The Continuing Wussifcation of American Kids

[Atticus]

Looking out the window for thousands of miles didn't hurt me.

Sorry, but you are citing facts not in evidence!

[gm]

Sorry, but you are citing facts not in evidence!

Happiest parts of my childhood included lengthy car trips just staring out the windows. No radio, no nothing, just beautiful roadside Americana.

[Merner521]

Looking out the window for thousands of miles didn't hurt me.

[old man shakes fist at clouds]

Ah, the good old days back before unleaded gasoline.

[bad hammy]

Looking out the window for thousands of miles didn't hurt me.

[old man shakes fist at clouds]

Just as I did as a kid, I still love driving through farm country watching row after symmetrical row of future food go by at 70mph.

[DET59]

lengthy car trips just staring out the windows. No radio, no nothing,.

No seatbelts !

[Atticus]

Twice a year we made the 500 mile trip from central Connecticut to western NY. I had the trip memorized, so I would shout out the next landmark we'd see. My two-year-older sister 'loved' this game.

[lonewolf]

Just as I did as a kid, I still love driving through farm country

Although I was not a kid, one of my favorite lifetime memories is of driving hundreds of thousands of miles of rural roads during my 1970-2001 odyssey photographing 3877 courthouses/state capitals in 3138 of the 3143 counties/parishes/boroughs in the 50 US states. One does not drive to Barrow/Kotzebue/Dutch Harbor/King Salmon/Kodiak, AK, and the logistics are daunting.

[Halfmiler2]

I recall at summer camp in the mid-1960s if we had to go somewhere too far to hike, about 15 of us would hop into the back of a large pickup truck. Imagine that today! Of course, there were no seat belts in the front seats back then either.

[gm]

I recall at summer camp in the mid-1960s if we had to go somewhere too far to hike, about 15 of us would hop into the back of a large pickup truck. Imagine that today! Of course, there were no seat belts in the front seats back then either.

My favorite place to "sit" in my grandmother's Mercury Marquis was on the shelf in the back window. That was safe

[Atticus]

My favorite place to "sit" in my grandmother's Mercury Marquis was on the shelf in the back window. That was safe

My mom had an Austin-Healey 2-seater convertible (bug-eyed) Sprite. My sister and I thought it great fun (and Mom never objected) to sit behind the passenger seat, on the top of the back of it. She drove out on country roads, often quite briskly. Wouldn't that be jail for 'child endangerment' today?

[scottmitchell74]

My favorite place to "sit" in my grandmother's Mercury Marquis was on the shelf in the back window. That was safe

I have distinct memories of sitting in the trunk of a 70's station wagon playing with Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars on the way to Cedar Point.

I know we're "safer" now but it seems something's been lost.

[gm]

I have distinct memories of sitting in the trunk of a 70's station wagon playing with Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars on the way to Cedar Point.

I know we're "safer" now but it seems something's been lost.

The back-facing seat in our station wagon in the 60s was the best way to watch the scenery (and perhaps make strange gestures at the car behind us...)

[NotDutra5]

The one team member of my HS cross country team would drive the entire team from Brooklyn to Van Cortlandt Park in his station wagon. There were arms and legs hanging out of all of the windows as we squeezed what seemed like 12-15 guys in the vehicle.

[gh]

in the '50s my family used to camp in the semi-wilds of British Columbia and on one 5-mile stretch of barren dirt road, all windy and undulating, my parents used to let me and my sister, both of us in elementary school, climb up into the luggage rack of our '52 Dodge and hold on for dear life while they careened down the road at 25-30mph.

[DET59]

The back-facing seat in our station wagon in the 60s was the best way to watch the scenery (and perhaps make strange gestures at the car behind us...)

The story of my life... As the youngest of 7 in a family of 10 (grandma included) I spent my life facing backwards. In my first college spring "away" meet as a freshman, the team traveled a short distance in a big van and a wagon. I was told by a senior that the "two new freshmen" would ride in the back seat facing backward. I stood my ground and told him one of the 5'5/120 pound JC transters could sit there and I'd sit in the middle row center next to the new shot putter....