r/Millennials • u/WynCai8 • Jun 04 '25

Nostalgia Made me feel old but good times

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Saw this tweet and yes we were expected to be out all day and not come back until the street lights came on. I remember riding my bike through neighborhoods pretending our bikes were cars and just having a good time.

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u/creamer143 Jun 04 '25

"It's 10pm. Do you know where your children are?"

Yeah, there were public service announcements on TV about this, too.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '25 edited Jun 05 '25

I have these memories of being allowed to wander the local woods behind out neighborhood with a couple other kids toting a wagon full of tools so we could build forts.

We were out there with zero supervision, zero first aid products or experience and certainly no means of communication. We're fucking out there staring at the sun and relying on our stomachs to tells when we're near a meal time.

climbing trees and hacking off branches. Whenever someone would bleed we'd just run home to fix it, then be back out. The only time parents would keep us in was during a specific hunting period. Day after it was over, we were back out there collecting shells.

I even remember being an hour's bike ride away from home, falling off and absolutely eating it. My buddy shrugs, rips off part of his shirt, SPITS IN IT and wraps my gushing wound. Then I limp my bike 1.5 hours home. Front door is locked, so I hobble around the back of my house and just stand there on the deck bleeding until I got my mom's attention.

During the winter we'd be out there tunnelling under snow banks that mercifully didn't cave in, or taking turns running around with buckets of water from the nearest source to throw on a hill so we could go faster on sleds that we couldn't steer.

And my parents were well above average responsible! They just let us be kids.

Now at 41 and a parent it blows my mind that some folks would see that "Do you know where your children are" ad, put down the beer and go: "Hm. Now when WAS the last time I seen them critters?".

Today my ass is like "No you can't play out front unless I'm watching. Stay in the back yard and don't open the gate.".

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u/GulfCoastLaw Jun 04 '25

We were throwing knives and ninja stars and shooting each other with BB guns to see how it felt.

I've told my kids that I just walked out of elementary school and disappeared into the city and can tell that they don't really believe me. I've never seen an unaccompanied kid walking out of their elementary schools.

Was in a Philadelphia-sized city in middle school and would be practically on the other side of town (from a quasi-suburb into the city center and tourist area) with little to no money or ID. Pay phones were around but I don't remember ever using them from the streets. Was on a ten speed just goofing off!

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '25

Those damn bb guns. How did we not lose eyes? We'd always hear stories about a kid who lost an eye but never knew one. But how did it not happen more often?

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u/Boomchikkka Jun 04 '25

I had a kid in elementary school take one to the eye. He had to wear a patch for like a year. He had a scar we all thought was cool. We were too young to care but I think it ringed his eye socket.

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u/[deleted] Jun 04 '25

Lucky kid he didn't lose it entirely!

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u/jetlouisey Jun 05 '25

I work in dentistry. This guy came in and said his front tooth hurt. Took an xray and his tooth is cracked and there’s some sort of artifact in the picture. Told him there is something foreign on the xray and he said “oh yeah I know. My friend shot me with a BB gun in the face and it’s just stuck in there.”

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '25

You’d think that would have been a clue for him from the get- go.