As A Kid, What Were You Like?

[shazzabanazza]

Tree climbing! Me too!!

 

[djd]

Shy or outgoing? Shy in social circles but outgoing in the classroom. Very confident in my own intelligence but aside from that I felt like an uglyduckling. It's took about 30 years to get over that feeling and it still warps my decision making even now!

Active or a couch potato? A bit of both. I loved building camps and playing war in the local woods but not a great one for sports. Loved reading and drawing.

What was your favorite toy? Toy guns, toysoldiers, Action Man, Lego, train set and airfix model kits

What sports, if any, did you like to play? I liked cricket to watch and to play but I was rubbish at it!

Were you small, regular, or large for your age group? Quite tall and skinny

 

[Hey_Laaaaaady!]

I was quite shy unless I actually knew someone, and then I could be very boisterous. (I guess I still am that way!) I remember being quite bossy. I was always usually the "good kid" in school who did all her work and never got into trouble...and I got branded with that for pretty much my entire school career. I guess you would call me a "geek", even though I never did homework I didn't like and didn't study for tests; I was lazy. I was a lazy geek! lol I could also be pretty goofy.

I spent a lot of my childhood watching public television and old movies/tv shows, which fueled my interest in them today. But I wasn't a complete couch potato; I was always doing something while watching tv. And I played outside a lot. I used to have rather a dual personality: inside I was very girly, loved dresses and dressing up, playing with dolls, and once I was old enough, sewing. But outside I didn't mind getting dirty in the least bit, I loved playing in the creek and catching salamanders and wandering through the woods; I wasn't afraid of spiders or snakes, etc.

I guess my favorite toy was my American Girl doll. I got her when I was eight and we had wonderful adventures together. She also fueIed my interest in sewing--American Girl's doll clothes were too expensive, so I began making my own because the poor thing couldn't possibly go around in one or two outfits! I've kept that trend today...whenever something is too expensive I like to try and make it myself.

I also loved my swing set--it had a tree house in it, with a canopy, and I had lugged rocks from the woods for my furniture, and stood a log up on end for the chimney. And when we'd have a summer downpour I'd stay cozily in my tree house and watch the rain drip down the slide...

I never liked to play sports...well, I could play Ultimate Frisbee pretty well, if you count that as a sport lol but I never really was the sporty type. A lot of that had to do with the "in" crowd in school which was a very sporty group who seemed to look down on my one love, dancing. I've always thought dancing was more challenging than any sport.

I was pretty average for my age group...I can't remember being particularly tall, or particularly short compared to my classmates. I was rather thin, but both of my parents were naturally very skinny. I remember always having to wear belts with my pants...I guess that's why I liked dresses better, lol.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I hated being a kid and I preferred the company of adults to other kids. I always enjoyed listening to stories about the [Second World] War, the Depression, "the good old days," etc., from those who had been there. To me, other kids were annoying and immature.

I used to love to give the impression to my mom (never actually telling her an outright lie, mind you) that I was playing softball when I was actually exploring the city, riding every subway and elevated line in Chicago by myself. And this was before my 11th birthday. I was a suburban kid whose heart and soul was embedded in the city. I'd hang out at the railroad terminals- watching the pre-Amtrak intercity trains depart for destinations all over the country. (Finally told my parents all of this when I was in my 20's: they were glad that I did not tell them when it was going on.)

I'd ride those rapid transit trains through the most dangerous neighborhoods in Chicago by myself. I was smart enough not to get off the train and to always ride near the motorman or the conductor. Learned at a very early age that people of all races and creeds could be friendly and helpful- or, conversely, total jerks. I was never afraid, and I loved the adventure of it all.

I thought that sports- playing them or watching them- were a waste of time. I'd rather haunt a library and spend hours reading books that were in the adult section. I didn't teach myself to read, but I was reading at a 4th grade level by the time I was seven. By the time I was 12, I was hanging out in Chicago courtrooms, watching the lawyers try cases and telling myself that, one day, I'd do that for a living. Now.... that proved to be a lot more prophetic than hanging around Comiskey Park or Wrigley Field hoping that I'd play for the Sox or the Cubs, wouldn't you say?

 

[Stray Cat]

I thought that sports- playing them or watching them- were a waste of time. I'd rather haunt a library and spend hours reading books that were in the adult section. I didn't teach myself to read, but I was reading at a 4th grade level by the time I was seven.

Ah, fellow non-sport kid, ah? :eyebrows:
I haven't been much of a spots-kid myself, also. I did love to ride my bike alongside other kids. We expored out little town, but I never hung around kids when they played football (you guise call it: socker, I believe) :wink:
When they played something like that, I'd hit the library. It offered much more; and once I was allowed to enter the "grown up" section, my happiness was huge: I never looked back.

