Childhood

notebook · Jul 4, 2016

I live here in Northwestern PA and the other day I decided to take my 2 young girls to the farm where I Grew up I know the people that own the place and they still farm it and have bought out 2 other farms and really expanded the original farm I took them for a walk and really let them run down the cow path to the back fields with no worries of anything bad happening to them. My wife did not even get excited as they picked flowers and frolicked in the warm summer sun. We can not let them do that where we live at now, I feel that they are being robbed of the freedom that I enjoyed as a child when I would walk to all the fields and nobody was around.

RBoots · Jul 4, 2016

I know how you feel. Although I still live on a farm, when I was little, my twin brother and I would roam all over the section where dad's farm is. We knew all the neighbors, we would wander around and explore stuff, none of them cared. We would go say HI to an elderly neighbor that lI've nearby and had one of everything to look over. We knew where all the farm ponds were. Sometimes we would be gone all day. We did this almost every day when it was nice out and we were out of school from about 6-12 years old. We knew every piece of that section. Dad still lives in that section, still has the same farm, but all of the other owners except a couple are all different, and are not the friendly neighborly type.

JD Seller · Jul 4, 2016

Are things worse today then they were when we were kids??? I do not really think so but the news today makes HIGH drama out of everything for ratings. So I think we just hear about what happens more. Used to be you did not know if a kids was hurt/assaulted fifty miles away.

I too went all over the place. I walked the all sections around the one we lived on. I would be gone all day long. Now days the kids are pinned inside the house and people wonder why the kids are out of shape.

old · Jul 4, 2016

Ya the world or the U.S.A. is not like it was when we where growing up. I can still remember things like walking to the swimming pool in the summer when I was less then 10 years old and do so by my self and it was at least 2 miles one way to get there and now days you would not want to let a kid that was under 10 let alone over 10 walk 2 miles with out worrying about them. Now days with all the stuff that goes on and kid who disappear off the streets and then found dead days latter etc has things in a bad way now

Bob Bancroft · Jul 4, 2016

I suppose now if a youth disappeared, or was hurt in a similar situation, a parent would be charged with some crime.

I think we have crossed a threshold where most people are removed from the land, and live in an artificial world. You didn't have to be a farmer, but years ago most people still had a connection to the real world, whether it be a garden, chickens in the yard, a few animals of some kind in a shed, horses for transportation, etc.

There have always been very tough spots in crowded cities, on the frontiers, during war, etc. But mostly we've been civilized in this country. I think that tough, dog-eat-dog attitude creeps more and more through society, as we are more removed from reality.

farmerwithmutt · Jul 4, 2016

Freedom as a kid hey you remember when as a kid if you messed up someplace you hoped you get home before your parents found out and you had a good story. Or if you ran away from home the neighbor would take you home.
Working in factories and seeing the difference between people who avoid responsibility at all costs and build themselves up by putting others down versus the people I grew up with where not only your word but your family's word was at stake it not surprising the world is getting bad

RBoots · Jul 4, 2016

Got that right JD. 25 years ago my brother and I would ride our bikes 3 miles to elementary school. I know people in a small town with no violent crime that won't let their kids walk 6 blocks to school because they are afraid something will happen to them.

coshoo · Jul 4, 2016

Yeah, we used to be all over the neighborhood from morning 'til night, and nobody thought anything about it.
I remember when I was about 4, my sister and cousin and I decided to go fishing in the creek. We ended up on the neighbor's place. Most these days would have run us off- but he looked at our string and bent pin outfits, and went back to his house and tied us up some proper leaders with a sinker and a real hook. Then he showed us how to get our tackle further out in the creek, for bigger fish. Another time I ended up at the blind man's house, and helped him repair apple boxes. Also helped weed at the market gardener's place, and he gave me a quarter!

Good memories. Glad I grew up in the era that I did.

CLYDE MASON · Jul 4, 2016

in 1950 we didn't have locks on our doors.

of course we didn't have anything of value for anyone to steel

today i have locks on all doors and alarns on all doors and windows

Rex in Australia · Jul 4, 2016

Man, that brings back memories. All of the above for sure.
I often said to my children who recently married and moved out. I felt so sorry for them, because they can never experience the absolute freedom that we had as farm children.
I miss it, thinking about it.
Rx

dzc3 · Jul 4, 2016

Hey Old you have to remember that there was also a time when bad guys were behind locks and good people walked the street...other way around now.

old · Jul 4, 2016

Yep now days they pretty much open the doors to most criminals if they did not kill soem one and if they did kill some one many get out after 15 or so years

Bonnan · Jul 4, 2016

man, do I remember that time in the '40's. In Fall after school I would grab my shotgun and beagles and take off hunting until dark; went everywhere the rabbits would take us.
My boys did a little bit, my grandsons hardly none.

ss55 · Jul 4, 2016

The TV remote control was when dad told one of the kids to go over and change the channel.

I suspect our parents and our childhood innocence protected us from knowing most of the bad thing that were happening around us. Back then the possibility of gossip or a family scandal kept things hushed up and allowed some things to continue that should have been stopped. Even the Grimm's Fairy Tales were much darker cautionary tales than the Disney remakes.

Childhood

notebook

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RBoots

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JD Seller

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old

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Bob Bancroft

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farmerwithmutt

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RBoots

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coshoo

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CLYDE MASON

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Rex in Australia

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dzc3

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old

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Bonnan

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