1968 here. That was the best way to grow up. We were all outside, we were with our friends, bumps and bruises, road rash, and we all survived. So much fun living in the 70s and 80s as a kid.

You wouldn’t believe the stuff we used to do this was only an appetizer I bet all of us have stories that would blow your mind.

The best thing about being Gen X is we had a child hood without social media and cellphones so we could escape and be gone all day without real hovering parents or supervision.We learned to fend for our selves. Computers and video games where just starting to be come a thing in homes but it wasn't like today where every house had them. Thus you weren't inside since most of you're friends didn't have an Atari. No online gaming so to play with friends you had to leave your house. We learned to fall off our bike or skateboard without hurting ourselves so you after the first time you hit your head you learn to tuck and roll. So we got the growth of modern tech but we were out of college when social media really hit in the early 2000s. So our childhood didn't have parents able to find you and locate you which gave us a lot of freedom to but that freedom meant you had to learn to handle yourself.

This list doesn't even scratch the surface

GenX here, no bike helmets and Mom's arm as a seatbelt. We were zhe first generation where both parents usually worked. We basically raised ourselves. We learned how to do things by learning how NOT to do them first. The only rule we had was we had to be in the house by the time the street lights came on.

I’m Gen X, 60 years old, and a Cold War era Army Veteran. I don’t have many bad memories from my childhood, I always remember the fun we had, and miss the freedom we had.

We sat on the roof and watched the cars go by

We all remember rabbit ears.

A pound for TV is the most diabolical thing I have ever heard of and yes I have heard of MK ultra 🤣 Edit this is the exact kind of behavior that made Americans have a lovely tea party of our own 🙃❤️

I fell in an open grave (no coffin) when playing BB gun wars in a graveyard when I was 9. It took me hours to climb out, and didn't get home until well after dark. I come into the house, all scraped up and covered in mud. Mom looked at me, and said "Don't track that into the house, rinse yourself off outside!" No "where were you?" or "are you ok?" Just "Your dinner is in the oven". This was a pretty typical example of parenting back then.

I'm a Boomer from 1948. We did crazy stuff too. In the summer, we used to pick up the chunks of ice that the milkman threw onto the street. We'd pick up the ice, which was crystal clear. Then we'd hold the ice up to the sky and say this prayer. "If I die before I wake, I pray to God my soul He take". Then we'd cross our hearts and start licking the chunks of ice.

We were fearless.

Back when I was a young teen,  in the boy scouts,  I  took part in a week long 200 mile bicycle ride and camp trip. We rode along country roads and along riverside pathways,  all without any helmets or pads.

Watching from Kentucky and I am of the gen x era and I am telling you right now EVERYTHING is accurate. Done every single one of these things and then some. And it was even better that I got to grow up in the country. I remember riding in the back of my papaw’s four wheel drive truck and taking me and my cousins off roading. We bounced around the truck bed dodging briar bushes and loved every minute of it.

we also had drive-inn theaters, roller skating rinks, and bee bee guns.

I remember laying on the back window shelf of my dad's Mach 1 Mustang. We also used our bikes to explore the neighborhood. We would give Mom or Dad our intended destination and take off with our friends.  As long as we were home just before supper, nobody worried.😊

It would take 3 people to adjust the tv, one to watch, another to yell instructions out the window and the third to move the antenna.

I have scars from those days, I love them all, when I look at them they bring me back.  😄

As a toddler,   my "job" was to go around and empty ashtrays

Let me tell u something-we did JUST fine & are better adjusted adults bc of it. My parents had no clue where tf we were. We had to be home for dinner or if my dad whistled to come home. We were late…we went to bed w/o dinner. It didn’t kill us. And we learned not to be late for dinner.😉 Basically adults expected their kids to not die. If we were too dim to realize playing chicken w/a train would cause our death…we kinda deserved what we got. Parents didn’t coddle any one. We were expected to keep ourselves alive & not destroy the house. That’s pretty much it. Lol. It was awesome. U won a trophy bc u DESERVED IT. Nobody swept in to save us from every boo-boo or give us a participation ribbon for coming in 8th. Nope. It taught us to fight. I’m proud to be Gen X. Big time.

I still have our family's full set of Lawn Darts in the original packaging.  Nobody died.