 

[Zombie_61]

Never mind; I forgot I'd answered these questions in post #116. :eusa_doh: lol

 

[Matt Crunk]

I was artistic from a very young age, so my parents arranged for private art instruction when I was barely in grade school. I was painting in oils and acrylics by the time I was in third or fourth grade. By my first year of junior high I was enrolled in the high school art program. I picked up guitar at age 12 and played in several high-school rock bands. I used my talent for art and music to make most of my friendships. I made good grades without trying too hard and most teachers liked me, but I tended to hang out with the misfits and "rocker" crowd (some might say stoners) rather than the preppies (we called them "socials" at the time). Still I was fairly popular at school, again mostly due to my art.

I was very active as a child. I bicycled (usually many miles) and swam almost daily in Summer, and also had a motorcycle and a go-cart that I rode a lot. I became a certified SCUBA diver at age 16. I was also an avid camper and rock climber.

My favorite toys were action figures: Johnny West, G.I. Joe, and Major Matt Mason "Mattel's Man in Space", then later on Big Jim and Mego's Superheros. Another favorite "toy" was a Super 8mm film movie camera my parents allowed me to use whenever I wanted. I made short films constantly as a child: everything from stop-motion animation, to Star Wars-inspired space dramas, to horror/slasher flicks and skateboard action films.

As to sports, I played little league baseball and pee wee football for a couple of years but I wasn't really into team sports. I was more into individual sports like skateboarding, roller-skating, and BMX. I was a sponsored BMX racer one year and was ranked 7th statewide in my age group.

Size-wise, I was skinny as a young kid but then became a real porker in the later years of grade school. Then a growth-spurt slimmed me up again by my first year in junior high, and I stayed pretty trim through the rest of my teens.

I always seemed to run with friends that were a few years older than myself, and that has remained true through most of my adult life.

 

[Stray Cat]

Never mind; I forgot I'd answered these questions in post #116. :eusa_doh: lol

He-he.. lol
Golf? I didn't even know it existed when I was a kid. It was not on the TV, and no one played it... [huh]

 

[Zombie_61]

...Golf? I didn't even know it existed when I was a kid. It was not on the TV, and no one played it... [huh]

Oh, it was on TV, but not often and you really had to look for it. In fact, the only time I can remember my dad taking the time to watch TV was when a golf tournament was being broadcast. Dad started teaching me early--somewhere around here I have photos of me "golfing" on our front lawn when I was about three or four years old.

 

[LizzieMaine]

The only kind of golf we knew anything about involved knocking a ball up a little bridge, thru a little windmill, and down a little chute set up in the parking lot of an abandoned gas station.

 

[Gregg Axley]

.


Shy or outgoing?

Active or a couch potato?

What was your favorite toy?

What sports, if any, did you like to play?

Were you small, regular, or large for your age group?

.

1. A bit of both. Shy at first, then outgoing because I was hyperactive.
2. Active which was stated in question one. I repeatedly wore out tennis shoes, toughskin jeans, and bicycle hub bearings.
3. As a young child, my Big Wheel. My father actually put another "wheel" on the front because I wore the first one out so fast. As an older child, matchbox cars.
4. Soccer. I played it from the age of 5 until the age of 23, and I was quite good actually. Why did I stop? I couldn't find anyone in my age group (at the time) that wanted to form a team. Now? Several HS buddies have their own team in Nashville. I'd love to play again but not drive 3hrs to do so, well 6 round trip.
5. Small, born premature. It was an advantage in Soccer because I was hard to catch, and even harder to knock down. Of course climbing trees sucked unless I could find some lower branches.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Hmmm...

1. I was more outgoing. I was a bit of the class clown. As for being "popular", I guess I was pretty typical, just one of the fellas.
2. I was very active. We didn't have a TV, so being a couch potato would have been monumentally boring.
3. I don't recall a favorite toy, though I remember getting my first fishing rod and my first baseball mitt. Both were very important to me.
4. As a kid, I played organized baseball, football and basketball, as well as sandlot baseball any chance I could get. We'd play with two of us, eight of us, ten of us...with a real ball, a rolled up ball of aluminum foil, axe handles, sticks...if you could throw it, we'd hit it with a stick. And growing up in Florida, we played year round. We also swam alot. In Florida, you'd better learn how to swim by the time you learn how to walk. In high school, I was on the baseball and swim teams. However, while I was really into sports, I was also a bit of a bookworm. I read anything and everything I could find. I'd sometimes just read through the dictionary (and still do). I always did really well in school academically, though my conduct grades often got me into trouble.
5. I was 9.5 lbs at birth, but I wasn't particularly large as a child. I was probably about average most of the time. I eventually grew to 6'1" in high school, but that wasn't exactly notable.

 

[GHT]

I seem to remember a penchant for ice cream.
Looking back, I am rather taken by my Dad's suit.
Now what inspired this?

I used to love to give the impression to my mom (never actually telling her an outright lie, mind you) that I was playing softball when I was actually exploring the city, riding every subway and elevated line in Chicago by myself. And this was before my 11th birthday. I was a suburban kid whose heart and soul was embedded in the city. I'd hang out at the railroad terminals- watching the pre-Amtrak intercity trains depart for destinations all over the country.

