Boomers today have no idea what it's like to be a modern kid, but do you know anything about how it was to be a 1970s child? Some things like fixing a TV antenna or walking to school are totally lost on today's youth. These are some unbelievable things boomers did when they were kids...
Safety Belts
Safety belts back in the day left something to be desired... like better safety belts. These things were thin, shabby, and not very commonly used. Kids were flung throughout the car willy nilly, not a protective barrier in the car. Amazing that they survived...
Fire Hydrant Fun
Today, you can buy a funky sprinkler for playing online. Back then though, you would have the choice of a hose or an exposed fire hydrant for fun in the water. Sweaty kids in the streets would pray for a hot day and some free city water to splash around in. Look how happy these two kiddos were!
Family Dinners
These days, kids are booked and busy with homework, sports practices, chess clubs, and every other activity under the sun. But, back in the day, no kid ever missed dinner with their family. It was a great time to catch up on the day and bond with their parents and siblings.
Water Hose Drink
On a hot summer day, what's more refreshing than a big glass of water? Well, a full hose of water! Boomers used to pick up a dirty hose from their backyard and put their lips right up to it. Though it sounds nasty these days, it was normal enough for these kids to enjoy!
Latchkey Kids
The phrase latchkey kid comes from the boomer generation. For kids with working parents, they were tasked with getting home and staying safe even when their parents weren't there. They'd come inside and lock the door with a latchkey. Sometimes, a sibling would keep them company, but not always...
Never Childproofed
Childproofing a home is common practice today, but once upon a time, this was not the case at all. Babies would roam freely at the same height as electric outlets, cabinets, drawers, and hidden cleaning products. It was a parent's job to keep an eye out...constantly. Yikes!
Walking To School
These days, letting your kids walk alone to school is unheard of, and for good reason! The world is a scary and unforgiving place for children. When boomers were little though, they were pushed out of the door and onto the road as soon as they were enrolled in school. You know what they say, "Uphill both ways!"
Gendered Fun
Back in the day, toys were pretty strictly gendered to be for either girls or boys. Girls were given dolls and dresses while boys were given sports equipment and plastic cars. It was pretty clearly defined who was "supposed to" like which toy, but if you'd liked something from the other gender, it would mean mockery...
Lead Paint
You won't find lead in your products today. Back in a boomer's childhood, lead paint was potentially lethal. It was found in every home, but no one had any idea how poisonous it was. The legal amount of lead is currently no more than 0.06% concentration, but that's a recent progression...
Unsupervised Children
Kids used to just roam around neighborhoods and local shops looking for something to take up their time. No parents were around, maybe a few friends if they were lucky. Kids today are always being monitored and watched, but this is something that millennials have been pushing for in the future.
Community Parents
Everyone has a set of parents or a guardian of some kind, but it used to be the norm that an entire community would be looking after the kids of the area. That meant any and every adult was the authority over every and any kid they came across. For obvious reasons, this isn't the way things are done now...
Science Sets
Science is the way of the future, but it was also the way of the past. Back in the good old days, these kits were sold in stores just like everything else. The issue was that these things were often able to create explosions and hazardous chemicals. But sure, let your little boy play with them!
No Helmets Needed
Biking was the norm, but helmets were not. Kids today are always protected from harm, but in these days, a helmet was a dork magnet. Anyone wearing one meant that they would be ruthlessly bullied. Only cool kids ride recklessly, but they also run some serious risks.
Getting Drafted
In the 1960s, young men across America had to take on one of life's scariest realities...war. Men had to enlist in the draft and were sent across the globe. These days, men ages 19-26 still have to register with the Selective Service System, but the draft is way less pressing than it used to be.
Car Combustion
Car making might be essential, but it hasn't always been easy. Cars well into the 70s had a high rate of just exploding out of nowhere. The Ford Pinto was a prime example of one of these vehicles. It would just burst into flames at a moment's notice. Definitely glad they fixed that!
Lifeguard Babysitters
Much like every other aspect of boomer childhood, going to the beach meant that the kids were not being looked after. Instead, lifeguards often acted as makeshift babysitters when parents were relaxing. Going to the shore meant going out on your own as a young kid!
Free Trampolines
Trampolines these days are still pretty unsafe, but they're usually at least concealed by a net so a kid won't go bouncing off the side of it. When boomers were little, trampolines did not come with a net. You had to just jump in the center and hope for the best!
Random Friends
It's pretty common for friends to meet through school or around the block, but in these cases, the parents already know each other. Back in the day, if you met a kid your parents didn't know...that was fine and normal! No need to meet the parents, surely they're probably okay...
Hitch Hiking
Thumbs out and you're on the road! These boomers used to run through the country in the trunks of people's cars and on the backseats of busses. People don't do this anymore ever since Jeffrey Dahmer, who famously picked his victims from people wandering the side of the road...
Boys Don't Cry
Toxic masculinity got its start in the age of the boomer. Boys weren't supposed to cry or express emotion, which led to pent-up rage, aggression, and depression. Luckily, this is one part of the past that is changing for the better. Feel those emotions guys!
Blood Pact
These days, the way to assure one's friendship status is to add them on Snapchat or Facebook. In the years of the boomer, this same oath of friendship was done using a blood pact. Kids would cut their hands and then "shake on it," proving that their friendship is bound by their blood...
Merry Go Rounds
You won't find too many of these on the playground these days. Folks used to put their kids on these merry-go-rounds, and then promptly whip the kid across the yard by spinning it so fast. While it might have been fun, it was also too dangerous to survive the test of time.
Notes For the Store
Don't trust your kid to get the right medicine? Good call. It used to be common practice to send a little one into town with nothing but a couple of bucks and a note in their pocket to give to the shopkeeper. Once there, they'd give them the cash and paper, like little delivery people!
Sunscreen Scam
If you're going out on a sunny day, be sure to wear your sunscreen. Boomers used to think that sunscreen was a huge scam and never used the stuff. It wasn't until recently that people learned how dangerous sunburns could really be in the long term. Thankfully, people believe in the stuff now!
No Daughter's Dating
Dating culture has been changing rapidly over the years. With dating apps becoming all the rage, it makes sense that girls and guys alike are dating a lot. However, boomers used to have some pretty strict rules. No dating until a certain age was commonplace, especially for the daughters...
Chasing Cars
Poisonous pesticides were not a big issue back in the day, or so people thought. The neighborhood kids would chase after pesticide trucks like a game of tag. These very trucks, against their better knowledge, were really spraying poisons to kill pests and mosquitos, and could harm them!
Cooking Kiddos
Kids today can barely use the toaster, much less the oven and stove! Back in the day, kids were expected to cook for themselves and their families every now and then. Obviously not toddlers, but young teens and tweens were all in the kitchen every once in a while.
Smoking Sells
Back in the day, everyone smoked. Literally everyone. Men, women, children, it didn't matter. As long as you had a cigarette or a pipe in your hand, the day was going alright. Of course, now we know how bad it is for you, so glad this one ended!
Swirlies
Some trends should be left in the past, like the vicious swirlies given to less popular kids in schools. This is what the action of putting a kid's head in the toilet and flushing was called. This kind of bullying is less common now, as more kids choose to bully from the safety of their computer screens...
Street Playing
No matter if you were a kid in a big city or a small suburb, everyone knew the best place for playing was right in the middle of the road. If a car comes by, you better hope you can run away fast enough. This practice was a little too dangerous to keep up these days...
Sugar Cereal
Sugary cereals are less and less common with each passing year. Sure, we still have the classics, but people are getting more hip to clean eating. Back in the day, people were chowing on pretty much anything with complete disregard for calories and diets. Ah, sounds nice...
Pregnancy Problems
Ladies getting pregnant was a minor blip in the lifestyle of a boomer housewife. People were frequently getting pregnant while also continuing to drink, smoke, and eat forbidden foods. No one knew how bad it could be for a baby, but thankfully, this trend of carelessness is well over...
Simple Skates
Skating, believe it or not, is a relatively new sport. Back in the day, people used to have these things to ride around on as a skateboard. It wasn't very sturdy, or easy to ride, or pretty, but at least it got boomers from point A to point B in one piece!
Dangerous Toys
Toys have calmed down quite a bit in recent years. No longer are kids opening up BB guns on Christmas Day. Instead, they're more likely to get LEGO blocks or something more age-appropriate. This is one change that's surely for the better...
Little Ladies
These days girls could play football if they wanted to, but when boomers were little, such was not the case. Little girls weren't allowed to be messy or rough, even when they were just small children. People wanted little girls to be prim, proper, and poised!
Hideout Nook
Do you know how there are some cars with a little nook behind the back seat above the trunk of the car? Well, apparently little kid boomers used to take some naps up there. It's super risky and dangerous though, so this has definitely been something to dismiss...
Ruined Hair
Girls these days know that hair care is more than just conditioner and haircuts. Back then people would straighten their hair on an ironing board at the hands of a careful friend. This is something that hurt quite a bit and could end in burns, so thankfully it's done now...
Chicken Pox Party
Before there was a vaccine for chickenpox, parents would throw pox parties with infected and noninfected children. Once everyone had it and overcame it, they would be safe from the virus forever. Unfortunately, what they didn't know was that it could return as Shingles later in life... Thankfully, once there was a less painful way to do it, people generally took that route.
Nun Punishment
Catholic schools are stricter than most others due to the religious rules, but nuns and other teachers of this kind of educational institution used to be able to take harsh punishments. They could spank, hit, humiliate, and more. Nuns these days try to abide by nicer standards...
