. . . , but are now frowned upon, . . . or illegal.
1. Riding in the back of an open pick-up truck with a bunch of other kids
2. Leaving the house after breakfast and not returning until the streetlights came on, at which point, you raced home, so you didn’t get in trouble
3. Eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the school cafeteria
4. Riding your bike without a helmet
5. Riding your bike with a buddy on the handlebars, and neither of you wearing helmets
6. Drinking water from the hose in the yard
7. Swimming in creeks, rivers, ponds, and lakes
8. Climbing trees
9. Having snowball fights
10. Sledding without enough protective equipment to play a game in the NFL
11. Carrying a pocket knife to school
12. Camping
13. Throwing rocks at snakes in the river
14. Playing politically incorrect games like Cowboys and Indians
15. Playing Cops and Robbers with toy guns
16. Pretending to shoot each other with sticks we imagined were guns
17. Shooting an actual gun or a bow at a can on a log, accompanied by our parents who gave us pointers to improve our aim
18. Saying the words “gun” or “bang” or “pow pow”
19. Working for your pocket money well before your teen years
20. Taking that money to the store and buying as much penny candy as you could afford, then eating it in one sitting
21. Eating pop rocks candy and drinking soda, just to prove we were exempt from that urban legend that said our stomachs would explode
22. Getting so dirty that your mom washed you off with the hose in the yard before letting you come into the house to have a shower
23. Writing lines for being a jerk at school, either on the board or on paper
24. Playing “dangerous” games like dodgeball, kickball, tag, whiffle ball, and red rover
25. Walking to school alone
DonDiego is only moderately surprised that having engaged in almost every activity above, he nonetheless survived. (F'rinstance, Little DonDiego never threw rocks at animals, or ate pop rocks/soda to test that theory, . . . but he did have to write "My teacher is a monster" 500 times once when he expressed himself inappropriately to his Fifth Grade teacher, Mrs. Bosich.)
Ms. Daisy Luther, the author of The Last Rebels, suggests a return to "free range parenting" as opposed to the present societal norms which is "creating a society of weenies".
DonDiego concurs, . . . except, maybe, for walking to school alone in some present-day neighborhoods. Oh, and he doubts punishing a child by compelling him to write something 500 times would no longer embarrass a kid, as it did Poor Little DonDiego..
1. Riding in the back of an open pick-up truck with a bunch of other kids
2. Leaving the house after breakfast and not returning until the streetlights came on, at which point, you raced home, so you didn’t get in trouble
3. Eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the school cafeteria
4. Riding your bike without a helmet
5. Riding your bike with a buddy on the handlebars, and neither of you wearing helmets
6. Drinking water from the hose in the yard
7. Swimming in creeks, rivers, ponds, and lakes
8. Climbing trees
9. Having snowball fights
10. Sledding without enough protective equipment to play a game in the NFL
11. Carrying a pocket knife to school
12. Camping
13. Throwing rocks at snakes in the river
14. Playing politically incorrect games like Cowboys and Indians
15. Playing Cops and Robbers with toy guns
16. Pretending to shoot each other with sticks we imagined were guns
17. Shooting an actual gun or a bow at a can on a log, accompanied by our parents who gave us pointers to improve our aim
18. Saying the words “gun” or “bang” or “pow pow”
19. Working for your pocket money well before your teen years
20. Taking that money to the store and buying as much penny candy as you could afford, then eating it in one sitting
21. Eating pop rocks candy and drinking soda, just to prove we were exempt from that urban legend that said our stomachs would explode
22. Getting so dirty that your mom washed you off with the hose in the yard before letting you come into the house to have a shower
23. Writing lines for being a jerk at school, either on the board or on paper
24. Playing “dangerous” games like dodgeball, kickball, tag, whiffle ball, and red rover
25. Walking to school alone
DonDiego is only moderately surprised that having engaged in almost every activity above, he nonetheless survived. (F'rinstance, Little DonDiego never threw rocks at animals, or ate pop rocks/soda to test that theory, . . . but he did have to write "My teacher is a monster" 500 times once when he expressed himself inappropriately to his Fifth Grade teacher, Mrs. Bosich.)
Ms. Daisy Luther, the author of The Last Rebels, suggests a return to "free range parenting" as opposed to the present societal norms which is "creating a society of weenies".
DonDiego concurs, . . . except, maybe, for walking to school alone in some present-day neighborhoods. Oh, and he doubts punishing a child by compelling him to write something 500 times would no longer embarrass a kid, as it did Poor Little DonDiego..