We must have lived in a parallel planet: I would say something about being away for a while, back then we didn't even have a landline phone, then I would follow a bus route on my pushbike, just to see how far, and where it went. I learnt(ed?) all of London's suburbs that way.

 

[VintageBee]

Let's see here...
1-shy
2- couch potato I guess....I read books most of the time.
3-books were my favorite toys...I played library with my dolls all the time!
4-I avoided sports at all costs until summer and then I swam as often as I could get someone to take me to the officers club pool!
5-I was super skinny and remained so until I turned about 45. When I was a child, kids used to ask if I was a boy because my mother cut my hair in a 'pixie'....I thought they were mean! Now, in the second half of my life, I have some curves. I like them better!

 

[Shangas]

.


Shy or outgoing?

Active or a couch potato?

What was your favorite toy?

What sports, if any, did you like to play?

Were you small, regular, or large for your age group?

.

1. A bit of both. Depended on the situation.

2. Couch potato. I was a SERIOUS bookworm, almost to the point of fault.

3. LEGO, model trains, or my teddybear

4. Pool, Swimming, Hockey.

5. Small. Really small.

 

[Stray Cat]

Couch potato. I was a SERIOUS bookworm, almost to the point of fault.

Not much has changed.

 

[ChiTownScion]

View attachment 15091
I seem to remember a penchant for ice cream.
Looking back, I am rather taken by my Dad's suit.
Now what inspired this?



We must have lived in a parallel planet: I would say something about being away for a while, back then we didn't even have a landline phone, then I would follow a bus route on my pushbike, just to see how far, and where it went. I learnt(ed?) all of London's suburbs that way.

My ticket out of the suburbs was my being a boy chorister in an urban Chicago choir. Some of those South Side kids were a rough crowd: they may have sang like angels, but among themselves they could curse like longshoremen and there were always fistfights or bullying before or after rehearsals. Maybe breaking away on my own was therapeutic, but I enjoyed exploring the city on the El and subway trains.

Like most parents, mine had moved to the suburbs in part so that I could "play safely." Riding the front end of a 1920's era (4000 series, Cincinnati Car Company) rapid transit train was a lot more fun than throwing or kicking a damn ball, and I loved the exhilaration of being out on my own. I never got lost or stranded, and I developed a sense of self confidence and self reliance at age ten. As I said before, I didn't relate well to kids of my own age who had to be taken by the hand by Mommy or Daddy (if at all) to the big bad city, but I could converse with adults with ease.

 

[LuvMyMan]

Humm. To admonish my own history of childhood would take me to a time period of not so wonderful events. I was raised by a overly strict Father and a overly passive Mother. I had to walk a thin line daily. I did have a group of friends to run around with, but they really never knew the pressure of what went on behind closed doors. My Father worked hard his whole life and was a honest man, but wow, he did drink a bit too much and was a hard person on anyone around him for it. Some positive traits I did develop from how I was raised, you work and study hard for anything you want in life, and stay as honest as humanly possible. I do know, my Parents did love all of the children in the family.

I am not sure I could cover enough of what my Husband's childhood was like. I do know he was a handful. Very outgoing and a risk taker. He lived in a part of a community that was just down the street from the Detroit Zoo in a large Mansion type home, and at age 2 would ride a three wheeler that looked like a Good Humor ice cream truck, all on his own, into the Detroit Zoo. He actually had a "route" to go on, stopping for free soda pop and peanuts from people that worked there who knew who he was and the entire Family. His Father owned a Business that was super successful and gave his entire family some exposure to a higher life style than what I had as a child. His toys would fill half the basement of that home at the time, and eventually his family moved out west to California. He had a lot of input from all his relatives and his Grand Father on his Mother's side of the Family was one of a few men that started the Waterford Township Fire Department, which then place him into social activities that seem to go along with being in "civic" issues, all the benefit dinners, picnics and such, Lions Club, Rotary, Eagles, Moose Lodge activites. His Father also belonged to organizations similar. Vacations that I would have loved to have, were a "normal" part of his life.

One element my Husband and I both do share is being raised to attend Church and to be able to act towards others with a lot of love and kindness.

 

[newsman]

I was a shy kid. You wouldn't know it today. I grew out of that shyness because it wasn't doing me any good.

Legos were the game of choice for sure. But my mom was always very good about buying books. To this day books are one of my favorite things. My little one plays with my Legos. Mom kept them.

I was not into sports. Mostly because my mother had a strange fear I would get hurt.

She was in complete disbelief over my choices of work for the "first half" of my life. She still worries I might get hurt. She's a wonderful mom.

I was a scrawny kid. About age 15 I started working out and running. By 19...that had changed a lot.

 

[Shangas]

Not much has changed.

Hehehe!! Noo, not really! Yes, still a major bookworm.