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The freedom most of us had when we were young is a foreign concept to kids today. We never had the restrictions set upon kids, and maybe it’s a good thing that our own children are growing up in a safer world. Sometimes it’s a wonder that we even made it through childhood at all.

One thing is for sure; today’s children are growing up in a much different world than what we had when we were young.

When We Were young…

1. We used to disappear early in the morning and not return until the sun was down and the street lights were on. There was no report to the police about a missing child in the neighborhood.

2. When we were young, kids carried BB guns, pellet guns or even fashioned their own brand of weapon out of sticks and anything else they could find.

3. Even before they could see over the steering wheel kids would steer the car all around the parking lot while on mom or dad’s lap. If parents were really daring, it would happen on the road.

4. Remember when we used to ride in the back of a pickup truck? The days of getting bugs in your eyes and dirt in your mouth are long gone.

5. Riding anywhere in a moving vehicle is no longer an option. Forget about riding on the floorboard, beneath the window or doing acrobats on the seats because kids can no longer ride without a seatbelt no matter what.

6. I remember waiting in the car for my parents to finish their errands. When a child is left unattended in the car nowadays, the police are called to ensure they are in safe hands.

7. There’s no more borrowing dad’s hatchet to go build a fort in the forest and forget about using anything like a saw to help.

8. There were days when we were forced to go door to door to sell raffle tickets or girl guide cookies but it’s rare to see anything like that now. Unless, of course, you actually know the kid, their name, their parents or are related to them.

9. When we were young we used to go to an actual arcade that wasn’t a Chuck E. Cheese.

10. And of course, riding a bike without a helmet.

Have we become a society that coddles our children too much? We don’t see kids running off into the woods with some tools like we did when we were young or hanging out at the corner store digging into all the candy they just bought with their allowance. Most of the time we just see them with their smartphones. Things just aren’t the same.

That is true. Things are just not the same. But are things worse? I think we have all learned that some of those things we did as a kid weren’t exactly safe. There were probably many times when we barely escaped the clutches of serious injury because we didn’t have an adult supervising or because we really shouldn’t have been using a machete to clear away some grass. We miss some things because life seemed to be easier when we were young, but we have to admit that our kids are much safer now.

What do you think about safety nowdays and before? Do you miss ‘good old times’?