Childhood memories of playing outside.

[Nr1Humanoid]

I remember endless hours outside, hardly bothering to go inside except to eat. Even then it was right back outside when done. I have no idea where all that endless imagination came from.

[CMWaters]

I remember being a hit at recess as a kid for bringing in wax paper for the sliding board.

Wasn't allowed to do that again after that one day though.

[Ultimo Gallos]

That is one thing I will give the kids out where I live now,they play outside A LOT. But then that might be also cause until a few years back high speed internet wasn't available out here.

Add in the lake and all the woods. I would have loved growing up out here.

Out in Forts Lake we would go during spring break and build a club house in the woods behind our homes every year. Then as we got older we started having bb gun wars. Which of course became fireworks wars every year around 4th of July and New Years Eve.

Talked to a friend that still lives out there and sadly the church that owns the woods we played in wont let the kids go play in it. "Yea it is sad. All the kids out here do now is sit inside playing video games."

[Nickybojelais]

Pretty simple for me. September until May I was outside playing football (soccer) for hours every day. Then in June, July and August I was outside playing cricket for hours every day.

My parents thought I was a stranger during my childhood as I spent so little time in the house with them.

[HeyYo]

I had one of those childhoods like what you would see in movies from the 80s/90s. In the summers it would be up at dawn, on the bike with the neighborhood kids, roaming around doing every activity you could think of until it got dark. No plan in place, no real adult supervision.

Loved it. Happy that it happened before technology really took off.

[Mister Pigwell]

One thing that stands out is the late 80s/early 90s VERY VERY un-PC and downright horrible names we had for games and didn't even question back then. That doesn't seem to be a thing with my kids these days and thank goodness for that.

[Malibu Stacy]

Up until high school, I was pretty much outside every moment not at school, eating, sleeping, or doing homework. My parents were very big on outside play, dad built us a treehouse with a sandbox underneath. Even better, we lived right next to the school playground, back when they were open for free use.

Beyond that, the bulk of our family getaways were to nature spots like the beach or Hill Country, or to my aunt's ranch. I started free climbing when I was 6, discovered a small cave entirely on my own (it was on the official park map, of course, but I didn't know about it and instead of leisurely hiking the path, I found it by climbing straight up the rock face).

And before THAT, when I was around 4, we had a ton of pets in the backyard. We had a chicken coop with Felicia, Coppertone, and Fred the rooster; we had two ducks, Duncan and Dolores; a beige bunny named Banjo, and a huge black lab named Brightguise (I was trying to name her after Bright Eyes the Pound Puppy, but it didn't sound right to me so I added the "g" sound). I interacted heavily with them all, as my mom wanted me to learn to be comfortable with animals. We also had two cats, a box turtle, and a snapping turtle inside, along with a goldfish tank.

[bibboid]

Up until I was about six, I just played in the neighborhood. We had about a four block area to run free in. When Mom wanted us home she would stand on the back porch and ring a cowbell and we would come running.
From about six to ten, I could ride my bike to one of the three parks within a mile of our house. If there were people there, I would play with them. If not I played alone. There was a brook behind my school and about once a week I would follow it upstream or down just for something to do.
Older than ten my adventures took me farther. I'd wander along the train track to check out the town dump. Ride up and over South Mountain to get to the county park on the other side. Ride to the far side of town to swim at the community pool. Cruise five miles or so to check out the closest 7-11.

[Ultimo Gallos]

The street I grew up on had 3 families with kids. There was me,Lil Colon Brown and his sister,then the Abstons. WHich was a boy my age with 4 sisters.

So all us guys would gather either after school,or in the morning if it was a weekend or school was out. And figure out what we were doing that day.

Once we all got to 10 most of us guys had 4 wheelers. That meant most days we would go riding all over the dirt pit that was about a mile from the house.

Shocked none of us got seriously hurt cause we would do some dumb stuff. Like the time Joey was given a go cart frame. No motor just the frame with tires. We got a big rope. Tied it to the front of the frame. Then tied the other end to Lil Colon's 4 wheelers. Had him pulling us all over the dirt pit. Then Jason Abston got the great idea. "How about we jump the big hill while pulling the go cart!"

All was going good until once we got airborne Joey jumped out of the go cart. This caused it to flip and I held on to the frame as it was twisting in air. It landed on it's side. I got lucky and came out with just some bruises and scrapes.

Really the only time someone got hurt was the last time we had a fireworks war. We would get pvc pipe. Plug up one end. Then drop lit bottle rockets into it and shoot them at each other. One buddy was carrying a gross of bottle rockets in his backpack. Which he had partially unzipped and hanging on the front of his body. I was up in a tree saw him coming. Lit a pack of jumping jacks and dropped them. They landed into his backpack. Which set off that gross of bottle rockets.By the time he got the backpack off he had at least a dozen burns on his chest where bottle rockets had went off.

[sabretooth]

In the 80s. We owned an extra acre behind my childhood house, and it had bamboo growing all over it. Me and my friend (and now the mayor of my hometown...scary to think about ) made a maze out of it and even had "secret rooms" in it. We spent all our time in there preparing for war that never came. We were gonna defeat the Russkies with our bamboo spears and superhuman leaping ability. We could clear almost 6 feet in a single bound!

Then one day I came home from school and my dad had chopped it all down. And I will never forgive him for that!

