Times change.. I don't

[VE7NOT]

Jeff Foxworthy made comemnts on kids toys on the the Blue Collar Comedy shows mentioning things like lawn darts, wood burning kits and swing sets

Let me say right now my kids do NOT have those toys with labels on them.

I had caps and caps guns when I was younger. No instructions and no warnings. 12 midnight.. air is still... take a rolls of caps.. slam then with a hammer! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif Wow not only did it start a cool small fire but lights when on all down the road.

The Swing set I did have. Jeff is right. The front legs did go up and down as you swung. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

Then there was my dad's hobby Model Airplanes. He made me become a Junior MAAC/AMA member. I rmember quite a few cuts from 049 engines.

Don't forget slingshots. I usually hit my target. Once though I let it go the wrong way and the ball-bearing I was hurling slammed downward into my wrist. Boy I think I passed out it hurt so much http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wow.gif

Then the taboggan. On top of a big hil I waited until late December for a few inches of snow to fall in a night. That was all it took to get the tobaggon moving. Of course this was homebuilt.. no brakes and a stiff steering system. I hit a few trees.

I won't mention the pellet guns.

Of course by my teenage years totalling cheap $100 cars on a gravel road was more dangerous then those toys but the point stands.

The new generations will be total wimps. Not if I can help it! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[KC2MDP]

Ahhhh # the good 'ole days. When we were kids we'd get up at 6 in the morning, watch a little TV on the old black and white (Bugs Bunny,The Little Rascals) and by 8 we were out the door until dinner time. After dinner we were out until we were called in. As kids we made our own fun, Stick ball, Riding our bikes, building club houses and forts and just goofed off. Today's kids are'nt happy unless there entertained, be it video games, the internet, the DVD player in the Minivan and that darn cell phone. What does a 10 year old kid need a cell phone for?
#I look around the neighborhood and see very few kids, well being kids. There all inside watching the idiot box or on the computer text messaging one another or playing on there very expensive X box....... What the HE double L happened?

[kf6rdn]

I Thank god my kids aren't doing what I did as a kid.
Pellet/BB guns, CO2 cartridges packed with match heads, things that go KABOOM!! in various ways, bits of shrapnel found in my best friend's yard a block away from a mis-packed "rocket". My "saving grace", in spite of all that being a good deal of common sense, knowing when I was "pushing the envelope" (ducking well behind a corner on the "rocket" escapade")

Not to mention various stunts on bikes, skateboards etc.. War wounds to show for those.

Yes I like that my kids enjoy their balance of video games/TV, sports and hobbies and are not bored to create their own... Hobbies.

[al2n]

You forgot about riding around in cars without seatbelts and riding in the back of a pick up truck.

I grew up in the country and we did all kinds of things that should have killed us. Actually now that I think about it, the things we used to do actually did kill a couple of us. Lost one friend when he tried to make his own rocket fuel. All that was left of the shed he was in were some splinters and a small crater. Shed was full of ammonium nitrate and other chemicals that were used around the farm.

My personal favorite was to make dry ice bombs.

[N0WVA]

Quote[/b] (al2n @ July 09 2006,01:26)]You forgot about riding around in cars without seatbelts and riding in the back of a pick up truck.

I grew up in the country and we did all kinds of things that should have killed us. #Actually now that I think about it, the things we used to do actually did kill a couple of us. #Lost one friend when he tried to make his own rocket fuel. #All that was left of the shed he was in were some splinters and a small crater. #Shed was full of ammonium nitrate and other chemicals that were used around the farm.

My personal favorite was to make dry ice bombs.
Kids still die from buildings exploding.....except now instead of making rocket fuel, its meth.

[al2n]

And terrorist attacks, fellow students bringing bombs to school, etc...

It is a different world for kids these days, that is for sure.

[KA9VQF]

When my daughter was much younger we bought her a hobby horse. They are mounted on a frame and hang from springs.

I don’t remember how many times she took a spill off that thing.

None of her injuries were bad enough to take her to the emergency room. I’m betting that today’s parents would have tho.

We got her a used swing set back then. While I was putting it together I decided that it was in to bad of condition to actually use it so we went to Sears and charged a brand new bigger one.

I think all the kids in the neighborhood came to our yard to play on it, I put 3 foot long carriage bolts in the ground by each leg of the thing and had little L brackets bolted to the leg to help keep it from tipping.

When I got rid of the other I saved the swing chains and seats. They are still on the thing out in the yard. The new ones didn’t last a year.

We still have a set of lawn jarts, two complete croquet sets, a shuffleboard set, badminton set, in the basement is a dart board with metal tipped darts, all kinds of things that can injure someone if you work hard enough at it.

I had a pool for a very short time. It was just a little 2 foot deep maybe six feet around thing. I was still figuring out how I was going to get enough of the yard leveled with the sand I bought when the local ordinance officer stopped by to tell me all about how I couldn’t put it where I was planning because it had to be so many feet from the edge of the property and about the six foot tall lockable hurricane fence that had to be installed.

Oh, I got it up and filled, but tore it out the next year anyway. Sold it for what I had paid. I threw in the chemicals and fence on the deal.

Between the city rules and common sense kids are a bit limited in what they can do these days. It seems to me to be a conspiracy to make them into house bound TV/computer/video game slugs.

There are even restrictions on bicycle riding here in town. If they were strictly enforced there would be no way to ride your bike to the approved bike trail. You would have to take it by car/truck or maybe carry it to the start of the trail.

In my youth I was somewhat of a basement bomber. The few books I kept are in a place where no one is likely to find them unless and until I die and they do a really good cleaning out of everything. Even then they may not find them right away.

[k6pme]

Quote[/b] (KA9VQF @ July 09 2006,08:32)]None of her injuries were bad enough to take her to the emergency room. I’m betting that today’s parents would have tho. #
You almost got that right. Todays parents call 911 and then yours truly gets to go out and tell them if thier lil' darlings are all right or not. Vary rarely do we tell them it all right and go home. The liabilty is horrendous so we usually transport. Every now and then we really do have a significantly injured child. Once in while we will have a fatality. Those suck.

The more worrisome problem is teenage drivers.