j4ckos mate

Mine was,

it consisted of school,
home from school, bike out of the shed, and awol till it was dark,

we dont let ours childdren out of our site now.
to think we used to play football till you couldnt see your hand in front of your face, then get someone from the childrens home (we played on their pitch) to put the lights on so you could see.

and mess about in the woods,
makng rope swings over the brook etc,

my lad got up this sat morning, and in the space of 20 mins it was,

1. main telly on,
2. telly in back room put on,
3. x-box on,
4 x-box off,
5 ds on, then off
6. computer on,
7. wii on bored, then off.

all in the space of 20 minutes,
when i was seven it was football or bike or cleaning your bike.

we couldnt afford expensive toys or treats we didnt have the money so we learned to do without.

do you feel your childhood was better then ?

j4ckos mate

my missus calls me alf garnet, but im convinced its true,

we didnt get the expensive toys or treats and were better off for it

Karl Wunout

I'm sure when your kids are older they will look back and laugh at their childhood, especially when they mention that dad bought a magnet for mum's car.

Clarebabes

Yes, my daughter has more stuff than I ever did, lives in a nicer house, gets driven around in nicer cars, has better holidays, but she doesn't have one thing that I did - a Mum at home at the end of the school day. Sad really.

PaulC72

It was different thats all, we had a good upbringing, nothing flash my parents did the best they could.

I would agree it was definately safer to be out and about playing I would never dream of letting my kids go out and play like we did.

Gordo

strange how people won't let their kids out to play - I guess traffic is a big factor these days but more so is the fear instilled by the media. i.e. no more kiddy fiddlers etc than when we were little, but now everyone's aware of them. shame as playing out and learning from your mistakes (like falling out of trees, face planting when jumping your bike over that too big jump etc) are all part of growing up.

today's little darlings are forever shipped from one expensive activity to another, spoon fed and dependent on parents to a point where they lose the ability to think for themselves. no wonder drugs and alcohol are on the up - poor little sods are bored!

Leslie

I think that is at the base of it as much as anything.

We did not get expensive toys ever but just presents at birthday time and Christmas.

We made our own entertainment with fishing, go carts made out of pram wheels or playing football or cricket in the "Rec" etc and later with old motor bikes which we saved up for and maintained ourselves with a bit of help and advice when we needed it.

It was all great fun, we were never bored, and we learned to take care of ourselves without having to rely on grown ups to do it for us. There were never enough hours in the day!

Happy days too.

Les

Turbo2

I shouldn't worry. With the financial end of the world nigh, we'll soon be back to giving our kids good old Xmas presents like an orange or a hoop & stick. Maybe even a wooden top for their birthdays, if they don't forget to wash behind their ears after a hard shift "down t'pit". Happy Days...

j4ckos mate

i will never forget the excitment of finding an old pram,


get some wood and bolts and nails, kepy you busy for ages.

spireite

Them were the days its just fling yourself down a hill in a tesco's trolley now though

TopBanana

Yes - I went out to play as soon as school finished, and all weekend. (Juniors didn't get homework back then)

lozgti

Yes.

But the rose tinted spectacle brigade will be along soon to ruin it and remind us the sun never shone and it was always grey and no way were we better off and having more fun .

So,

Bikes,friends,dens,fresh air,or

TV,TV,Wee wee,playstation,x box,1000texts a day,mobile phones,virtual friends on t'internet,comparing pasty complexions

Mmmmmm.Difficult choice.Ok,preferred my gadget free childhood

j4ckos mate

my dad always made them ultra sturdy, the bogies never fell apart but were dead slow , you could ram raid with them.

did you nick gates at bonfire night as well

PeteBrant

I dont think you can compare you childhood to your childrens. They would probably think your childhood as boring as ****e.

davegtt

I dont have kids but if I did Id probably try and influence them to be like i was as a kid (presuming I had a lad, if it was a gal then it'd be the misses job ) out playing football at every available oportunity, Saturdays consisting of me taking them to watch the local team etc...

Kids lifes nowadays seem to revolve around consoles

EddScott

Think my daughter has it pretty cushy really.

My parents were pub owners until they split so I spent alot of time being looked after by other people. I had a private education until they split up which meant the kids around me I didn't know as there wasn't anyone in my village at the school I went to.

I worry a little that my daughter is lonely. There is only a lad down the road in her class for her to play with. Other than that she only has us. We turned the dining room into a toy room so shes got plenty to play with. She doesn't sit for too long in front of the TV and we tend to play games with her and I'm trying to teach her chess (she'll be 7 next month )

I hope hers is a better quality of growing up than mine - although mine wasn't really bad. It was tough when my parents split for a long time. Fingers crossed we can stay together at least until shes an adult. My parents split when I was 7. Don't want history to repeat itself.

MJW

I agree the paedo-parnanoia pushed by the media is not helping kids. Plus the health & safety and no-win-no-fee explosion has meant that a lot of kids play areas aren't as good as they used to be. Hell when I was little we used to go playing on building sites, running round the scaffold and stealing all the putty out of newly fitted windows to use as plasticine. By the third time all the windows had fallen out though, I was busted !!
I encourage my own kids to play out as often as possible. I guess I'm quite lucky living near a playing field - I just kick out my 6 year old and tell her to come home when the street lights come on, I don't believe in limiting their freedom to explore. She even plays out in the rain - wellies on, raincoat, out she goes. The only time she plays on games consoles etc. is if the weather is too bad or its dark !

PeteBrant

I think this goes for a lot of kids. Certain my youngest will be sitting in playig videogames, but the slightedt hint of sun he is out the door.

People seems to think that consoles rule out outdoor activity for ever ; they don't.

lozgti

Its an odd one really.

My brothers kids have every single thing a kid could allegedly want.Toys games,a few bikes each,tv's in bedrooms.

Yet they get far more excited about coming over to ours where our three year olds have nothing but a good garden for hide and seek,dens etc.

Think the reality is,all kids love the same thing.Fresh air and freedom.They are virtually forced into the games cosole stuff by parents worried sick about them out playing.

And funnily enough,I am even more envious of my parents childhood which seemed even simpler again.Sounds like they had wonderful times growing up.

Modern world.......bit pants for them really

PeteBrant

But having nice things, and playing outside are not mutually exclusive. I think if, as a parent you try and keep them locked up indoors, then you aren't a very good one

cookstar

iTrader: (6)

Not really sure on this one, I take my lad (8 year old)to do all kinds of activities, go karting, am taking him clay pigeon shooting now etc etc. Always out and about doing stuff. He has done rifle shooting, absailing camping, etc etc even down to (maybe) silly things like sitting on my lap driving fastish round a open field. These things are very cool to do when your that age, and don't remember having anything like that done for me when I was that age. Which is probably why I'm more inclined to do it for him.

But then again I could play out a lot more, like the others have said on bikes and nobody thought anything of it, which is where I had most of my fun as a lad.

Leslie

Quite right!

Les

r32

My childhood was great, as we could go out and play, make dens play cowboys and indians, climb trees, camp out, have picnics etc etc.......

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Used to bugger off in the morning and return periodically for food, usually smelling of pond water, smoke or building materials.

Janspeed

iTrader: (1)

Sometimes bleeding too!

Geezer

I find this too. Although we have a multitude of games consoles, Sky +, PC etc. they prefer to play outside.

However, if the weather is crap or it's dark, then they are not short of things to do, even if they do complain they are bored!! To be fair, I think our generation were the same, we just had less to be bored with

Geezer

Lee247

And missing a shoe/welly