What did you do when you were a kid that is considered dangerous now?

[Karlwho]

Just out of interest.
When I was little (7-10), I'd play outside around the neighbourhood with no adults and not a mobile between my friends and I. We'd go home when we were hungry.

I was born in the mid 60's, by today's standards, our playgrounds were lethal, witches hat roundabouts and slides that didn't have a hill next to it, all on tarmac. It's a miracle that we are all still alive . During the school holidays we (my DB and I) would go out all day and come back when we were hungry.

I remember being taken to a birthday party at soft play in the back of a van with benches at either side for us to sit on 😂🙈 this was only in the 90s.

Diving into swimming pools.

After nights out as a student I used to walk alone about an hour to catch the night bus home, then walk another 90 minutes home all to save about £18 on a taxi. It wasnt a particularly safe UK city either!

Playing the game where you climbed up on the window sill then had to travel round the room without touching (or falling!) the floor!

I’d forgotten about that!! LOVED that game!!

Thing is it’s no less safe now.

My DDs done quite a few of these things.

Chat rooms

I've told this story before on mnet.
I was 6-7 and nearby was a Tudor ruin.
One summer me and my cousin made it out den, it was a glorious den.
All holiday we were undiscovered as we did our renovating and playing, we even had a dog.
I dread to think of the damage/ historical loss

Climb out of various windows.

#1 pastime with my brother was to tie a lot of sheets together and abdail down from our bedroom window.

#2 was to climb out of smaller hatch window onto the conservatory roof and shimmy down the drain pipes.

Cant have any fun as children now!

My Mum and Dad had a Citroen 2CV, the roof was fabric and you could roll it back. We used to stand up on the back seat with our top half sticking out of the roof while driving along!
My brother and cousin used to send many a happy hour making their own go karts, using a wide range of tools without any adult supervision, and would then test them by driving them down a set of steps in our garden.
We had a homemade zip wire between 2 trees which was almost certainly not very well secured.
One winter I remember sitting on a wooden surfboard and whizzing down a slope in our garden, then coming right off a wall and dropping onto a patio below.
My parents weren't very safety conscious

I am a friend of said Tudor ruin now and guiltily regularly donate.

I was born early 70's. We'd go out in the morning with a picnic and not come home till it got dark. In that time we'd swim in rivers, the local reservoir, build dams, play in the woods. I feel truly blessed we didn't have the internet or mobile phones. Happy days!

Out all day age 7 with parents not knowing where we were. Some children spent a lot of time messing about by the railway track. I gave that one a miss due to the films shown at school. (late 70's)

I regularly used to fill my cheeks with grapes and stuff and stuff until I couldn't possibly fit any more in.

It is a rule in my house - ALL grapes cut lengthwise prior to giving to my youngest. Even my oldest know to bite in half when eating.

Not long ago I read a 43 year old man died with a grape lodged in his esophagus. Made me shudder.

I broke into an empty house and the old picture house, I smoked and drank alcohol, I was generally a Tom boy, used to go out all day with out telling any one where I was going, no body cared or worried, I grew into a reasonable adult who graduated from uni and was more successful than most.

A couple more vehicular ones:

Dad was a concrete mixer lorry driver and Mum was a nurse. During school holidays we'd both go to work with Dad - there was only one passenger seat so I would sit on the engine cover (inside the cab, between the two seats) and just hold on. At the depot we'd amuse ourselves messing about on the sand and shingle heaps (about 20m high as it was a quarry) and cadge lifts on the diggers.

Was sneaked into a nuclear power station (Dungeness) as Dad was delivering and children weren't allowed in. Rather than making me wait at the depot or at the entrance Dad just put me in the footwell and told me to be quiet.

Used to go rabbit shooting with Dad and his friends at a local farm. One man would drive, one would sit in the passenger seat and shoot through the missing windscreen, one stood in the back doors of the van and shot over the roof and I bounced around in the back with the dogs and it was my job to pass over the shotgun if any foxes were seen.