About 5th or 6th grade we all started playing baseball. Being in a very small town with few kids, teams were usually 3 on 3: the pitcher, the infielder, and the outfielder, with a board supported by an ATV for the "catcher". You get lots of exercise playing 3 on 3 baseball, unless you're the board.

[J. Hova]

It's amazing to me when I look back and see the actual pictures of when I was a kid or even as a teenager how tan I was. That was simply from playing outside. We all had video games, but you couldn't play them online so we'd go out and play baseball or basketball at the part or god forbid, full contact football with no pads during football season. We'd ride our bikes for hours during the summer and play kick the can after dark. We'd also have the greatest super soaker battles during the summer. I'm not even going to talk about shoveling snow or mowing grass to hustle up them dollars so we had enough money to big ball at the concession stand. Now, my nephew and his friends play Fortnite on their consoles and talk shit to one another over a headset.

Ok, mark it down, 5/25/20, I've officially become my father.

[Deleted]

When I was under 8, I remember always playing Beavis n' Butthead with my neighbor. Spice Gals were our girlfriends. What a rascal I was sometimes, like drawing flying butts to the side of the family house. All-around though, I think I was a good boy. > Loved all kinds of animals and have seen many in wild, but as young man -  especially the bugs and frogs were amazing. Observed 'em for many hours straight. I was so excited when I found something new out of small streams. I think I have to buy magnifying glass, so I can take a closer look at stuff like ants again at my backyard, ' would love to research 'em with my brother's son when visiting family.

e: Damn if wood sticks weren't the most magnificent swords. Plus peashooters made from a pipe, tape and rubber gloves.

[J. Hova]

May 25, 2020 3:35:50 GMT -5 J. Hova said:

It's amazing to me when I look back and see the actual pictures of when I was a kid or even as a teenager how tan I was. That was simply from playing outside. We all had video games, but you couldn't play them online so we'd go out and play baseball or basketball at the part or god forbid, full contact football with no pads during football season. We'd ride our bikes for hours during the summer and play kick the can after dark. We'd also have the greatest super soaker battles during the summer. I'm not even going to talk about shoveling snow or mowing grass to hustle up them dollars so we had enough money to big ball at the concession stand. Now, my nephew and his friends play Fortnite on their consoles and talk shit to one another over a headset.

Ok, mark it down, 5/25/20, I've officially become my father.

I'll also point out that the worst concussion in my life (I've had 3) was from one of those football games.  My childhood best friend and I still give each other tons of shit over the collision.  When he and I were on opposite teams, we sort of had a mutual understanding that we wouldn't blow each other up on plays or go hard at each other on kickoffs or punts.  Well, he and I about killed each other on a play about 20ish years ago that we still tell each other that the other one should have zigged when the other zagged.  And I'm pretty sure, I still have a lump on my head from that hit.  Maybe unprotected football wasn't the best idea in the world.

[Deleted]

King of the Hill, playing it either on top of the snow castles or old tree stumps in summer was the stuff of legends.   Many times I battled against much older kids than I was! Sometimes you took some serious bumps there: I'd probably die if something like that happened to me now as adult!

[Ultimo Gallos]

There was a big field about 3 blocks from my house. Where we played full contact football a lot. Then by the time I was 10 the church that owned the woods behind my home started as summer camp. They build a baseball field right past the woods.

So we then could play baseball often.

[grungesmurf]

Big wheel races around the neighborhood! So awesome until that one angry old guy on the corner house Mr. Bobby would come out and scream at us.

Diving off the small hill on The big wheels getting air much like the Dukes of Hazard or Knight Rider!!

Having a C.H.I.P.S. motorized motorcycle and pretending to be cops with my cousin.

Running up the sliding board and jumping off the back.

Being at grandmas on the weekends and being on the swing sets jumping off having contest to see who can jump the furthest!!

And lastly playing Hot Butter Baked Beans!

[Doctor Of Style]

My friends and i used to play ironman football. No helmets, no pads. 11 on 11 with no substitutions unless there was a serious injury. If you got replaced, you couldn't come back in the game. We hung out at an abandoned concrete factory, that's where we shot our bb guns.

[Paul]

May 25, 2020 15:06:47 GMT -5 Doctor Of Style said:

My friends and i used to play ironman football. No helmets, no pads. 11 on 11 with no substitutions unless there was a serious injury. If you got replaced, you couldn't come back in the game. We hung out at an abandoned concrete factory, that's where we shot our bb guns.

Geez, you kids were hardcore!

[ayumidah]

Had two sets of friends I'd play with-- the two girls who visited their grandparents to our left, and then the boys who lived in the house to our right. The girls were usually stuff like dolls and My Little Pony stuff, which was ok, but I preferred playing with the boys, because they were friends with everyone in the neighborhood and we'd get huge games of tag or hide'n'seek going. Sometimes we'd even play baseball or basketball, and even when I failed at running bases, they always wanted me on their team because I was a pretty dependable pitcher lol.

Aw, good times.

[Doctor Of Style]

May 25, 2020 15:26:02 GMT -5 Paul said:

May 25, 2020 15:06:47 GMT -5 Doctor Of Style said:

My friends and i used to play ironman football. No helmets, no pads. 11 on 11 with no substitutions unless there was a serious injury. If you got replaced, you couldn't come back in the game. We hung out at an abandoned concrete factory, that's where we shot our bb guns.

Geez, you kids were hardcore!

And I wouldn't change a thing.