Candy Store Kids
Today, we get our candies from the gas station or a 7/11, but that wasn't always the setup. Kids used to hang out at candy stores where every kind of sweet you could imagine existed. Stuffed in a brown bag would be candy canes, gummy bears, and bubblegum of every flavor!
Crib Care
Babies are not supposed to sleep on their stomachs. Do you think boomer parents knew that? Absolutely not. They also had very unstable cribs which were built more for the style than safety and function. Since then, the crib industry definitely prioritizes a safe baby, not a fashionable one.
Mercurochrome
There's a reason most kids haven't heard of Mercurochrome. If a little kid ever scraped their elbow or cut a finger playing, Mercurochrome was the chemical in question to stop infection. We don't use it anymore because it was bright red which is a little too creepy looking...
Creepy Crawler Toy
Certain toys were not meant to stand the test of time. The Creepy Crawler creator was one of them. It literally asked kids to melt plastic and metal and not burn their fingertips off. You can't sell this thing at Toys R' Us...
Gas Station Panic
When America had some serious crises with oil, the solution was long lines when there was available gasoline. Gas stations had to use signs to let people know that there was no more gas in their facility. It was a scary time for many families...
Disco Parties & Roller Skates
Teens back in the day used to love gathering a group together to go roll around on skates and dance to some disco tunes. With big hair and short shorts, this was the best way to spend a Saturday back then. Still, it looks like it could be a pretty fun time!
Waiting By The Telephone
These days people are trying to get away from their phones, but if you were waiting on a cutie to give you a call, waiting by the phone was the only way to ensure you'd be there! Not only that, but you better hope no one else in your household needs to use the landline, or you could miss it.
Road Trips
You can obviously still go on a road trip whenever you want, but kids in the 70s had a real road trip experience. There were no phones or iPads to distract you, just your own imagination and maybe an annoying sibling or two. That's the real fun!
Saturday Cartoons
Before Netflix and Disney+, there was just a TV with 3 accessible channels. One of these provided cartoons on Saturday and Sunday mornings for the little kids in the household. They'd watch some Looney Toons, maybe some Mickey Mouse, and more!
Watergate Hearings
Every scandal these days is named after the big one...Watergate. The kids in this generation grew up hearing about this trial firsthand. Some people thought this would be the end of democracy in America. They watched Nixon leave the White House in a helicopter!
Star Wars
If you think Star Wars is big now, just imagine how exciting it was when the movie first debuted. These kids got to see Luke Skywalker without knowing anything else about the series. Today, kids are so inundated with content that they know all about the big spoiler!
Meeting Strangers
Stranger Danger was not a thing until the 90's, when people started to realize that maybe not everyone in your neighborhood can be trusted. Kids and adults used to be able to talk to anyone and everyone without fear. That is, until, things went pretty south...
Bad Fashion
It's just what happens. When time changes, so do the trends. These boomers saw some pretty heinous styles go in and out of the store windows, and they wore them all. However, trends are cyclical, so we might see some of these comes back in a few years!
Charlie's Angels
Beautiful women fighting crime, does it get any cooler than that? Everyone had a favorite Angel, whether you were rooting for Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson, or Farah Fawcett. This franchise also got several spin-offs and reboots, very cool!
Rusty Playgrounds
Playgrounds used to be a great way to spend a day at the park...unless they were metal. Rust covered a lot of these local playgrounds until it was no longer usable or safe. Pretty disappointing for neighborhood kids to discover that...
Smallpox Scarring
When the smallpox vaccine was introduced, things were looking up...until kids saw the needle! The thing was two-pronged and infinitely terrifying. Kids were safer than ever, but the scar the vaccine left behind was definitely pretty scary to see.
Ditto Machines
Ditto Machines, also called mimeographs, were duplicating printing devices used for kids' classrooms. They left ink all over your hands and smelled terrible, but it made homework easier to distribute for teachers!
Bowl Cuts
This hairstyle was a huge yikes. It was a bowl placed on your head, your mother cutting around the edge of it and there you have it, the ugliest haircut known to mankind. Who needs a stylist when you have dinnerware?
Pop Rocks
This candy came with science and horror stories. Some people would combine it with soda to be true masochists, others would just add it to ice cream or eat it alone. No matter how you ate it, it was always an experience.
Old TVs
Televisions were thick, dark, fuzzy, and operated with an antenna. Sometimes you just wouldn't be able to find a signal, or it would be weak enough to barely see and hear the shows. This is a piece of boomer culture that definitely deserves to stay in the dark ages...
Spanking Behinds
Though extremely rare today, spanking used to be incredibly common. If you had a misbehaving child, a quick slap on the bum would be enough to teach them a lesson. Today, this action would raise some eyebrows, but it used to be the case that this was just normal parenting stuff.