They were fun and games till some one lost an eye

[Brewman61]

Re: They were fun and games till some one lost an eye

Remember that toy from the 70's, made of two glass balls, a bit smaller than billiard balls, that were connected with a foot or so of string? The string had a plastic ring tied in the middle. You held the ring and the glass balls bounced off each other, sort of. Made a hellacious racket, which was much of the fun. They went by many different names. These too were banned in the name of saftey.
Same with my Creepy Crawlers set. You heated plastic goop in metal molds and made all sorts of bugs. But if you weren't careful, you could burn yourself. I imagine lawsuits put the end to that toy, too.

 

[cheburashka]

Re: They were fun and games till some one lost an eye

Just a broad view of the way things have been changing over the years.
We all played those games and had fun, but here in BC (just to the north of you) they legislated manditory helmut wearing while riding a bycycle a couple of years back. This may save lives and head injuries, but we did ok as kids without all these new regulations.
And you do remember running with scissors, don't you.

But that's my point. You're talking about the way things have been changing over the years, but more than half of the examples you used aren't true--at least where I live. I agree that there are more rules than there used to be, but let's at least keep things in the realm of reality. It's not as serious as people make it out to be.

Helmet laws for kids on bikes? Good idea. You remember what helmets were like when you were a kid? Now, they're so light and well ventilated that it's like you're not wearing anything at all.

Jarts? They didn't need to be banned. Still, I'd be willing to bet that if they hadn't been banned, you still wouldn't be able to buy them because of the danger of lawsuits.

 

[Beefer]

Re: They were fun and games till some one lost an eye

omg you guys are hilarious!

I also remember JARTS....
here's why they were banned! LOL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFyzA8LUwj8

I'm waiting for "them" to ban Horseshoes

OMG that was too funny. Them's was the days.....

ps how come kids dont put playing cards on thier front forks with clothes-pins holding the card on (to simulate motorcycle chopper sounds)

Did they ban clothes-pins?????????

Because in the early '80's, suddenly their was 'value' to a baseball card, and the better the condition, the more valuable. So things like Flipping Cards, and the spoke & clothespin motorcycle fell out of fashion. Unfortunately, now all there are, are mint condition cards of every scrub player that was ever printed.

 

[tswiczko]

Re: They were fun and games till some one lost an eye

Next thing you know everybody will be throwing been bags at a board with a hole in it at get togethers

 

[BF]

Re: They were fun and games till some one lost an eye

Remember that toy from the 70's, made of two glass balls, a bit smaller than billiard balls, that were connected with a foot or so of string? The string had a plastic ring tied in the middle. You held the ring and the glass balls bounced off each other, sort of. Made a hellacious racket, which was much of the fun. They went by many different names. These too were banned in the name of saftey.
Same with my Creepy Crawlers set. You heated plastic goop in metal molds and made all sorts of bugs. But if you weren't careful, you could burn yourself. I imagine lawsuits put the end to that toy, too.

That's a blast from the past. We called them "click clackers" or just "clackers"... one of the most bizarre toy ideas of all times. Once you got going, you could do a "double clack" which meant that they hit on the top and at the bottom. Although they were mostly a "girl's toy" it came in handy that my sister always had them in case I happened to need some nunchucks. I wonder how many front teeth were knocked out by those things? They were fun to throw at people's legs as they ran around... you know trip them up... felt like something like Daniel Boone would do.

I did spend hours making the bugs too... my buddy had a delux setup of that.

 

[lonesouth]

Re: They were fun and games till some one lost an eye

get your lawn darts online HERE. Something I looked into a little while back.

And yea, I had wax car "factory" when I was young. I had a BB gun when I was 6. I knew where the key to the gun cabinet was (and caught a beating if I got into it). We had go carts without roll bars, and I just saw a friend's new bigwheel for their kid with a full roll cage and 5 point harness! We had a diving board at our house, and a slide! M80s were legal. A girl broke her leg on the monkey bars and her parents DIDN'T sue the school!

Yep, times have changed...though I am thinking of making my son a velcro onesie with matching car seat...

 

[Beefer]

Re: They were fun and games till some one lost an eye

Loopholes! gotta love 'em!