Being a Kid in the 1970s

Hey, kids of the 70s were riding on banana seats, drinking out of garden hoses, and spending entire days outdoors adventuring. Some of the greatest innovators in the 1980s electronics boom were raised in the innovative 70s where a shoebox was a Barbie car and a fort was made with blankets over a dining table on a rainy day.

Let's recall the long-haired, dorky rugby shirts, high-water jeans of nerd rebels who tried smoking too young, dreamed of going to every arriving concert, listened to music on an AM radio, and got tan by natural means. 

Remember when the teacher rolled the projector out and turned off the lights?  (Otherwise known as "nap time") 

Sleepovers (otherwise known as "don't be the first one to fall asleep")

I readily admit, the Kool-Aid pitcher breaking through walls unsettled me.

In the 70s, kids were all about "what do I dare to try?" Whether it was smoking a cigarette or building ramps for bikes, skateboarding in an empty swimming pool, or riding your bike to a nearby town to buy a Yoo-hoo drink from a corner store.

Who wasn't scared of Witchiepoo or the child catcher?

If we missed a movie in the theater, we had to wait for it to come up on TV a few years later, or wait for it to make a second go-round at the theaters. 

With no cell phones, streetlights became the way to know we were supposed to go home.

Most didn't have video games in their homes and if they did, they were simplistic and boring. It was better to build a blanket fort, dam up a stream, or swing from a rope into a lake, than to be stuck indoors.

We walked and biked miles, make prank calls (no caller ID), had no safety caps on parents' medicines, used no seat belts in the cars, drank from the garden hose, used mercurochrome on wounds, watched Saturday morning cartoons, were afraid to go in the ocean after "Jaws" was released, and secretly sang and danced to the soundtracks of "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease." 

Great movies to bring you back to 70s childhood -

Now and Then

It

Stand by Me

My Girl

Jaws

Meatballs

American Graffiti

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Escape to Witch Mountain

My Side of the Mountain

Freaky Friday

Maybe you aren't going to get up on a skateboard again, but perhaps you can capture some of the attitude of the 70s all over again. 

Here's some ideas to get that spirit back - 

*go outside when it rains

*run through a sprinkler

*fill up an inflatable pool and splash

*get on a cruiser bike and explore your neighborhood.

*open up a pack of Bubble Yum - watermelon or cherry, grape or original. Blow away!

*have a sleepover

*chase down the ice cream man

*lay out in the sun

*get water balloons and have fun with your partner or your kids/grandkids

*play the music from the 70s and sing along

*wear over-sized sunglasses

*watch Jetsons, Flintstones, and Scooby Doo.

*fake a head cold and call the day off to watch game shows and eat chicken noodle soup or grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Julie and I created a video to commemorate the AM Radio generation of the 70s.