If You Don't See A Parent Doing This Then You Know Something Is Wrong
Our parents must have been crazy to allow this
Back in the day it was not uncommon to see children in the back of the family station wagon. Free with out restraints keeping them in place and safe. Wasn't unusual to have the family wagon transport a whole soccer team! If you could fit them in that is how they got to their game. Ever hear someone say "Pile the kids in the car" well that's probably where it came from!
If you don't see a parent doing this then you know something is wrong
Seat belts weren't introduced until 1949 by the manufacture Nash and it took 6 more years for Ford to introduce them to their cars in 1955. After the Saab GT 750 was introduced with seat belts as standard at the New York Motor Show in 1958 is when this safety feature became more commonly used. On December 1, 1984 New York was the first to pass the seat belt law.
There's nothing like the smell and feel of a book!
We didn't have the luxury of sitting at home and clicking a mouse on a screen to get our information for our school studies. We had to go to the library. Whether it be at school or a public one. Most times carrying home 4 or 5 really heavy hard bound books to write our term papers. It was a privilege to have a library card, which was needed in order to be able to check out books. If you didn't have one you had to stay at the library to do your research.
With a click of a mouse
Home computers were entering the market in 1977. But didn't start to become popular in the home until the 80's. With the information you are looking for right in front of you with a few strokes on a keyboard and a click of a mouse, it made researching much easier and faster than looking through shelves and shelves of books and having to turn each page manually. Oh the struggles we went through!
33 units
I remember talking for hours! Not being able to wonder far but being attached to the phone by a cord that sometimes only stretched a few feet. In time cords were made much longer. However it made getting tangled in them much easier. Many were happy when push button phones came out because trying to dial a number on a rotary phone was sometimes frustrating as sometimes it was easy to forget what number you left off at. The trick was to leave your finger in the hole of the number and follow it back around then go on to the next one. I remember getting 33 units. Each unit was 3 minutes. Most could use those up in 1 or 2 phone call now a days. Once those units were used up your bill would sky rocket! Being on the phone at the table was an absolute no no as well as making or receiving calls after a certain hour. Could you imagine being able to take this to school or work with you or being able to check what is going on in the rest of the world with?
Ran out of milk? Too bad
We didn't have phones we could literally walk around the world with. Mom's didn't have the convenience of calling dad on the way home from work to ask him to pick up a gallon of milk. Mom also couldn't call and tell you that you were late for dinner and to get your butt home right away. That's what watches and clocks were for and you'd best keep track of time or face grounding when you got home. Now we are available 24/7. From the time we open our eyes in the morning until we close them at night and every time in between. People even get up in the middle of the night just to check their phones for any incoming text messages or to check the internet. We never had a clue such thing would be possible when we were young.
Who doesn't love a hand puppet?
This was a popular toy given to kids with their meals. A plastic bag hand puppet! Could you just imagine? You would never think of giving a small child a plastic bag to play with.
Much safer
As time went on and unsafe toys being included when purchasing a meal for a child.....the surprise toys became much safer. You were more apt to getting a toy like this or a book.
Helmets, who needs em?
Helmets weren't even heard of for riding a bike. Parents learned to just hold their breath while their child was out riding in the street - yes the street! Sometimes doing crazy Evel Knievel type stunts on home made jump ramps. A lot of times bare foot even! Can you believe! Don't know how many of us are sitting here reading this today.
Helmets, we need em!
Today you will see a very similar group of kids gathered on their bikes, this time with helmets on. Riding a bike and doing crazy stunts is still fun, just much safer now. Parents can let their breath out a little bit now. Of course we are still going to worry but just not as much. And now if they get hurt they can at least pull their cell phones out of their pockets and call for help, right?
