Bring back the good o' days, Things ..........

[LanaJae]

Click-Clacks, I think I still have a piece embedded in my head

Playing cat's cradle with string

4 Square

Drowsy Doll ("I wanna nother drink of waaaaater")

Spider eggs in Bubble Yum!

Painter's Pants; Dr. Scholl's; Docksider Shoes that had to be tied special with the leather wrapped around one end; bumper shoes then later only Pumas/Adidas/Nikes or you were a loser; big comb in back pocket until it wore a hole through your pocket; Satin jackets

Fonzie or Farrah

Donny Osmund records that had a photo that popped out of the center of the album

QT suntan lotion

Keg parties every weekend

Reading every single word on the cereal box

Velvet or Chrissy doll (their hair grew)

Fuzzy Wuzzy Bear Soap (grew hair and had a prize inside - my favorite memory)

Skipper Doll debut

Trampolines with no net or warnings

Blue eyeshadow that went to your brows, then later sparkly eye-liner

Every mom had a shag haircut like Mrs. Partridge

Someone said Lip Smackers - couldn't live without that HUGE one in the pocket that the big comb wasn't in

Sea-Monkeys (they're baaaaack)

Sending away for prizes from Bazooka Bubble Gum

5 cent Jolly Rancher sticks

Land of the Lost

CartoonDay was Saturday, never referred to as anything else - but Davy and Goliath was on Sunday

Moon Boots

Air conditioning in a car - that's for rich people! Dad called it 4-40 (4 windows down, 40 mph)

Lime Green Vegas (or the ever-exploding rival Pinto)

Up Your Nose with a Rubber Hose

Earth Shoes (your toes were elevated)

The Electric Company and also Conjunction Junction What's Your Function?

We are Two Wild and Crazy Guys!

Real, original Coca Cola, then New Coke, then Coke Classic - Coke Classic is nothing like what it was before New Coke

Pet Rocks

 

[LanaJae]

I read this an hour ago and i have not thinking about it - so here is my reply.
I remember all the things listed, my fondest memory is when i was going into 9th grade, riding my bike across town( 8 miles) to get to the quarry to swim when it opened at 10am, and stay all day everyday of summer, then riding my bike back home do be home in time for dinner. I gasp at that thought now that i am older, & Lazy LOL

but the reason i have thought about this post since i read it an hour ago is WHY is it so hard to let our children do the same things we did?? I am not looking for a debate, but i am unsure i would let my DD who is 15 ride her bike to the quarry? why is it that once we are parents, we are afraid to let our children explore and have a great summer?
I also have an 8 YO that i worry about constantly.......where she is, is she hurt....etc. WHY>?
seems like a double standard and it's driving me nutz......I used to ride my bike all over, all day and really i must admit I had 2 run in's with cars ( no serious injury) but my mom still let me ride my bike around the block. Again i GASP when DD8 ask's to ride around the block ( i see visions of cars in the alley not stopping )

am i an uptight mom? I don't want to be

Nah, you're not uptight, you're just a good mom. The one thing that people don't like to acknowledge is that there were a lot of childhood deaths and tons of accidents. My best friend was hit by a motorcycle and killed riding her bike, another friend died when someone threw an "Off!" can into a fire (longer story than that, but that's how it started), another was in traction for a year falling off the monkey bars, another kid was "hip-checked" through an all-glass 2nd story window at the jr. high. I think there was a lot more sexual abuse too, but no one warned anyone or talked about it.

My husband was playing in a car when he was 4, pushed in the parking brake, it started rolling and he fell out and it ran over him. I don't know how he survived! Both of his brothers were hit by cars riding their bikes. My brother got a stick in his eye. I remember hearing of drownings all the time and kids locking themselves in old refrigerators. Also remember kids getting backed over by cars playing in the driveway or riding their Big Wheel down an incline and getting hit in the street. An entire family of kids in a nearby town burned in a fire because they all hid under the bed (and their parents left them alone to go to the Legion) - no one thought about warning kids about fire.

We are MUCH better parents!

 

[aprilvaca04]

You took mine . Do you remember almost killing yourself when the rubber on the bottem of the Dr. Scholl's wore off and you were left walking on some hard plastic. When I got alittle older my mom bought me Candie's basically Dr. Scholl's with high heels.

I'm also convinced that the reason I am not a good cook is that my mom refused to buy me an easy bake oven. She thought I'd get burned from the light bulb inside.

Shrinky Dinks (funny I couldn't play with a light bulb in a play oven but could help use the real oven for shrinky dinks)???

Colorforms

Jelly Shoes

Banana bike Seats

Using Sun In and turning my hair a nice shade of orange/blond/brown

Colorforms!!!! Loved them!! And of course banana seat bikes...with long sissy bars if you were lucky! Better to do "wheelies" with!

 

[aprilvaca04]

I didn't get a chance to read all the posts so I apologize in advance if it's a repeat but does anyone rememeber Chrissy and Velvet dolls?? The ones whose hair grew when you turned the knob on the back? One was a blonde and one a brunette?

 

[MUFFYCAT]

The original Saturday Night Live cast
Chiller night on WOR NY

palm size sweethearts that would take forever to eat

 

[aprilvaca04]

I want some click-clacks!!!

They were great. Weren't they first made out of glass before they made them safer(haha) and made them out of plastic? And of course you had to have a soda can tab on the end to hold if your plastic ring broke!

 

[aprilvaca04]

remember these

Loved Magilla Gorilla! Thanks for the memory!

