Common Activities When We Were Kids That Would Be Considered Irresponsible Or Dangerous Today

We went barefoot as much as possible, so there were a lot of incidents with broken glass and rusty nails. My dad would sew us up and administer tetanus or penicillin shots as needed.

Our road was tarred freshly every year and in summer the tar was hot and gooey. We couldn't come in the house until we had cleaned off our feet with the rag and bottle of gasoline that always sat on the back stoop. Yeah, kid, here's some gasoline for you to rub on yourself.

 

I'm just glad we didn't know each other as kids, double trouble. Only I never gathered coal. But I also can't say anyone felt sorry for me when the stripes were delivered.
I would sneak into the neighbor's pasture and ride his horse or jump on my rowdy donkey Katys back. She really knew how to peel you off between two trees or buck till under her neck then drag till your back looked like ground beef. She wasn't trying to hurt me all would have been fine if I'd just turned loose. I walk towards her saying" I'm agonna get me a ride" those long beautiful ears would go back as she kicked out a leg,like she was saying 'make my day kiddo'.
Sneak down to the lake and swim and get stiped all the way back to the front of the property. Build unsafe tree huts that seem to only hurt the 'good' kids when the limb broke, and the hut feel on top of them. Or build tunnels that almost buried us alive, very scary being in a premature burial situation. Always dealing with snakes in the water and out.
But I loved the country life always tried to get my kids there, but life had other plans.

 

Oh yeah... barefoot was always my footwear of choice (and still is for that matter). I can remember after it rained my mother would make me wear shoes because she didn't want me to get "ground itch." I'm not sure what that was, but it sounded like something I wanted to avoid.

 

Did you stump your toes too? I know I did.

 

Yeah, plus assorted bee stings and splinters. Good times.

 

You forgot nails, Which always meant a dr visit and tetanus shot. There was 10 of us kids between aunt and momma.

 

I don't believe I ever stepped on a nail but I had plenty of other mishaps.

 

Right before my 6th b-day our farmhouse burned down it was huge back then rooms were larger than they are today, and all bedroom's had fireplaces in them. And us kids seemed to like that area to play in where lots of old rusty nails were.

 

By the time I was a teenager my family had moved to Texas since my dad took a job in the oil industry. Each fall we'd travel "back home" to see family for a 2-week vacation. When I was about 15, my parents were going but I was in high school so I stayed home... alone. My brother was in college and my sister had married, so I stayed at home by myself. Yep, the parents loaded up the Chrysler and drove off 800 miles away without a backward glance. I wasn't even nervous about being alone, and the only dumbass thing I did was lighting the space heater. I turned on the gas and went to look for matches. Returned and struck the match and WHOOOOOOSH!!! No eyebrows and my bangs were crispy.

 

Oh my you were lucky it didn't ignite. We were always left with nanny's but some of them were worse than being left alone, one was bad to drink, it a wonder she didn't burn the house down herself.

 

I did that with a wood-fired waterheater once. Got impatient and squirted kerosene on the wood when the flames died down. Same result ..... a spectacular gout of flames and frizzled eyebrows and bangs. I didn't do that again.

 

Thank goodness neither of you got burned any worse.

 

Namaste Faye. Wow! Very gutsy! Hurts to think of you kids on that sheet-metal sled going downhill at high speed. Damn the danger, full speed ahead!

 

Faye, great post! Incredible! I thought I had a reckless and dangerous youth. Mine fades in comparison to yours. Very interesting adventures. ROFL.

 

Namaste Marie, being dragged by the donkey must have been fun, along with the unsafe tree huts, and being buried alive. LOL.