When you were a kid...

Danalana wrote: what did you do to occupy yourself? I mean, what did you do for fun? I really was SO easy, especially since people are usually saying boys are easier. I didn't play with dolls because I didn't like that they didn't "do anything". I swear, I could go outside with a spoon and stay out til dark (except coming in for lunch). I would dig in the dirt (with the spoon) make mud pies, climb trees etc...I also loved playing any kind of ball and played with the neighborhood boys. We had an atari (and later a nintendo), but I mostly played outside. It's amazing how times have changed and kids spend so much time inside playing video games of some sort. Hehe, I'm not a fuddy duddy...I do hope to have my kids outside a lot though. Nothing wrong with video games and stuff, but man I had so much fun playing outside I want my kids to experience that. What did yall do?

DVFlyer replied: From what I remember, we did similar things as you. I remember riding bikes EVERYWHERE. Trying to build a tunnel from our house to my friend's house. Building forts out of whatever we could find.

Good topic.

Celestrina replied: 1. riding my bike
2. swimming
3. playing with my dolls and action figures - I loved everything from Barbie to Star Wars.
4. On Saturday mornings or when the weather was bad, I might watch tv.
5. When we went camping and I wasn't doing #1-4, I was usually finding toads for the other kids.

I had an Atari, but was never very good with video games.

luvbug00 replied: this is so funny to think about because i remember being outdoors all the time and playing inside with so many toys. But I can't get mya to do it for her life. she is achild of technology and it's really sad for me to not see her enjoy her toys the way i did mine.

Danalana replied: Heck yeah! I loved bikes and bugs (hate bugs now though, hehe)...and building forts too! I'm tellin you, those were the days. Even food was better then!

Crystalina replied: We were always outside until the street lights came on.

my2monkeyboys replied: Same here - I was rarely inside, except for Sat morning, then I'd eat cereal and watch cartoons for the hour or 2 that they were on.
Other than that, it was climbing, digging, biking, building, whatever we could get into.
I think a huge difference now-a-days is that there is so much to worry about - there are so many freaks out there willing and able to snatch kids at a moments notice, it's hard to feel safe letting them outside, particularly if they're alone or live in a more populated area. That's what I am so sad about...

grapfruit replied: 1) Hide and Seek was number 1 (all day event) - sucked being "it" we'd dress in dark clothes and hide in trees and stuff.
2) building a "club house" (including nailing boards in the trees)
3) bikes, bikes, bikes
4) we used to play "highway". I lived on a tiny street, basically an alley and everyone had wide driveways. We'd have "filling stations", "restaurants" and stuff and we'd ride our bikes, scooters, or roller blade up and down the "highway".
5) Games like SPUD (loved that game), Pickle, football, wiffle ball, kick ball

I remember other things like, "making soup" w/out side stuff (we had chives growing by the house), wild strawberries, this cool road dirt that was like really fine gravel

I seriously NEVER "played" w/toys. Just active outside.

~Roo'sMama~ replied: I was always outside. I would bring my dolls outside, or I'd ride my bike, climb trees, tramp through the grove, dig in the sandbox, play in the playhouse, or hunt in the barn for kittens. I built a "treehouse" (more like a platform) in a big tree in the very back of our grove with a friend of mine, and I loved to go there - when I had friends over we'd bring our dolls and play runaways.

I'm so excited for us to be at my parents' house for a couple years - Andrew is going to love living in the country. We have such a small yard right now, and it's so frustrating that there just isn't a whole lot they can do out there.

DillsMommy replied: I was just thinking about this today. I would play outside ALL day. We would make up games, ride bikes, tag, hide and go seek, make mud pies, pull out my moms daffodils and "cook" with them. Ahhh--those were the days. I would love to be a kid again, even for just a day. I wish Dylan was like me. I have the hardest time getting him to play outside. He got a swingset for his birthday, and he would still rather be inside...

youngmomofone replied: I rode my bike a lot, played with barbies and dolls, and just stayed outside all day long. I miss those days.

