Remember the good ol days?

[IassaFTots]

Did anyone else have to be the kid that got stuck holding the freaking antenna?  Oh, I hated that. 

[Thor]

Did anyone else have to be the kid that got stuck holding the freaking antenna?  Oh, I hated that. 

We were smarter than that. We used tin foil....... 

[thundley4]

We were smarter than that. We used tin foil....... 

That worked for the indoor antenna but not he one mounted on a pole.  It would turn , but only by hand after shinnying up the pole.

[Thor]

That worked for the indoor antenna but not he one mounted on a pole.  It would turn , but only by hand after shinnying up the pole.

The ELITE people had those  remote controlled motors on their TV antenna poles. I remember many a time going out and turning the antenna just a bit to clear up reception. In the Dallas suburbs, rabbit ears were usually enough.

[Evil_Conservative]

I'm a young'n and remember those days.  We would be outside until 9:30pm.  My parent's and their neighbor's still drag their lawn chairs over to each other's driveways and chat & have a few drinks in the summers.  I never see that here, so whenever I go back to visit, it's nice to see again. 

I like to read articles on Baby Center.  Last night, I came across a post by a mother who wanted to buy her 20 month old son an iPod touch for his birthday.  Not even two years old and this mother wanted to throw technology in her son's face.  It makes me wonder why kids can't just be kids today?  I let my daughter do kid things and have imagination play.  She will have plenty of time for technology and learning the in's and out's of it when she's older.  No 20 month old needs an i-Anything.

[Chris_]

I remember my first exposure to computers... I went to a magnet school in the fifth and sixth grades.  It was not easy but they did have regular computer courses (and mandatory foreign language classes.  Ask me about my German teacher.  I think they imported her from East Germany just to torture us.)  I mentioned it to my parents a few times... they eventually bought us a computer a couple years later.  Personally, I would not let any child of mine have access to the internet until they were at least 13 or 14.

[Evil_Conservative]

BTW, I heard on the radio news today that a group of pediatricians are recommending that you keep your kid in a booster seat in the backseat until the AGE OF THIRTEEN!!!  You're almost ready to date at that age!  Parents, what do you think of this? 

I read that on Yahoo yesterday.  My exact thoughts were, "WTF?"  So these parent's are going to put their 13 year old in a booster seat while the kid is texting their friends?  Yeah... I don't think so.

[Chris_]

I think the regulations are weight- and age-based.  If your child is heavier than XX, then the booster seats are not required past a certain age. 

It's still ridiculous.

[Evil_Conservative]

I remember my first exposure to computers... I went to a magnet school in the fifth and sixth grades.  It was not easy but they did have regular computer courses (and mandatory foreign language classes.  Ask me about my German teacher.  I think they imported her from East Germany just to torture us.)  I mentioned it to my parents a few times... they eventually bought us a computer a couple years later.  Personally, I would not let any child of mine have access to the internet until they were at least 13 or 14.

I started taking typing classes in second grade.  We didn't get a family computer until I was 12.  No internet was in our home until I was 14.

[Chris_]

I didn't take a typing glass until high school.  It didn't take long to pick up after three or four years of having a computer at home and I'm definitely glad I took the time to learn it.

[Evil_Conservative]

I didn't take a typing glass until high school.  It didn't take long to pick up after three or four years of having a computer at home and I'm definitely glad I took the time to learn it.

I think I learned typing in second grade because that's when our school got their first computers.  Not sure.  But in second grade, it would have been 1989 or 1990.  I think.

[Chris_]

That would have been my second year of high school.  They had IBM Selectrics for typing and junky old IBM PCs for "computer" class, which was a waste of my time.  I barely did any of the required work and still passed the class with an A because I helped the teacher with all the coursework.

[FreeBorn]

Hell,  kids these days would even know what to do with a rotary phone.

Funny, my youngest daughter was clueless about them. I had my Grandmother's old wall mount rotary phone from her kitchen put away in the attic. One day I found it up there and installed it on the wall out back in my blacksmith shop. My daughter came in one morning to ask me something and it rang, scared the crap out of her because she had never in her lifetime heard a telephone ring and she didn't know what "that thing on the wall" was.
After that she wanted to try it out and make a call. At first she just stuck a finger into the hole on the dial at the number she wanted as if it was a push button digit, with a little help she got it right finally.

[IassaFTots]

We were smarter than that. We used tin foil....... 

We did too, but one of the hinges was loose, so the antenna would fall over. They didn't fix it, and they didn't replace it. I think they were just being cruel. 

[Chris_]

Some of those old phones are LOUD.  I have an old Ma Bell push-button phone at home and there's no way to adjust the bell to decrease the volume.  I ended up unplugging it it was so loud.

