GolfHos

Yet another odd one.  I was talking about kids, parenting and Christmas shopping for the kids with some of the older folks at work today (guys and gals aged 54-63).  Topic strayed to Chinese toys, the recalls, and lead paint.  Old-timers allowed as how, back in their day, they played with metal toys cast of lead, painted with lead, as they sat in houses loaded with lead paint and asbestos.  (And most of them survived.)

Anyway, the chat wandered a lane over to how kids played back then compared to now.  They were fondly reminiscing about broken noses, knocked-out teeth, broken arms from football, fights, falling out of trees, and the like.  I'm a generation behind them, grew up in the suburbs, and never had a broken bone before the age of 18.

I fully realize I am wussification incarnate.  But did you guys/gals have those heartwarming fractures and other injuries growing up?

*fiddlesticks*offnowadaysboomerblowhards.

Broken elbow (all three bones- required extensive surgery to repair) from jumping from a tree house to a wet trampoline.

Hairline fibula fracture (same ankle I sprained last week) in a nasty snowboarding yardsale.

Plenty of scrapes and bruises.  Worst as a young kid.  A hole in my tongue.  Riding face first on a skateboard down a drive way.  Came close to the end (ready to crash) and for some reason (and I still claim copyright to Jordan, 'cause I was clearly years ahead of him)  stuck out my tongue.  Well, face first dragging on the cement.

Tons of blood and almost a see through hole.    [sm_dunno]

Second was around age 12.  I was boxing around a paper bag.  I had a slim lead in the bout. (hey I grew up in a small town, and we didn't have speech, or debate in my school)  Any hoo, bag land on the dining room table, and I step in with a round ending upper cut.  Misjudged and hit the wooden skirt of the table.  Drove my middle finger knuckle back a good inch.  That hurt like hell.  Hurt more when I showed it to the old man and he saw that my middle finger needed to be "set" by pulling on it.  In a cast for a good while.  I still hate grocery bags.


Last was an adult fracture to my left thumb.  Softball, second base, diving play.  Booyah!  Surgery for that one.  2 pins.  I still can't predict the weather though.

No broken bones for me.  I loved climbing trees, playing football, wrestling, boxing, going over jumps on my bike, climbing to and standing on the highest point in the jungle gym/playground, etc., but managed to never break a thing.

One time, though, Kev punched one of my teeth out when we were wrestling, boxing, and jumping on my bed.  'Course, it was already loose at the time.  And, yeah, that is a fond memory for me.  :)

Lots of bruises, a few scars, and a fantastic childhood.

Hurling metal Tonka trucks with lead based paint into each other for spectacular crashes.  Never got hurt doing it, but the potential was there - and the trucks got beat to chit.

Riding my bike with no protective gear - loads of bruises, scrapes, cuts, a few times with mom picking gravel out of my skin.

No broken bones though.

We're so protective as a society that we're flat out scared to death to allow a kid to ride a bike without a helmet, or throw large metal trucks with lead paint at each other.  What was common place 30 years ago gets you a 'bad parent' label today.  Plastic toys, enough protective gear to build robocop, nothing too small, nothing that actually shoots something, nothing they may eat, etc.  The only thing we agreed on back then was that Jarts were too much - almost killed our dog with em - but other than that, it was all fair game.

Times change, usually for the better - but we bitch and complain anyway.

Lots of ankle problems from volleyball, but no broken bones for me.

No broken bones, but lots of stiches for me.

Age 9 - broken wrist on a skateboard.  Riding in the street and mom in the house.  Glad she wasn't arrested for child neglect.  ::)
Age 11 - fractured jaw, playing tackle football in the street and slung down on my grill. 
Age 14 - JV football, broke left middle fingers.  Fingers and facemasks don't match.
Age 16 - Hairline ankle fracture, Varsity Basketball.  Lucky for me it happened the next to the last game of the season. 

* Fractured skull at 4.
* Fractured skull and broken ribs at 6.
* Broken clavicle at 17. 

Break-free since 1982!!!

Not a broken bone but encephalitis at 17 had me in the hospital for 6 weeks, unconscious for 3 weeks and I nearly checked out.  Docs gave me 50/50 chance of making it and an almost certain chance of brain damage if I did.  I think I beat the odds but if I didn't I wouldn't know better would I.  You decide.  Cured my acute migraines though.  Burned 'em right out of my skull.  Haven't had one since.

Ah, those were the days.

Broke a toe as a kid. That's it.

Quite a few stitches though - fingers, wrist, head.

I've done more damage as an adult - concussion from snowboarding, "spacey'd" my ankle playing basketball (6 months before I played again), plantar fasciitis from running and pinched my sciatic nerve goofing around.

i'd say 50/50  ;)

Not much.  Broke my little finger in gym class during wrestling when I was 14.  I partially tore the cartilage in my knee playing football in grade school and broke my wrist playing a pickup tackle football game (no equipment).

Aside from lots of cuts, scrapes, bruises and such I've had a few broken apendages.  At basketball camp a big guy fell in front of my while I was taking a charge and landed on my knee hyperextending it back breaking the growth plates and knee cap.  I was an early teen at the time.  Little league baseball around 11 or 12 my coach hit me in the elbow during batting practice and it cracked by funny bone.  Not funny at all as I recall.  In high school I broke my hand punching my friend in the shoulder.  He turned away and I got him right on his shoulder blade. 

When I was younger it was generally my friends that ended up severly hurting themselves by falling out of the fort, flipping over the bike handle bars and what not.  I never sent myself to the hospital or anything luckily.  And my neighborhood was similar to the one the boomers talk about in that all the kids played outside all day and had free reign of the place. 

Although I spoke of broken bones, I'll allow the talk of stitches.


Keep your fistula stories to yourselves, though.

[sm_laughing]

Dude, you are one twisted arsehole.

Anyways,


Broke my left radius severely (trying to become compound but not quite breaking the skin)  around age 12 or 13 IIRC   playing  sports and taking a nasty fall.  Several broken fingers along the way growing up in sports.   Most recent was a broken finger a couple of years ago.

Countless stitches and surgeries not worth detailing at this time.

2 broken noses
fractured skull
broken leg
broken arm
2 severed tendons in arm
somewhere around 200 stitches

other than that, it was a pretty uneventful childhood. by todays standards i'm sure my parents would have been under constant suspicion of child abuse. ;) 

No broken bones, just dislocated my ring finger. Never had any stiches.

Actually I am very surprised that I was not injured more with all the sports I played. Even my last injury just 6 months ago was only a ligament strain insead of a torn ACL.