 

[LuckyMamaInDE]

I had Velvet and my sister had Chrissy! We loved those dolls

 

[Maybelle]

Know some of these, or most of these have already been mentioned, but here are my "rememberances..."

-lemon juice for hair hilights
-going rollerskating at the rink on Friday nights and bringing my new sneaker skates
-ABBA& Shawn Cassidy RECORDS!
-8 track tapes that would switch in the middle of a song!
-My mother's gremlin, brand new the day we picked it up!
-My dad getting a car seat from an old wreck and putting it in the back of his pickup, facing backwards for my sister and I to ride on, winter or summer (he did have a cap on the truck though)
-Playing Asteroids for hours on Atari
-playing PONG in black and white at the neighbors
-Christmas carolling around the neighborhood
-.25 ice cream from the ice cream man every day as a treat.
-riding my "inch worm" down the street
-Romper room and Romper Stompers
-making sno cones from the fresh fallen snow and maple syrup
-pop corn cooked with oil over the stove and melted butter poured over
-feet and ankles black from playing outside dawn to dusk in the summer


I could go on and on....the memories!!!

 

[Maybelle]

I didn't get a chance to read all the posts so I apologize in advance if it's a repeat but does anyone rememeber Chrissy and Velvet dolls?? The ones whose hair grew when you turned the knob on the back? One was a blonde and one a brunette?

I had a chrissy doll. I also had Drowsy, anyone remember her or Dressy Bessie?

Does anyone else besides me remember Double Fudge gum?? I used to love the stuff, but the thought of it now....UGH!

 

[Kaa]

Captain Kangaroo

Albums

Reading books (because we couldn't watch TV)

Transistor radios

It amazes me that things like cell phones, cordless phones, personal computers, laptops, iPods, CD players and DVDs have come along since I was a kid. We can communicate with people all over the world through the Internet. Technology is just astounding!

 

[trulygoofy]

I have the School House Rock DVD with all of the cartoons. I loved "No More King" and "Inter Planet Janet". My kids are not as big of fans!

I remember watching Auggie Doggie and Doggie Daddy, Grape Ape, Captain Caveman, Yogi Bear (and Boo Boo) Baby Huey, and Little Audrey. Captain Kangaroo and the Electric Company were two of my favorite shows.

I can't sew now and I blame my Holly Hobby sewing machine!
I never had and Easy Bake Oven or a Light Brite. I also wanted a rabbit fur jacket in grade school, but never got one. They were so soft, but at least I did not contribute to the tragic end of a few little bunnies...well maybe I did a little. I had a lucky rabbit's foot for a while there.

 

[LanaJae]

They were great. Weren't they first made out of glass before they made them safer(haha) and made them out of plastic? And of course you had to have a soda can tab on the end to hold if your plastic ring broke!

They were glass with flecks of metal in them - now, who came up with that idea?

My kids have a modified version now, they are attached to a long plastic rod (no forearm bruises)

 

[Sethsmom]

Captain Kangaroo, Romper Room, Bozo the Clown, Cousin Cliff Carol Burnett and I Love Lucy.

Eating boiled eggs on Easter that we had hidden all day and not getting sick.

Eating Sunday lunch, leaving it out on the stove and then eating it for supper and not getting sick.

Green Stamps (even a savings queen back then)

Cute ad jingles...Jack's Hamburgers and Fuzzy Wuzzy.

Using bathtub for Barbie's pool and trying to dry her hair by putting it next to a lightbulb. Burned it several times.

Staying out playing and not having to worry about getting abducted.

Popsicle man coming by the house and ringing the bell every afternoon.

 

[krismom]

What great memories!
Anyone have a "Baby Alive" doll? It looked like Chuckie and mine ended up with WORMS!
I loved playing Kick the Can and flashlight tag in the pitch black on summer nights (it was probably 8:00!)
Schoolhouse Rock and Atari were the best!

 

[LanaJae]

I had a chrissy doll. I also had Drowsy, anyone remember her or Dressy Bessie?!

Oh she was cute! I didn't have her. This made me think of Romper Room Stompers - the buckets that you walked on and of course slid and fell on the freshly waxed linoleum floor.

 

[aprilvaca04]

What great memories!
Anyone have a "Baby Alive" doll? It looked like Chuckie and mine ended up with WORMS!
I loved playing Kick the Can and flashlight tag in the pitch black on summer nights (it was probably 8:00!)
Schoolhouse Rock and Atari were the best!

Totally!!! Loved Kick the Can! My mom would let us stay out with the "big" kids (8-10) to play! Always got caught quickly because we were too busy trying to catch fireflies! Never had Baby Alive but my cousin did...was too scary for me

 

[LanaJae]

Husker Du - a toy/game commercial that had subliminal messages

 

[kfeuer]

Fun thread...my older sister and I used to love Little House on the Prairie, she was Mary and I was Laura. My mom bought us bonnets and we'd wear them while we watched

We didn't have a color TV until I was 6. My parents took us on a camping trip and it rained for days--my dad bribed us into going home by promising us a color TV.

My kids are going to think I'm old as dirt when I explain to them someday that when I was a kid we didn't have computers, big screen TVs, cell phones, fax machines, iPods, Tivo, PDA's, digital cameras, etc. We didn't have a microwave until I was a teenager.

Remember when arcade games became popular? I can remember one vacation where we spent every night playing Pac-Man at the arcade.

I'm thankful for all the safety advances like car seats, helmets, etc.--I just wish we had a safer world to go with it.

 

[njcarita]

I bet this just popped into your head

'I'm just a bill.
Yes, I'm only a bill.
And I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill'