The Good Old Days!

I am so glad that I grew up in the 50s & 60s as opposed to today. First of all, there were few electronic gadgets. “Million Dollar Movie,” on NYC’s channel 9, I think, was our VCR. Showed the same movie every night for a week — got to see “Godzilla,” “King Kong,” “Rodan,” and John Wayne movies 5 nights in a row! We were just allowed to be kids — could hop on my bicycle and ride the 5 miles to Grandma’s house on busy Merrick Road; could run through the neighborhood, through everyone’s yard, with a dozen kids, playing Robin Hood; could spend a whole summer’s day playing baseball, only coming “in” when it was supper time; could pack an old knapsack full of “supplies” and hike for miles down at the creek along the Belt Parkway; could hitch a ride up to Avon, CT to attempt to visit my favorite baseball player, Dick McAuliffe; could ride the subways with a brown bag lunch all day; could actually play tag, and ring-a-levio, and “pickle,” or on rainy days, Risk or Strat-O-Matic; could play tackle football with no equipment; could walk a mile or two to school; could ride buses & subways to Yankee Stadium, or the World’s Fair, or a Kinks concert, or Central Park; could go fishing, or attempt to craft a “sea-worthy” vessel, at the creek or the Lynbrook reservoir; could collect baseball cards & comic books and could ride bikes down to the candy store with a quarter and come home with 2 comic books and a candy bar … so much stuff; there were always kids outside. I had loving, responsible parents. Today, they might be charged with child abuse, or, neglect, at the very least. Those were the days! Really … they were! http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2014/03/hey-parents-leave-those-kids-alone/358631/