Riding my bike to surrounding villages with a group of friends- gone all day, home when you were hungry! Disappearing up the quarry and across the woods all day, how one of us didnt end up at the bottom of a mine ventilation shaft I have no idea! Swimming in the river, no adults and some very deep spots! And the worst thing, exploring an old abandoned house that was still full of the previous owners things- everything was there. Clothes in cupboards, sheets and bedspread on beds, trinkets on dressing tables. We entered though a broken window in an attached greenhouse, it was such a huge house! It was on the edge of a huge farm and we had to crawl through the long grass and brambles to avoid being caught. We only went in three or four times over the years as there was usually people around who would see us coming and send us off. The floors were rotting and part of the roof was missing. One of our group climbed a narrow ladder to explore the attic and as he got to the top, held on to the edge of the hatch which crumbled and he fell about 10-12 feet (high ceilings) which resulted in a broken collarbone and a hole in the floor! Coming down the stairs carrying our deathly pale friend, two of us per step was a bit much, and myself and another girl went through a wooden step, luckily we were just scratched and bruised as we were stood on a strip of carpet that ran up the stairs with a gap either side, and stopped us going completely through, but the poor lad must have thought the end was coming as we were carrying his legs and he was nearly catapulted down the stairs! Never went back after that. Mum never even asked how I'd got so scratched and bloodied- assumed I'd come of my bike up the haulage yard!

In the mid-90s, I used to regularly walk a couple of miles home on my own aged 15-18, between 1 and 5 in the morning. I'd spend the £3 I was given for a taxi on fast food (a big thing after the nightclub closed, in our area.) A couple of times, I was followed by men, so I had to run about half a mile or a mile home. Then I had to sit on the wall outside our house to get my breath back, as my mum was still up (she's an insomniac), and I didn't want to tell her I'd been followed!

Nothing really. My mum was very overprotective. But when I was about 13 I started getting out of my window at night to meet up with boys! Until my mum caught me!

We also spent a lot of time sitting on ours and friends shed roofs. My brother jumped from one to another and fell through it, luckily just getting a few bruises.

Travelling in the footwell when going in my friend's dad's car! DP and I were talking about this the other day and he remembers travelling in the boot with his cousins. Wouldn't dream of it now!

Brought up on a farm in rural Oz.... many examples though we were generally pretty responsible kids. I learnt to drive at 10, had a 50cc motorbike at 11, drew pictures with dad's 'burning off' diesel/petrol mix and lighting it... wading out to swans nests in the swamp out the back, eating all manner of weird stuff...

London - early 70's

Walked to school aged 5 across 2 main roads, and back home for lunch and back to school again - as did every one

Went to the shop with a note to buy cigs for my mum

Actually you could go and buy single cigs for 5p !

Went out on our bikes all day, up the woods etc, came home when we were hungry

Played on our bikes in the street, knew all the neighbours, played tennis in the street - no one came out moaning about the sound of children playing on long hot summers days. Street cricket, big gangs of skipping ropes.

Being allowed to chalk hopscotch squares

Skateboard with ramps in the street

Driving up to Scotland over night, with the back seats down so me and my brother had a bed to sleep on.

Being allowed to try driving in a private car park or up on the heath from as soon as I could see over the steering wheel

Being given sips of champagne or sherry at special functions

Poster up the thread - yes the Witches Hat - and no one ever lost their fingers ! the cheese cutter ! That funny rocking pony with the seats that went really high !! Dangling upside down off everything - no wonder we didn't break our necks as it spun round and round.

Climbing trees, swinging out over rivers.

Going up the breakers yard, playing on the cars, bouncing on the rooves !

Changing gear for my grandad whilst sitting in the front passenger seat when seven and not wearing a seatbelt. He used to tell me when to move the gearstick

Stayed out late, a big gang of kids. We took an air rifle sometimes and shot at targets, nothing living, just tin cans.
We used to play on what we called "the stacks", I grew up in a mining town and these were like mini hills made out of coal by products/slag. They were unstable and we were strictly forbidden to go near them. Of course, we did, until 2 boys got killed when one of the heaps collapsed. Other kids still played on them though.