes, you’d run out of air about 2 or 3 feet down, and it’s the most terrible feeling to expend your last bit of energy to cover that remaining distance to sweet, sweet air. Looking back, I can’t believe we did that. It was never Mom Approved™.
romeo343, Brina Blum Report
Bet you never told her, either…
Babysitting younger kids at the age of 10. I guess I was responsible enough with my siblings that even neighbors would ask to hire me. Plus I’m male. Unheard of, especially nowadays.
Slacker-Steve, Lina Kivaka Report
Different times, I’m 70 now but in the mid-60s when I was about 10, during summer holidays, I would be out with mates at the park playing football from early morning until it got dark. I’d take something to eat and drink. I had a key to my house and was perfectly capable of cooking myself something basic if needed. It was different, and in my mind, better times.
We lived on a lake with channels that went on for miles through the woods. I used to get on my bike and spend the day catching frogs, crawdads, turtles, and snakes. Sometimes I would build a small fire and eat the crawdads and frogs.
Intelligent_Put_3594 Report
If it smells like cucumber, leave it alone!!
Delivering newspapers and collecting the money. 11-15-year-olds waking up at 4:30-5:00 am daily. Sitting on a corner (by themselves sometimes) and riding a bike around the neighborhood trying to throw newspapers onto people’s porches. Then every two weeks, going to every house to collect the money. Sometimes carrying $50-100 in a pouch. To top it off, it was considered ok to be welcomed into houses during winter while collecting the money.
porkchop_d_clown, Brian Matangelo Report
In Germany, almost every public pool has high dives
Sitting in my dad’s lap while he drove, and regularly sitting in the front seat at ages 2-6 between the seats to see where we were going. I even pushed the lighter in the car so mom could smoke while we drove around (pretty sure all the windows were up, too).
joeyrunsfast, Danique Godwin Report
I got carsick if I couldn’t see where I was going, so I used to sit in the middle back seat with a lap-belt fortunately we never crashed!
B-B Gun wars
Successful_Ride6920 Report
For the most part, my parents kept me on a fairly tight leash, but one thing I never understood is why my parents thought it was okay to send me on foot to kindergarten without an adult. The trail started behind the barrier of a dead-end street, wound past a cornfield, then past an apartment complex before it took me to school. Today someone would call CPS for letting their 5-year-old do something like that.
nakedonmygoat Report
I hitchhiked everywhere I went from 1974 – 1984. Lots of serial killers were active and out there at the time. I am convinced that God had his hand over me (still does!).
BurnerLibrary, Atlas Green Report
My best friend and I were spit sisters. You each spit into your hand, then rubbed and shook each other’s hand. Less cleanup than the blood brothers’ pledge.
ImCrossingYouInStyle Report
Buying cigarettes at age 8 (for my mom who provided a note), riding in the back of a pickup truck on the highway, no seatbelts, driving at age 10 (with dad in the passenger seat) on country roads, hitchhiking with my dad after our car broke down, and my car seat as a baby was a laundry basket on the floor of the car.
debbie666 Report
We had BB gun fights. Only 2 rules, no shooting anyone above the belly and if you had a pump-up BB-pellet gun, no more than 2 pumps. Think paintball with BB guns.
chileheadd Report
There was a medical clinic near our house. They would dump the test tubes full of blood into the big trash can. We liked those glass tubes with stoppers so we pulled them out and washed out the tubes so we could play with them.
saywhat252525, Possessed Photography Report
My family was among the first residents of the newly developed town I grew up in (moved there in 1964 as some of the first 3000 residents) and there were new houses being built all over including nearby through the 1970s. My sisters and I along with the other kids in the neighborhood would play in the houses before the “skin” was put on. These days I imagine if there was a new house being built they’d put a chain-link fence around it to keep people out but not those days.
Jurneeka Report
anon, AGuyFromMaryland Report
Playing with real, live explosives we found in the woods. My friends and I used to disarm live ammunition and add it to my collection. I knew how to unload Japanese and American frag grenades, knee mortars, and shells below 40mm. I was eleven.
fgsgeneg Report
This is the most dangerous of all. Forget hitchhiking, construction sites, and homemade rockets, disarming live ammunition is a no-no.
Building model rockets from scratch… before laws became stricter on buying solid rocket engines. We created two-staged rockets and even involved some fireworks to track their flight paths.
ron69booom Report
Anyone remember running after the “smoke truck” that sprayed insecticide in neighborhoods? So dangerous!
slowpoke257, Viktor Talashuk Report
Everyone had bottle rocket wars with friends. How did we not put an eye out?
SCCock, AutomaticDoubt5080 Report
Riding in the back of my dad’s truck on lawn chairs—once for hours during vacation!
FireRescue3 Report
Today’s childhood isn’t less memorable; it’s just different. While we once enjoyed freedom, kids now have structured activities and the benefits of technology. These days parents rightly have to balance safety with fostering independence.
