Surviving the ‘70s in Spite of Ourselves

Questionable things Boomers and Gen Xers did in the ‘70s

The ‘70s rolled in during a time of free love, hippies, rock music, and political turmoil.

By the end of the decade, we had inflation, gas lines, disco, and “Star Wars.”

One theme that ran true throughout the era was free-range parenting. This type of parenting bordered on neglect, but allowed us Gen X children to know a freedom and independence that subsequent generations would never see again.

I am not saying things were better; I am not saying things were worse. Things were just done differently.

Smoking was omnipresent

Smoking was everywhere.

Parents smoked in cars with the windows rolled up.

You could smoke on airplanes. They would put the smokers in the back of the plane, but everyone would breathe the same air in the enclosed place.

You could smoke in the waiting room of the doctor’s offices and in hospitals.

At school, older kids could smoke in a designated smoking area. When the door opened from the teachers’ lounge as you walked by, a cloud of smoke would roll out into the hallway.

Little League sports

When we played organized sports, we sometimes didn’t get to participate. If you weren’t any good, you sat on the bench. There was no fair and equitable playing time for all kids.

The winners received trophies at the end of the year and celebrated by going to either Pizza Hut or Dairy Queen. The losers did not get participation ribbons.

We didn’t play tee ball.

Six-year-olds pitched the baseball and were bad at it. There weren’t many called strike outs. We either went down swinging, advanced on a walk or got hit by the pitch.

We didn’t play flag football.

Little kids were expected to hit and tackle each other.

We did the same when we played in our front yards. Of course, we were sensible enough to substitute a two-hands-on-the-back rule for a tackle when running on the driveway.

Cars without restraint

Our parents drove big, gas-guzzling cars and we moved about the vehicle like we were climbing a jungle gym.

Seatbelts existed but were seldom used. When cars did start installing seatbelt warnings, we would often buckle them before getting in to silence the alarm and we sat in front of the belt.

We really went to a lot of trouble to be unrestrained and unsafe.

When we were little, parents would let us sit in their laps while they drove. They would even let us steer the vehicle.

Playing without supervision

We played without adults. Most times, our parents didn’t even know where we were.

Playing in the alley behind a neighborhood kid’s house, you would hear your mother yelling your name off in the distance and you knew that you had to run home by the time she had to call a third time.

We rode bikes and skateboards without helmets or knee pads. And we cracked our heads open and scarred our knees when we fell.

Playground equipment was made from old, rusted metal that heated up in the sun and sat on hard, unforgiving blacktops.

The boys all had bb guns and we ran through the neighborhoods with them shooting at windows, cars and even ourselves. The bb stung when it hit your bare leg.

In the summer, mostly, you played barefoot. I am quite certain that there were summers when I took my shoes off when school let out in the spring, and I didn’t put them on again until school started back up in the fall.

We played games in the streets and under the streetlights when it got dark. We stopped playing when a car came down the road and we called a do-over in whatever game we were playing.

The scars of freedom

Kids and adults had separate lives in the ‘70s. We had freedom to make our own choices and we had freedom to get hurt, which we did quite often.

I have heard that when someone brags about not wearing seatbelts or helmets, he is the survivor talking. There were some kids that did not survive the looseness of the ‘70s.

Regardless, it certainly was a different time with different attitudes, and I am glad I got to survive and experience the decade. I still have the scars on my elbows and knees to remind me of our reckless fun.

Growing up in the ‘70s certainly shaped who I am today, how I think, and what I do.

For another nostalgic story by Curt.