Things About Your Childhood That Would Baffle Younger People Of Today

[Willowy]

I know . I was just saying that not having participation trophies wouldn't baffle anybody. But the trophy salesman would have to get a cheaper car .

 

[Jcatbird]

Hilarious!

I love this!
All of the above were part of my life. How about..... we were on an island and , no television , then no color TV. We didn’t evacuate for hurricanes. We shuttered the house and used kerosene lanterns until power was restored. Roller skates that took a key. Penny gumball machines. Females wore hats and gloves to Church and they never went out with curlers in their hair at any time.
Paper dolls. The Sunday comics strips. Giant Cookies sold from a jar on the store counter for 2 cents. Playing marbles, jacks, jump rope and hopscotch. Pick up stix and hula hoops. My Dad made us skate boards out of a piece of wood and a pair of old roller skates.( the kind of skate that fastened to the bottom of your shoe) Always carrying a cloth handkerchief. The first computer I used took up an entire building. My first personal computer was a Vic 20. Binary code! Reel to reel recordings. A phone with a cord long enough to reach to another room. Have you ever asked a child to read very old script writing? A metal tray with a handle you have wrench up to get ice cubes to break out of the tray. Sooo many things. The video of the kids trying to understand a rotary phone was priceless. Pay phones in my day we’re a dime. Superman used them.

 

[denice]

I remember the ladies wearing hats to church, it would turn into kind of a contest. It wouldn't be to the point of the Kentucky Derby but women certainly noticed each other's hats.

 

[DreamerRose]

This thread makes me smile. After reading it all the way through, I think we have some members as old as I am. Anyone else remember buying a 12 ounce Double Cola and a double Baby Ruth candy bar for then cents?

I remember well. I got 25 cents for a weekly allowance, and I biked to the dimestore where I could buy two comic books (Little Lulu and Donald Duck) and a candy bar for 25 cents.

Have you noticed the cent sign has disappeared from our keyboards? Not worth much anymore.

 

[NY cat man]

I remember well. I got 25 cents for a weekly allowance, and I biked to the dimestore where I could buy two comic books (Little Lulu and Donald Duck) and a candy bar for 25 cents.

Have you noticed the cent sign has disappeared from our keyboards? Not worth much anymore.

You got an allowance????

 

[DreamerRose]

Yes, I did. 25 cents a week. Most of the kids in my neighborhood did, and mine was not as much as most.

 

[Jcatbird]

I remember well. I got 25 cents for a weekly allowance, and I biked to the dimestore where I could buy two comic books (Little Lulu and Donald Duck) and a candy bar for 25 cents.

Have you noticed the cent sign has disappeared from our keyboards? Not worth much anymore.

I remember that if I got a dime, it was silver. Sometimes called a mercury dime, it’s something I had trouble parting with because I thought the lady on it was so pretty. The engraver intended it to be Lady Liberty and the wings meant freedom. I still have them. Quarters and half Dollars were silver too until 65. Then just clad in silver. I rarely got those but if I did...... wow! I worked in my Grandmother’s greenhouse for a nickel. I always spent those. Lol I tended to save up for my comics. I liked Little Lulu too. Little Dot, Richie Rich and Little Lotta. I had a few Superwoman. I had only saved a few of my comics but I recently passed them down. Too bad we didn’t save them all! They’re worth more now.
Remember how big a candy bar used to be?

 

[NY cat man]

Yes, I did. 25 cents a week. Most of the kids in my neighborhood did, and mine was not as much as most.

I never did. If I wanted spending money, I had to weed neighbor's gardens, or bale hay, or pick up empty pop bottles. That's why I got a job at a gas station/ repair shop when I was 14.

 

[Jcatbird]

I never did. If I wanted spending money, I had to weed neighbor's gardens, or bale hay, or pick up empty pop bottles. That's why I got a job at a gas station/ repair shop when I was 14.

I started working early too. Back then the only way for me to earn was by babysitting or in the greenhouse. 25 cents an hour for babysitting was huge! I was only allowed to do it certain hours but I did it every chance I got. Fortunately, I loved doing it.

 

[susanm9006]

I started babysitting at 13 and worked pretty much every weekend, 25 cents an hour but it added up. At 16 I worked at the A&W as a carhop. It was a dime for a small root beer, a quarter for a large.

 

[Jem]

Just a couple of months ago, I had a client come see me for therapy during school hours (he was a high school student). I joked with him, saying.."Soo, you're playing hookie today eh?" He just stared at me, with a half smile on his face and confused. He said, "I don't know what you mean." I had to explain to him what playing hookie was. I felt so old.
I didn't realize, until the last few years, how many sayings or words are obsolete. Anytime I use them with the younger generations, I get a baffled look.

 

[DreamerRose]

That happens all the time. You remember those candy Valentines with little sayings on them? When I was a kid, I could never figure out what "23 Skidoo" meant.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

There were no allowances since there were three of us. In the summertime, I "worked in tobacco." We were early at the tobacco barn and us kids put tobacco leaves together off a cart driven to and from the fields by a mule. We handed the tobacco to a woman who used tobacco twine and tied the handfuls of tobacco to a tobacco stick. It has called "handing tobacco and looping tobacco." I made a few dollars, but it went to help buy whatever I needed to start back to school.

 

[neely]

Does anyone remember double dutch jumprope? We would play it at recess.

As for a phone, we only had one and it hung on the wall. When we wanted to play with a friend all we had to do was go outdoors. There were plenty of kids in the neighborhood and someone was always outside.

 

[laureen227]

only 3 channels on tv - when the president was on, he was on EVERY CHANNEL!

My mom would take us to the movies sometimes, when something appropriate was playing. we never checked showtime - just went to the theatre (only 1 movie shown), bought our tickets, went in, sat down, started watching the movie at whatever part it was at. she'd come back a couple of hours later, & they'd let her in to come get us. cheap for babysitting!

 

[Willowy]

Does anyone remember double dutch jumprope? We would play it at recess.

When I was about 10 a couple of older girls who knew how to jump double dutch moved into the neighborhood. They taught the rest of us how to turn the ropes, and tried to teach us to jump it, but I never could get the hang of jumping. I can still turn the ropes though .

 

[LTS3]

I was never good at double dutch. Or any of those games that involved a long strand of rubber bands. I think it was called "Chinese jump rope" or something.

My mom would take us to the movies sometimes, when something appropriate was playing. we never checked showtime - just went to the theatre (only 1 movie shown), bought our tickets, went in, sat down, started watching the movie at whatever part it was at. she'd come back a couple of hours later, & they'd let her in to come get us. cheap for babysitting!

Same here but it was the library since it was free. Leaving a 4 year old with a two year old at a huge busy public library that is frequented by homeless and sketchy people for several hours is never a good idea ever

 

[NY cat man]

Does anyone remember the cat's cradle, where one person had a loop of string arranged between their fingers, and then another person would try to take it without losing the pattern?

 

[mama africa]

Does anyone remember the cat's cradle, where one person had a loop of string arranged between their fingers, and then another person would try to take it without losing the pattern?

Yes I do

 

[muffy]

only 3 channels on tv - when the president was on, he was on EVERY CHANNEL!

My mom would take us to the movies sometimes, when something appropriate was playing. we never checked showtime - just went to the theatre (only 1 movie shown), bought our tickets, went in, sat down, started watching the movie at whatever part it was at. she'd come back a couple of hours later, & they'd let her in to come get us. cheap for babysitting!

I remember the movies costing only $.35 and popcorn was about $.10.