Stuff you did as a child that wouldn’t be contemplated now

I grew up in Norfolk and definitely had a great deal more freedom than children do today. We lived in a newly built close of around fourteen houses in a horseshoe shape, which was just off a lane. Behind the houses was a field with barns. This area was my playground from a very young age. There was a group of us, of which I was the youngest. As I grew older, my world expanded and, by the age of eight, I was travelling by bus to the next village for my piano lesson. By ten, l was cycling all over over the countryside with my friend.

wow! DS54

fire cans. yes the hardest part was scavenging an empty tin can from someones dustbin... food in tins weren`t so numerous? fire cans.......never did the sleepers though..

nor the fireworks.. you must be younger than me!

My children would disappear for hours playing in the nearby woods making camps with friends from the road. As an adult she took her husband to the woods to show him where she spent many happy hours only to find all the pathways into the woods completely over grown, sadly children do not play in the woods anymore.

When I was in primary school aged about 7 or 8 I had a friend whose granny lived about half a mile away. At lunch time we used to let ourselves out of the playground and run to her house for a bowl of soup and a sandwich. I was supposed to have school dinners but no-one ever seemed to ask where I was.

My sister tells me about skipping school and getting the train into London but I think my mother suspected and she was much stricter with the rest of us. Wasn't allowed to take my bike out the garden, only allowed to go to my friend's house 4 doors away on my own. Having lots of brothers and sisters I wasn't short of playmates but we played at home - mainly in the wendy house in the garden.

On the other hand my OH tells some tales - he made a firearm and blew a garage door off.

Born 1942. At age 5, I used to walk to the bus stop some 300yds away and catch the number 4 bus (greeted by the friendly bus driver) to the 'School in the sun', two stops before Lytham (in Lancashire). The bus stopped outside, and along with other 5/7yr olds, we were greeted by one of the teachers. The bus conductor kept a disciplined eye on us, even tho' we never even dreamed of misbehaviour. At home time, we waited on Lytham Green (opposite the school) with a teacher who saw us safely onto the bus. The conductor and driver knew where to let each one of us off, and for me, I would walk home by myself without fear, the Green Cross Code in my mind. 6 to 7yrs old would see me at weekends and holidays, out on my tricycle or up and down the road on skates. Few cars were about, so it was pretty safe. Parents never seemed to worry, even when I wandered, with other tricycle 'bikers', as much as 2miles away. Just as long as we were back before the street lights came on. What happened to our society that our communities have allowed socio/psychopaths to manipulate our freedom and mutual trust away? I can't see a way back, UNLESS there is a bloody revolution.

I've thought of two more dangerous things that I did as a child :

My grandma went to bed every afternoon leaving me cooking-usually making cakes or pastry and using the old fashioned gas oven .
Just be careful not to burn yourself,said Grandma and don't wake me up until five with my tea .
I was a pre-schooler.

Aged eight my cousin and I had a couple of riding lessons and then rode the local not that well broken in ponies without any tack holding onto their manes laughing and being totally fearless .

When I was about 8 or 9 an older boy picked me from a group to cycle with him to the abandoned railway line to collect sacks of young seedling trees I was the only one picked so I was very proud. We had a nice time exploring an old subway and then firing stones at bottles. We collected hundreds of these little plants. I've no idea why .
When I got home my mother wad raging mainly because we were sitting on the pavement looking like urchins. She took the sacks of plants and put them straight in the bin. She had no soul.

I lived in London. From about the age of 9 we would get a Red Rover (All day bus ticket), I think it was 6d and be out all day in school holidays. Trafalgar square, Horse Guards parade, Buckingham Palace, St James Park, Tower of London and Tower Bridge etc. A bag with picnic of a jam sandwich, sausage roll, bottle of juice and an apple. Just told to be home for tea.

Taking apart a disused railway line to get the sleepers to build a bonfire. A gang of 8 or so littluns under the direction of a big boy. Making winter warmers essentially pierced tin cans with wire handles filled with fire that were swung around your head to make them blaze. By the age of 8 or so I could make and throw Molotov cocktails in battles with gangs trying to steal our bonfire wood. Emptying the powder out of fireworks to make rudimentary pipe bombs. Sometimes the police or fire brigade intervened but not parents.

chalked games on the pavements,, hopscotch,, etc... played in the street, games , running across the roadway.. "Farmer,farmer, may we cross your field" one of them, Hide and seek in and around the neighbours gardens..

oh gosh so much, so many things. well I am of an age, I grew up during the war years etc.. we roamed the streets, large council estate in Birmingham, near to Sutton Park, (Sutton Coldfield) a huge park we walked most everywhere,, spent so much time there in the woods etc.. out till 10 p.m. at night, mind you we were in trouble for being out after dark, but so safe..travelled around Brum on the buses..

placed a bet for my dad, some coins , with bet written on wrapped in the paper, and as walked by the man , standing by his gate, slipped the bet into his hand! oh my!

ate acorns in the woods... oh gosh, so many things I can`t recall them all, we were free! went scrumping for apples, cos we were always hungry, and no we weren`t rough and ready kids, quite a respectable family.

