From Apollo 11 to baseball stadium netting...in a short 50 years.

Coinstartled

Appetite for risk in America certainly has changed.

Perhaps Aldrin and Armstrong should be considered the greatest athletes of all time, setting records of distance and endurance.

Only thing close to PEDS was a couple pouches of Tang.

perkdog

Well I’d just like to ask when it became highly risky for a kid to have s paper route? From about 9 years old to about 12 I had a paper route. I rode my BMX, no helmet on busy streets with a 25 llb bag filled with newspapers on my hip and guess what? I was FINE and I learned how to make money. I also remember it being OK to bring a peanut butter & jelly to school several times a week 🤷‍♂️

stevek

@perkdog said:
Well I’d just like to ask when it became highly risky for a kid to have s paper route? From about 9 years old to about 12 I had a paper route. I rode my BMX, no helmet on busy streets with a 25 llb bag filled with newspapers on my hip and guess what? I was FINE and I learned how to make money. I also remember it being OK to bring a peanut butter & jelly to school several times a week 🤷‍♂️

Paul, i also did the paper route thing for a year, delivering the Philadelphia Bulletin. Delivered around 50 papers on my bike every day in the seventh grade. Loved those tips during Christmas time!

I also cut lawns in the summer, and had that business from the sixth grade up until the tenth grade. Also shoveled snow during the winter. When it snowed, i'd just walk around the neighborhood, ring doorbells and ask them if they wanted their driveway shoveled. Always had a full days worth of work, ending with a nice bit of cash.

You don't see much of that any longer. Kids these days are too busy playing their video games and watching internet porn.

perkdog

@stevek said:

@perkdog said:
Well I’d just like to ask when it became highly risky for a kid to have s paper route? From about 9 years old to about 12 I had a paper route. I rode my BMX, no helmet on busy streets with a 25 llb bag filled with newspapers on my hip and guess what? I was FINE and I learned how to make money. I also remember it being OK to bring a peanut butter & jelly to school several times a week 🤷‍♂️

Paul, i also did the paper route thing for a year, delivering the Philadelphia Bulletin. Delivered around 50 papers on my bike every day in the seventh grade. Loved those tips during Christmas time!

I also cut lawns in the summer, and had that business from the sixth grade up until the tenth grade. Also shoveled snow during the winter. When it snowed, i'd just walk around the neighborhood, ring doorbells and ask them if they wanted their driveway shoveled. Always had a full days worth of work, ending with a nice bit of cash.

You don't see much of that any longer. Kids these days are too busy playing their video games and watching internet porn.

100% agreed! I had the Paper Route, Mowed Lawns, Raked eaves, Shoveled Snow as a kid, nowadays it’s nearly impossible to find a kid to do that stuff, it’s actually easier for me to do it at 49. Not a chance I’m paying some landscaping company to over charge me for stuff I can just do myself, it would be nice to pay a kid to do it but I can’t really find any.

SanctionII

Ditto for me as a kid growing up in Denver in the 1960's and early 1970's.

I shoveled snow as a young kid and made some cash during the winter. I mowed lawns and made some cash during the spring, summer and fall. Never did the paper route job, but friends of mine did. I did chores around the house, including mowing the lawn and shoveling snow. At 13 I worked for a landscaping company and rode my banana seat stingray bike to and from work. At 16 I worked at a grocery store bagging groceries and stocking shelves. At 18 my summer job was working in a factory. At 19 my summer job was working on a landscaping crew. At 20 my summer job was working in a factory. At 21 my summer job was working for the Public Utility Company as a meter reader. At 22 and 23 my summer job was working as a Pizza delivery driver. At 24 my summer job was working for the Sacramento County Counsel's office as a law clerk. At 25 my summer job was studying for the Bar Exam. After taking the Bar Exam I got a job in a law firm and have been working as a lawyer for 37 years. During high school, college and law school I also had various part time jobs during the school year. On top of that I played hoops in high school and college on school teams. After college I played hoops in rec leagues and pick up games constantly.

It would be very weird if I woke up one morning this year and found out I was 10 years old. I would be out of place given my life history and would scratch my head at some of the things that occupy the time and minds of kids today.

perkdog

Sanction, I wake up every day and scratch my head at all the nonsense as it is let alone if I woke up as a 10 year old!

Coinstartled

Mowed the lawn at home and shoveled the snow as well. hated it so I never did that as side work. Hebrew School and drum lessons put the kabosh on delivering the afternoon paper and no way in hell was I getting out of bed at 5 am to get the morning paper delivered.

Worked though as a young ventriloquist performing at birthday parties for $3 a gig. Had a darkroom so got the occasional photography job. Bought boxes of candy and retailed the stuff in the neighborhood during the summers. Set up a small casino in the basement when I was about 11. Very profitable but had it closed down when the old man started getting complaints from the neighbors.

At 15 my friend had a next door neighbor with a shop in his basement. After school we manufactured replacement faucet handles for the military.

Lot of odd jobs before turning 18, but that was the good stuff.

stevek

@SanctionII said:
Ditto for me as a kid growing up in Denver in the 1960's and early 1970's.

I shoveled snow as a young kid and made some cash during the winter. I mowed lawns and made some cash during the spring, summer and fall. Never did the paper route job, but friends of mine did. I did chores around the house, including mowing the lawn and shoveling snow. At 13 I worked for a landscaping company and rode my banana seat stingray bike to and from work. At 16 I worked at a grocery store bagging groceries and stocking shelves. At 18 my summer job was working in a factory. At 19 my summer job was working on a landscaping crew. At 20 my summer job was working in a factory. At 21 my summer job was working for the Public Utility Company as a meter reader. At 22 and 23 my summer job was working as a Pizza delivery driver. At 24 my summer job was working for the Sacramento County Counsel's office as a law clerk. At 25 my summer job was studying for the Bar Exam. After taking the Bar Exam I got a job in a law firm and have been working as a lawyer for 37 years. During high school, college and law school I also had various part time jobs during the school year. On top of that I played hoops in high school and college on school teams. After college I played hoops in rec leagues and pick up games constantly.

It would be very weird if I woke up one morning this year and found out I was 10 years old. I would be out of place given my life history and would scratch my head at some of the things that occupy the time and minds of kids today.

I have no doubt that when today's kids are senior citizens, and they're analyzing the kids in their future, they will be thinking the exact same thing.

Space travel, robotic intelligence, etc, etc, etc, and things not yet invented or possibly not even yet imagined, will intrigue those future kids the same way that today's kids are intrigued by all the new stuff.

orioles93

perkdog

Raise your hand if you were ever a dishwasher as a kid too 🤚

stevek

Now if I was a kid, instead of when it snowed, and knocking on doors asking neighbors if they wanted their driveway shoveled, I'd be knocking on doors any time, asking neighbors if they had various items that they wanted to sell on Ebay. Whereby I would do all the work of taking the pics, doing the listings and descriptions, handling the packing and shipping, and taking care of all potential problems, for an agreed upon percentage of the gross sale.

Probably make a heckuva lot more money than i ever did shoveling snow or cutting lawns. LOL

perkdog

Very good point Steve!

Coinstartled

@perkdog said:
Raise your hand if you were ever a dishwasher as a kid too 🤚

Spent a single day working at a deli/buffet. Newly opened it was owned by a partnership of 6 lawyers.

One by one they showed up late in the afternoon to tell me I was stacking the dishes wrong. I followed the new instructions until the next barrister arrived to reinvest plate stacking.

Place went bust after about 4 months.