Danalana replied: I forgot hide-and-seek, jumping rope, sit-n-spin and taking things apart so I could put them back together again

mckayleesmom replied: We were outside all the time......I could still hear my mom saying "stay in or stay out, but quit opening the front door because Im not air conditioning the neighborhood".......

So we always chose outside.

Calimama replied: Played with my neighbors kids at the pool all day, played with Barbies, ran around outside. We NEVER stayed in on a summer day!

kimberley replied: almost always outside... swimming, bike riding, playground, jumpsie rope, tag..
only indoor things i can think of were board games, reading, cards or tv.

Danalana replied: I loved all that too...reading was my favorite thing, as far as indoor things go. I read every night, I think. We played board games or cards at night or if the weather was bad.

luvmykids replied:
Me too, I was a bookworm My mom had to make me go outside b/c I'd rather have read, but once I got outside it was all of the above.

We (me and the nieghbor kids) would also play Wonder Woman (complete with foil on our wrists and head ) and Charlie's Angels

I only watched tv for the time they were on Saturday mornings.

Our Lil' Family replied: I remember riding bikes until the street lights came on! My mom was never outside watching me though...now, there's no way I'd let Thomas (even when he's older) play outside alone.

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
Oh me too! I always got a big stack of books from the library every tuesday after piano lessons, and I'd be done with them by the weekend. We liked to play games too... especially Yahtzee and cribbage.

TANNER'S MOM replied: Oh man I had fun. I went fishing with my cousin in the pond all the time. My dad took me fishing alot. I rode my bike everywhere. Rode my horses. Played with dogs and other animals. Made mud pies and I remember working hard in the garden but it seemed like fun to me. Rodeo's and horseback riding took alot of time. I read alot too but only after it was dark outside. We never came in until after dark and that was after someone yelled and yelled at us. My Dad would put up a tent for us to sleep in alot. And I remember working on stuff with my Dads tools. Painting my bicycle etc. I think I was a boy!

gr33n3y3z replied: Riding the horse and riding dirt bikes and 4 wheelers on the beach and through the woods
Playing football
Hide and seek at night and yes most of the time in the woods LOL
Camping out in the fields
Playing basketball
Fishing
Crabbing
Swimming in the pool when the weather allowed it
hanging down the camp grounds
Working
I played baseball all summer also
Softball in High School
and so much more

Teesa®© replied: I grew up on a farm - well, a few, we moved a lot - and was ALWAYS outside. One of our last places had a huge cornfield and a forest. I was pretty much the only one left at home by then. I used to run nekkid through the cornfield

Even at 4 or 5, I was riding my tricycle a couple of concessions over to play with my friends. When I got to be about 8 or so, I'd ride my bike into town and spend the afternoon at the library. It took me bout 1/2 hour to get there.

I never had dollies, I had Tonka's!!! And every week, my Daddy would buy me a new Play Mobile person [Lego]. I would spend hours on my Pogo Stick... on the cement

Anyone remember that Chinese game.... it had two very hard red balls about the size of plums, each was attached to a rope on a ring and you had to lift and lower your hand to click the balls together above and below your wrists? They're illegal - have been for years - because too many children were breaking their wrists with them.

This is what I had as a child:


This is the lame option children now-a-days get:


Anyone else here ever had one?

DillsMommy replied:
I remember having these as a kid. They weren't very exciting....

Boo&BugsMom replied: All of the above. We lived outside. We also would hike up to the neighborhood kids houses a couple blocks away to play and not think anything of it. My parents trusted us, and there wasn't much to worry about back then so walking a couple blocks alone at 6 years old was no big deal. Wish I could let Tanner do that. I would leave the house and my mom would just tell me to be home by lunch/dinner.

I loved my Barbies, my bike, swimming, and I loved sledding in the snow.

What I loved most was camping in our backyard. We would set up tents in our yard and camp out every weekend.

mommymommy replied: We swam all summer long!! We sakteboarded, played with dolls, builkt forts etc..