[IassaFTots]

That would have been my second year of high school.  They had IBM Selectrics for typing and junky old IBM PCs for "computer" class, which was a waste of my time.  I barely did any of the required work and still passed the class with an A because I helped the teacher with all the coursework.

Yup.  Same here.  I took a BASIC programming class in my last year of Jr. High.  We wrote a Pythagorean Theorum program.  Saved it on cassette tape. 

[Thor]

Some of those old phones are LOUD.  I have an old Ma Bell push-button phone at home and there's no way to adjust the bell to decrease the volume.  I ended up unplugging it it was so loud.

Every rotary phone I've ever had had a big fat dial on the bottom that adjusted the ringer. It didn't do great, but it did mute it to some extent.

We did too, but one of the hinges was loose, so the antenna would fall over. They didn't fix it, and they didn't replace it. I think they were just being cruel. 

Now that's just dumb because all that needs to be done is tighten a screw most of the time. If not, squeeze it back together with a pair of pliers.

[IassaFTots]

Now that's just dumb because all that needs to be done is tighten a screw most of the time. If not, squeeze it back together with a pair of pliers.

I know that now Thor.  But when my stepdad said for me to stand up and hold the antenna, that is what I did.  I was also channel changer too.   

[Thor]

I know that now Thor.  But when my stepdad said for me to stand up and hold the antenna, that is what I did.  I was also channel changer too.   

Yeah, I got to be the resident channel changer as I was growing up. My parents didn't NEED a remote control, they had me!! I don't think that I got my first remote controlled TV until sometime in the early 80s.

[redwhit]

Yeah, I got to be the resident channel changer as I was growing up. My parents didn't NEED a remote control, they had me!! I don't think that I got my first remote controlled TV until sometime in the early 80s.

Ya know, my parents didn't need a channel changer really.  They watched the evening news, maybe a special event like a presidential speech, and sports.  That was it.  They didn't even really need to set rules around tv because, as kids, we would just imitate that style.

Of course, I realize now that my parents were old-fashioned but it's amazing what that little parental example will do for the kids.  None of the kids is a big tv watcher, even to this day (my sister doesn't even own one).  If we could get more parents to set little examples . . .

[Wineslob]

From 1965 to 1969 I lived in the east hills of San Jose, Ca. My days were dirt clod fights (the best were the ones you left the grass on so you could really fling it), kite flying, going up the road to the vast horse ranch to check out an old cabin, trips to Alum Rock Park, sliding down the roads (we had steep roads) by freezing balloons filled with water and sitting on them.
 My father made a "fort" for me out of some plywood sheets and mounted a 2X4 "machine gun" on the front of it. I spent HOURS "killing" the enemy.
 I was too damn busy being a kid to sit on my ass inside the house.

[redwhit]

. . . sliding down the roads (we had steep roads) by freezing balloons filled with water and sitting on them.
 

Man, I thought I risked serious injury to the goodies when I was kid but THAT takes the keg!

 

[Thor]

We used to make race carts out of whatever wood, nails, screws & wheels we could find and ride them down the nearest street with a hill (which was two houses away).  Other times, we'd find a grassy hill and some cardboard (the waxed cardboard was best) and ride the card board down the hill. I also recall building a bicycle jump ramp (this was before BMX bikes), riding my bike up the hill for approx 1/2 a mile, and then pedaling as hard as one could to see how far we could jump after we went up the ramp.

Dirt clod fights were common, but we always seemed to have one asshole in the group that would find one with a rock in it.

[Airwolf]

Back in the day when I was on the site Right Society I posted about the time I would go out and play as a kid with the kids next door. They had a thread just like this one and we all remembered how it was back then. There were days I would stay out till 9-9:30 running around till sunset and unless it was our favorit TV show on we would do it all summer long. Most of the time we would be playing war or whatever good guy/bad guy thing you want t ocall it. I had the biggest collection of toy guns in the neighborhood and could have equipped a small thrid world country if thats all they needed. I had everything from pistols to machine guns and of course you can't have a good fight if some of your guns didn't have the requesit spy stuff (Silencers) for when you need to be sneaky.

When we wanted to have a change of pace we would drag out our Hot Wheels and some of my model airplanes and  spend the afternoons shoting and dropping bombs on them or we would go to the pool and spend time there. Not once did we even think of someone trying to lure us away or worse. Those three channels on TV we used to get had alot of good shows. Combat,Star Trek, Man From UNCLE, The Dean Martin Show, The Rifleman, The Brady Bunch,Batman,Mission: Impossible, The FBI, and alot more.

[Wineslob]

Man, I thought I risked serious injury to the goodies when I was kid but THAT takes the keg!

 

Hey I was 7-8 years old. Wadda ya want?

Oh, we did the cardboard thing too. The best was getting inside a box so you coulden't see where you were going.