70s summer

[pmwasson]

Thought some of you would like this!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melissa-fenton/10-ways-to-give-your-kids-an-honest-to-goodness-1970s-summer_b_5484462.html

[SeattleEd]

Yeah, we try and do all this other than the food part. Surely it does happen when in PDX.

Good stuff and thanks for posting!

[HardyGirl]

Amen and pass the Kool-Aid! I remember when I was a kid I went to day camp in July, (but only from 9-3) and in August, I was on my own. As a kid from NYC, we played outside pretty much all day, and when it got dark, parents would come sit out on the stoop and talk, and we'd still be playing. Relay races, tag, jump rope, hand jives, finding the perfect rocks (not chalk) to scratch out a hopscotch game, bikes, skatebaords, BiG Wheels, go-carts. And yes, drinking and eating all that crap like ice-cream, Kool-Aid, hot dogs, pizza, candy, soda, popsicles. And when you got tired and came inside, there was great TV, and sometimes spending the night (Sometimes for me it was a week!) at a friend's house. One year, I did actually go to sleep-away camp too. Yep, summer in the 70s! What a groovy concept!

[jds1911a1]

want a 70's summer turn off the AC and open a window, disable the internet, and make everyone use a phone with a cord (preferable with a rotary dial - honestly there is no better entertainment than have a grown person look at you and ask what they should do when confronted with that object)

[Orion]

Those were the days!! Great article.

[LadyZod]

Amen and pass the Kool-Aid! I remember when I was a kid I went to day camp in July, (but only from 9-3) and in August, I was on my own. As a kid from NYC, we played outside pretty much all day, and when it got dark, parents would come sit out on the stoop and talk, and we'd still be playing. Relay races, tag, jump rope, hand jives, finding the perfect rocks (not chalk) to scratch out a hopscotch game, bikes, skatebaords, BiG Wheels, go-carts. And yes, drinking and eating all that crap like ice-cream, Kool-Aid, hot dogs, pizza, candy, soda, popsicles. And when you got tired and came inside, there was great TV, and sometimes spending the night (Sometimes for me it was a week!) at a friend's house. One year, I did actually go to sleep-away camp too. Yep, summer in the 70s! What a groovy concept!

You just described my typical NYC summer.

You just left out going swimming in the fountains/Unispere at Flushing Meadows park, getting dragged to the Aquaduct flea market, going to Pizza City after spending the day at Howard Beach, Rockaway's Playland, the July 4th fireworks, and the block party thrown by John Gotti one street over.

[RobTMego]

They left out riding a bike with with friends all day, no helmet!! and jumping stuff or buy a Big wheel and make them ride it until the wheel is square. Dig a hole in the back yard by hand no shoval, maybe even eat some dirt. Go to creak catch salamandors or crawldads.
By the time I was around 12YRO I am surpised I did not have Mercury poisoning from all the red painted on me head to toe from Mercurochrome!!!

[HardyGirl]

Well, the swimming for me was Van Courtland Park Pool w/ my day camp, or Echo Hill Camp Henry (dad's work owned that) in upstate NY, or maybe Jones Beach, field trips to Rockaway Beach/Amusement Park, Coney Island or Palisades Park. And who could forget the big block party on my block (158th between Amsterdam and Broadway at the end of the summer)! But the other stuff I mentioned were just the every day stuff I did on my own.

You just described my typical NYC summer.

You just left out going swimming in the fountains/Unispere at Flushing Meadows park, getting dragged to the Aquaduct flea market, going to Pizza City after spending the day at Howard Beach, Rockaway's Playland, the July 4th fireworks, and the block party thrown by John Gotti one street over.

[nvmbrsdoom5]

Yep, very similar experiences here, as I went to day camp here in south Chicago too when I was a kid. Learned to play basketball, worked on different projects, went swimming in Lake Michigan, etc. I remember being bummed about it at first when my parents told me I was going there, but by the time camp ended I was bummed that it was over. Experienced a lot of new things and also got experience meeting all different kinds of kids, truly a great learning experience and a lot of fun. Now I WISH I could go off to a daily camp like that and do nothing all day but play sports, swim, and work on fun projects! (*sigh*) I feel very fortunate to have grown up in the Seventies and early Eighties. I'd give about anything to be able to go ride my Big Wheel and run through the sprinkler all afternoon.

Oh I should add my similarities to HardyGirl's experiences also compare in that I was often listening to stuff like Rick Springfield's "Comic Book Heroes" and Jacksons' records and 8-tracks when I'd be out playing!

[acrovader]

Sorry. I reject any suggestion from Zsa Zsa Huffington's website.

[HardyGirl]

Oh I should add my similarities to HardyGirl's experiences also compare in that I was often listening to stuff like Rick Springfield's "Comic Book Heroes" and Jacksons' records and 8-tracks when I'd be out playing!

You're my kinda guy! ^5

[littlewink]

Well I have said and will keep saying it............I feel blessed to have been a kid in the 70s!!!! No internet(although I love the internet today), being a boy and being born in 1968 with a brother who was 4 years older, I inherited most of his toys and clothes(gross lol). Were do I begin, hiking with a friend, our parents would pack us a lunch and we were off on our bikes to destination unknown, we would tell us each other Spooky stories, burn ants and whatever else we could find with our magnifying glass, fabricate forts and plan some type of trouble, buy a bag of candy for a dollar,m share it and laugh our butts off, go to the public pool(often) go tobagonning in the winter, forts in the snowbank, king of the mountain in the schoolyard, play marbles, hang out in your friends basement, play with slime, silly putty, Caps, Big Wheel races, riding and jumping out 70s suspension bicycles(we all them) playing "Nicky Nicky Nine Door", playing Chase, playing at the park, playing in the creek, Saturday morning cartoons(awesome). When it rained we went to our friends place and played with their toys, slot cars etc.

What a time to be a Kid.