Here’s what I remember doing on a regular basis: (poll 6192008)

Here’s what I remember doing on a regular basis:

Climbed trees

Jumped from tree to tree because climbing down and up again was a bit of a pain

Drank water from a garden hose, not from a bottle

Rode in a car without seatbelts or airbags

Played ‘Shop’ with anything close at hand, including grandma’s medicine (never crossed my mind to swallow any despite the fact it was in bottles without childproof lids)

Rode my reflector-less, light-less bike without a helmet (always) and sometimes even without functioning brakes

Rode my friend’s bike standing on her seat and holding onto her bopping head for balance

Went hiking over the top of a mountain and found my own way back with just a map and my wits to help me (ok, that was stupid)

Shared one soft drink with four other friends from the same bottle, and none of us died from it

Played ‘war’ on a patch of mud, which involved flicking a pocket knife at the mud and taking the ‘slice’ where the knife stuck in as our ‘territory’. We never stabbed ourselves or each oth

In winter, skated on the compacted snow and ice in the street, tripping over bits of branches and dislodged gravel at nearly every step

Poured water over a cement slide so it would freeze to make sliding down it faster and more fun, especially standing (we had to duck underneath a tennis table at the last minute to avoid injury – ne

Ate white bread slathered in unhealthy fats and yet I was very skinny

Organised sliding downhill competitions on anything we could think of – from oven trays to make-shift go-carts fashioned out of scraps of wood tied together with string

Made bonfires out of discarded Christmas trees and any old bits of rubbish we could find lying around

Went camping, cooked chicken over an open fire and baked spuds in the cinders – and never poisoned ourselves

Swam in a slow-flowing muddy river and never got ill

Ran through the meadow barefoot and never stepped on anything sharper than a bee

Stayed out to catch moths at night

Organised talent shows and learned to deal with the disappointment of not getting first place

Pointed out each other’s faults and imperfections and none of it resulted in a law suit

Went to a strange part of town with the sole purpose of exploring it - and came back unhurt

Stayed out when I grazed my knee until the blood dried and crusted over so it wouldn’t look any different from the previous day's injury

Caught bumblebees inside hibiscus flowers and then released them so we could catch them again

Watered the trees we’d just planted, then played barefoot in the mud puddles

Collected different colour pebbles and smashed them between two large boulders to get to the sparkly centres – and didn’t lose any fingers in the process

Used hammers and nails to make things and when they failed we made something else from the broken pieces

Hid toys and made treasure maps for our younger brothers and sisters, and taught them how to read them

Had snowball fights until our fingers were so cold they went past the hurt stage and felt completely numb

Fished using a rod made from a tree branch and cotton string with worms tied in a knot – no, never caught any fish

Picked up stray dogs from the street and brought them home to stay

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Here’s what I remember doing on a regular basis:

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