All the above is so familiar and yet I can't help wondering why things have changed so vastly. It must be a combination of factors such as a bigger population and more cars. But why were almost all parents back in the day so unconcerned what their children got up to whereas today's children are mollycoddled beyond belief? I mean, for us the dangers were the nearby river, a canal and a few derelict buildings but parents didn't seem worried about any of them. When I tell my own children about my childhood and the total freedom we enjoyed from a very young age I know they don't really believe me.

As part of a large group of village kids we spent many long hot summers days down by the river. Anyone who could swim would go into the river and swim across / dodging detritus and the occasional dead cow. It’s a fast flowing river with dangerous currents and although our parents knew there were no objections. Happy days - which always seemed to be sunny.

I can remember using pocket money to buy loose fireworks, which I kept until bonfire night in a cupboard in my bedroom.

My mother was a widow and as soon as I started school she got a job in the corner shop. On my first day aged 5 she walked me to school, which took about 20 minutes. For the next week a little girl in the next year up took me to and from, and thereafter I was on my own! Growing up playing in the woods and fields from morning until night. Skipping rope, hopscotch on the pavement, bike rides exploring - total freedom. My sister's grandchildren today are totally monitored and taken by car to all their after school clubs, they never seem to be left alone for a minute.

Living in London I used to love getting an all day London Transport Red Rover ticket and explore my city. Sadly, unthinkable now. I also used to cycle the 8 miles into Abridge, Essex to sit by the river and enjoy a picnic before heading back. Lovely memories

I walked to school alone from the age of 5, this wuld be in 1950, and was considered the norm in those days.

When I was 3 and my sister 4 we were put on a train in London to go to Hull to our nan's house. We changed trains at Doncaster and our aunts met us at the station in Hull.

When we were a bit older at ages 7 and 8 mum went to work full time and we looked after our 3 year old brother including cooking chips in a chip pan on the gas stove for lunch. Doesn't bear thinking about these days really, but we all grew up to be indedendant people who could look after ourselves.

Yes out all day on your bike. Going miles ! Lots of empty mansion s in surrey where I grew up. Wandered all over Sandhurst / on into broadmoor hospital & surrounds. Bet you can’t get past the gate these days ( into sandhurst ). I’d be curious to know having moved away

I was so fed up about no-one ever having the time to iron my dolls' clothes that I begged my mother to teach me to iron when I was seven.

She did so, and after that I ironed the dolls' clothes, my hair ribbons, Daddy's handkerchiefs, tray cloths etc. happily.

Bored stiff during a summer holiday the year I was nine (none of my friends lived nearby) I took over the family mending and did it regularly after that.

Went to the doctor on my own at 14 and to a hospital appointment with a consultant at 15. Called for friends without appointments, or phoning. Played in derelict buildings and on bomb sites. Walked to school with classmates and home again. No adult needed apart from the first day in infant school. Took my sisters for GP and dentist visits at 14 as mum was ill. Went out playing with friends only coming in for meals. Sent home alone when I had German Measles at school. Parents weren't even contacted. Given a quater of a codeine by dad when I had flu. You could just buy them at the chemist, and buy mums cigarettes at the shop or from a machine outside the shop. Also paraffin from a machine.

Aged 11, and a keen swimmer, I went to the outdoor baths, which had the changing rooms with half-doors around the edge. I remember a man told me what an excellent swimmer I was and would I like him to tutor me? Of course I was hugely flattered and said yes.
When I got out and went into the cubicle to change he came in and helped to dry me! I was so naive! He then said he would meet me there the next day for more lessons.............luckily something prevented me from going back!!

When we were about 8 my friend and I both got bikes with lights for Christmas.
We lived in a quiet village with no streetlights and thought nothing of cycling home in the dark after tea in one another's houses. But our respective mothers would telephone to say that a little girl was on her way.
In the summer, we used to cycle miles to swim in a little river or to play on the cadets' training equipment belonging to a nearby boys boarding school.
My sisters and I all agreed that we had a healthy and independent childhood.

Yes in holidays and weekends we used to go play all over on our own.And went to school alone once at secondary school.I remember on my first day at school aged 5 a teacher said i could go home for lunch now (turns out i wasnt supposed to) and i had to find my way home alone, luckily it was a couple of streets away & i remembered the way,but mum wasnt in as she went shopping knowing i'd be safely in school.Man next door gave me soup then mum got back & returned me to school,where she had stern words with the Headteacher & they gave me school lunch.