Today's Women of Age

Summer is here and I find myself getting a wee bit nostalgic. When I was young those summer days were endless. Lots of bike riding, swimming and playing Barbies with my best friend next door, also named Karen, and my cousin Carol who lived a few doors down and assorted other kids on our street.

By age eight or nine we were riding our bikes to the mom-and-pop corner stores sprinkled throughout our neighborhood. Twenty-five cents bought a big Hershey chocolate bar, a box of Good-n-Plenty and five Bazooka bubble gums. We also road our bikes the few blocks to the Mini-Putt-Putt golf course and played a round or two when we had money. Our parents were never with us. It was our thing. A kid thing. I can’t imagine our mom or dad hanging around with us. Seems almost cringe worthy!

The ’60s (and ’70s) also had some ridiculously dangerous, but fun, toys–pointy lawn Jarts, burning hot Thingmakers, glass clackers (mine were purple) and chemistry sets. We climbed trees and survived jungle gyms, teeter totters and merry-go-rounds.

While life was not perfect in the 1960s, particularly not in a lower middle class family like ours, I now believe I had one of the best type of childhoods in the 20th century. There were no personal computers, video games or smart phones. In fact for years we shared a “party line” with our next door neighbors. (Imagine picking up the phone and being able to hear your neighbor’s conversations!) TVs had a small selection of channels that mostly ended at midnight. There was little worry about kids going out in the morning and being gone for hours. That’s what we all did. When we moaned about being bored we were sternly told to read a book or get out our crayons or go outside. And that’s what we did. No parent felt the need to entertain their kids or watch them like a hawk.

When I had my daughters in the ’90s the going thing was to arrange play dates for them. I did it, but it felt unnatural and one more thing to contend with as I had to drive them to and from. But that was the reality back then. And during that era there was the rise of hypervigilant, helicopter parents. Moms who got upset if you gave their kid a cookie made with refined white sugar instead or organic raw honey or allowed them to play in a room with the door shut. (Heaven knows what they’ll get up to!)

But I digress.

All this to say the world feels different today than when I was a kid. Less real, less authentic, and even more dangerous. The 1960s were not perfect. Not by a long shot. But as kid, in the summer, it was pretty darn good. Maybe the best!