Why I embrace being a "boomer".....

[pwd72s]

Bunch of kids...

[matthewb0051]

[GH85Carrera]

I walked to school in first grade wearing just a pair of shorts. No shirt, no shoes, even in the dead of winter! My older brother was in third grade and we walked together. True story.

In my memory it was about a mile from home. I used Google Earth and looked at our old house and the school. It was about four blocks in actuality.

That was in the early 1960s in Pearl City, Hawaii.

[fintstone]

Same here. Walked to first grade with my brother. It was somewhat scary at first. I was 5 and he was 6. It was 10 blocks to the front door on the sidewalk (around 7 to the edge of school property).

Shirt and shoes of some sort were required. When I was 6 (second grade), I was appointed as a crossing guard and made sure kids were able to cross the busy street in front to the school safely. I got to wear a reflective arm band.

Not a lot of responsibly given to kids anymore.

[GH85Carrera]

Now days parents would be reported for child endangerment if they sent grade school kids to walk to school with no cell phone.

I do understand that the bad guys out there prey on kids, and it is a different era now.

On our walk to and from school, one distinct memory was one house had a monstrous large honeysuckle bush. We would stop and suck the nectar of several of the flowers.

[URY914]

My elementary school was 6 blocks from my house. My mom walked me there for the first few weeks but after that I was own my own. There were a bunch of other kids doing the same thing.

[oldE]

Our house was just across the river from the school. It was actually built on a piece of land taken out of our original property. I think I was almost 8 when the bridge was being rebuilt and had to cross the river walking on the stringers.
Grades were from primary to 6 and for the last four years it was open, the total enrollment was about 20 kids. Heat was provided by a wood furnace and if you were the boy in grade 6, the teacher would pass you the key to the furnace room and ask you to put some wood in the furnace on a cold day.

Best
Les

[gumby]

Given responsibillty was a honor

[Rot 911]

I grew up in the inner city, south Chicago. Back then, everyone walked to school.

[creaturecat]

kids lined up for strap-style beatings at noon hour - our school. .....maybe 8 at a time
the shops teacher would beat nails into his oak desk, previous to strapping the unlucky victim.
they always picked on the disadvantaged kids from north of the tracks.
and? the peodo guy hung young boys up, like meat - on coat hooks, by their belts - facing forward -massaging their nuts. ........ he was also the scout leader. the kid i witnessed being abused? Brian was his name - he committed suicide.
walking up hill both ways was the least of our problems.

[fintstone]

Never was abused but I took a couple good paddlings with a wooden board and one pretty wicked beating with the leather strap style paddle in elementary school...all for being a smart ass. I didn't even mean to be...but the teacher was pretty angry.

I was lucky. Our scout leaders were fine men. Of course, messing with children would have gotten one buried back in the woods where I grew up.

My parents believed strongly in corporal punishment...and dealt it out often, so no big deal.

[Tim Hancock]

I was born in summer of '66. In second grade my parents bought 5 acres of woods and my grandpa built us a house there. Had only one neighbor and his kids were a couple years younger. They had horses and we all had minibikes/dirtbikes. School was about 12 miles away in a small town so we rode the bus unitl I got my driver's license and bought my first $50 POS car a rusty 1972 super beetle.

I would say at the time we were lower to mid middle class in the late 70's and early 80's. Living out in a rural area, over the years I had various old used honda minibikes then beat up old dirt bikes that I used to ride all summer long with my friends. We would be out all day riding to each others houses and to various fun off road places. Never wore helmets. Broke down many times and towed each other home. Shot birds with bb guns then later .22's. Played with firecrackers and later homemade boomers. Had old junk snowmobiles and three wheelers for winter transportation and fun.

My parents never knew where I was once I motored off our property. Once in highschool there was always parties and beer to be had on the weekends. Joined the Army Reserves out of highschool and had part time jobs (truck driver, heavy equipment operator and ski shop technician) to help get through college in the mid to late 80's. Had a blast while in college in a small fraternity and spread it out over 6 years due to part time working. Daytona for spring breaks and Boyne for frat/sorority ski trips. Drank lots of cheap beer and ate lots of Ramen noodles living with buddies in cheap rented houses.

First real fulltime job (special machine shop guy which led to mechanical engineering soon after starting there) was in '91 when jobs were scarce. Started at $5.00 an hour which sucked but at least it was a job.

Me on dad's brand new Honda Z50 in about 1970 or 1971. A year or two later I began the total destruction of that poor little Honda. (broken frame, broken handlebars, broken shifter, bald tires and rounded off sprockets) After that and I only had old junk bikes that I bought with paper route money.

[Racerbvd]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

I walked to school in first grade wearing just a pair of shorts. No shirt, no shoes, even in the dead of winter! My older brother was in third grade and we walked together. True story.

In my memory it was about a mile from home. I used Google Earth and looked at our old house and the school. It was about four blocks in actuality.

That was in the early 1960s in Pearl City, Hawaii.

I too had to walk to school, I looked up the distance to confirm that I was abused.






When your legs are short, sure seemed longer than a mile , but in reality it is 1.1 miles, if you walk the direct route, but since when do kids ever do that???

1st day of school.

[GH85Carrera]

[GH85Carrera]

[wdfifteen]

In grade school I lucked out. Our farm was about a mile out of town. The school bus had to pass our lane to get to the rest of the route, so we were picked up last and let off first. The ride was maybe 15 minutes. Then we moved. I was in Jr. High and we had to ride almost an hour to get home. The school was only about 5 miles away, so I rode my bike when the weather wasn't bad.
The hassle of getting to and from school, ball practice, etc helped my lobbying for letting me have a car. All I had to do was find one I could afford and pay for it.
I bought a 1960 VW for $600 dollars a couple months after I turned 16.

[A930Rocket]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

In my memory it was about a mile from home. I used Google Earth and looked at our old house and the school. It was about four blocks in actuality.

I thought the same thing. The elementary school and junior high school seemed like a couple miles. In reality, they were .9 and 1 miles. Elementary school was grades 1-6 and junior high school was 7-9.

Probably starting in fourth or fifth grade, I would ride my bike to the elementary school and in junior high, walked to school cause I was too cool. 😎 Instead of taking all roads, we cut through the funeral home to a field, down a hill, and over a small bridge, to get to the back of the junior high school. On the way home from junior high, we would detour over to Nash’s pond, and go swimming off the dam. Sometimes, somebody would hang a rope off a tree, and we would jump off the hill and swing into the pond.

For High School, it was 4.3 miles and I took the bus until I got my drivers license.

[Baz]

I'll have to look to see how far but 1 through 12 was within' walking distance, although we moved away halfway through 10 and then it was NOT within' walking distance so we took a damn bus until 11 when we took the family truck. And 12 when we had our own cars.

Back to 1-10.5. Going to 1-6 was straight forward. But 7-10.5 was Lake Taylor - which was on a couple lakes. And a spillway. So that provided some adventures!

We typically rode bikes but I remember walking at times too. Not sure why but man those were some good times back then!

[Baz]

[Baz]

Love all the stories and recollections folks.....keep 'em coming!