Bastad clogs
A maxi dress I just had to have. Red white & blue Pants that said VOTE all over them (?), ponchos with embroidered flowers, little plaid dresses with kilt pins for school. Keds. Changing into “play clothes” after school. Friday flip-up day - better have worn shorts under that little plaid dress or everyone would see your “days of the week” undies!
Madison85 I have actually been to Bastad - really quaint beach town in Sweden. They do wear those clogs!
During my childhood, my uncles, who’d fought in WW2 were about 50 yrs old +/- and looked old to me, while the returning Vietnam veterans were so young…and now those same Vietnam veterans today (who don’t seem too old) are chronologically older than how I recall those WW2 vets while I growing up.
I’d be described as anti-gun today, but you wouldn’t know it growing up as we routinely played “cowboys & indians”, pretend war, cops & robbers, etc. Toy guns were as common as any of our sporting equipment growing up. Toy guns were not among my children’s playthings.
Most folks I recall did much of their own car maintenance, and there was a lot of it to do because the reliability of cars back then was horrendous and the mechanical nature was more straightforward.
5th grade craze - short white go-go boots. I so wanted a pair of those.
We played halfball (cut a pimple ball in half) using old broomsticks for bats. If the ball went down the sewer, someone was held by their ankles and reached down into the muck to get the ball.
Also played Bottlecaps on a chalk-drawn “court” in the street (lots fewer drivers then). That was before twist-offs so you looked for the least bent cap in the trash, then tried to pound it out nice and smooth. On rainy days we would melt old crayons and fill the caps with wax.
Also played Baby in the Air; Red Light, Green Light; Statues; Simon Says; and Kick the Can. Afternoon snack was Saltines and Kool-Aid.
Chuck Taylor Converse Hi-tops were all the rage. Girls bought non-white laces to accent the shoe (like maroon hi-tops with royal blue laces). Then when they wore out, you tied them together, threw them over the power line and they hung there until the laces deteriorated. Now I understand why our moms hated this custom as it made the neighborhood look a little trashy, but we thought it was great.
We played Red Rover for PE, and a number of kids got hurt. It didn’t seem to matter to the teaches. In PE we also played the game where some kids stand against a wall and the rest of the kids throw balls as hard as possible at them. It had a name that started with “Smear the” and would be inappropriate to say today. It was kind of like Dodge Ball, except that you didn’t have much room to get away from being hit.
Hopscotch - never see little girls playing this anymore. We played for hours.
This is bringing on a flood of memories.
Elementary school- shorts under our dresses. Playing outside in the middle of the street with the neighborhood kids. Our rule was be home by the time the streetlights came on. We played a game where whoever was “it” threw a ball straight up into the air. When they caught it they yelled a word that I can’t recall. While the ball was in the air all the other kids would run and freeze when the ball was caught. The person who was it threw and tried to hit one of the other players. We also rode our bikes around neighborhood with a friend sitting on the back or handlebars.i also remember when 7- eleven opened nearby. We had ever set eyes on such a candy aisle. Our Mom worked so we were the only kids on our block who were able to cross the large boulevard to get to the store. Which we ran across versus walking to the light. My younger brother would go buy candy and set it up on the grass and sell it at a premium. We were left relatively unattended.
We also had space sticks and snack pack pudding cups in a metal can. If you had one in your lunch you had to raise your hand and wait for the noon aide to open it.
Dittos and later boys Levi cord in colors that we wore with a blouse covered with a sweater vest. Leather flower embossed belt we bought from the swap meet ( which we walked to) wallabies and carrying a leather purse from the swap meet leather vender. Vans sneakers in two toned colors, buying the pre-smocked fabric by the inch and sewing a seam to make a dress.
We had a toy called Toot Sweet. It took flavored Tootsie rolls and turned them into a whistle.
One really vivid memory of childhood was being the only kid I knew whose Mom worked. We also were the only kids that had parents who were divorced. Now it’s the opposite. My parents divorced in 1965.
Our version of our game in PE was Bombardment. If we played teams, then both teams had to stand behind lines and throw small red balls at the opponents. If we played individual, then it was every man for himself. You could fire these balls fast and had to be on your toes at all times. It left a big red mark on your face if you got hit by it.
My favorite PE game was played with half the gym closed. Two teams stood on lines with everyone not on the court having to play goalie and not let a ball get past them. Each side had three players who were out on the court, and the object was to hit the red ball with your palm or fist past the opponent’s goalies. The three players were rotated in and out every few minutes. It was a wild, crazy game that everybody loved. You could hit the ball off the walls, or pass it, or blast it as hard as you could. We even had penalty shots.
“Hopscotch - never see little girls playing this anymore. We played for hours.”
I live in a town where kids still play outside (and walk/bike to school even though every elementary kid can take a bus - even if they live next door to the school.) I walk my dogs twice a day and there are plenty of hopscotch boards drawn in many driveways. The boys congregate at the houses which have basketball hoops. Probably even more of those things in the developments in town then in my area - although they live to far from elementary schools to walk to any of them.
Red Rover could be so violent and hurtful. I think it was the beginning of my shoulder socket problems. It does seem like as children we had more injuries, especially bike and roller skating accidents.
Hated it when the little metal clips on the roller skates didn’t stay on the toes of my shoes tightly enough. I can’t remember where we kept the key so we didn’t lose it. Or maybe it was like the dreadful drill chuck key, which I always got into trouble for losing!
We played 1-2-3 red light as kids.
“It was kind of like Dodge Ball, except that you didn’t have much room to get away from being hit.”“Our version of our game in PE was Bombardment. If we played teams, then both teams had to stand behind lines and throw small red balls at the opponents.”
I do think PE teachers were a bit sadistic. I remember playing this game one time and got hit right in the face and getting a bloody nose, a real gusher, and being really embarrassed.
I also remember playing crab soccer.
We had ongoing 4 square contests at recess every day. We took it very seriously.
Shake-A Pudd’n. Made quite a mess when the lid accidentally came off in the classroom.
The “hidden pictures” puzzles in the Highlights magazine.
The Uncle Jay Show.
@HarvestMoon1 We had a subscription to Highlights and my sister and I cut out all the Goofus and Gallant cartoons and saved them for years.
I was just going to post about crab soccer. It was one of my favorites, especially with the little 4-wheeler sitting scooters.
And the giant crab soccer ball!