Then and now...

[Miss Lydia]

Boy have ya'll stirred up old memories for me. I remember no air conditioning in our cars and we grew up in Florida. By the time you went on a trip no matter how short you'd be drenched in sweat by the time you got there. Walked to school too no school buses to ride in. My brother was a Patrol Boy. We had to wear dresses to school too no pants allowed.

Thanks Sumi for letting me know about this.

 

[baymule]

When Volkswagons first came to the USA, my parents bought 2 of them, a bug for Mom and a bus for Daddy. I was the youngest, so got put in the storage space behind the back seat, under the rear windshield of the bug. My brother and sister got the back seat. In the bus, my sister got an entire bench seat, as did my brother--I got the space in the back over the engine.

 

[hqueen13]

Yall are too funny! I fall into the young side of this conversation, too, but then so much has changed even in my short life!

 

[sumi]

Go on @hqueen13

 

[sumi]

The memories are coming back more and more. When I was very young still, maybe about 4 years old, my youngest uncle bought a motorcycle and took me and my brother on it. To my young mind that thing was way too noisy and way too fast and I let him know all about it! Mid-ride he managed to reach back and grab me and pull me around him to plonk me down in front of him on the fuel tank, which did not make me feel any better lol It was some years later before someone managed to coax me onto a bike again. Despite the scary introduction I went on to date a biker years later and even owned a few bikes myself.

 

[baymule]

There were no seat belts and no car seats for babies. I remember standing up in the front seat as a toddler, so I could see over the dashboard. If mom slammed on the brakes, she stuck her arm out to keep me from flying through the windshield. Now we put kids in the back seat, in the middle, strapped into a crash tested gi-normous car seat and clap a helmet on their little heads.

 

[Mini Horses]

Oh, Bay....my DS is now 50 and disposable diapers were brand new then, they gave you a 6 pak pkg at hospital. The first car seat I remember was basically a square of a thin hardboard covered in heavy cloth upon which they sat. Had sides about 8-10" high all around, same cloth, with 2 holes cut in front for legs. (Think shopping cart). This thing had a set of metal strips up the back on each side that went up & over the back of the seat. I've actually seen small animal seats similar sold in recent past. Yep, lifted the kid about10" up off the seat & suspended them there. Guess DS was about 10 mos when that little jewel was added to the car. Otherwise the young'un had to stand in the back seat or floor, to keep from climbing in your lap as you drove.

Safety first? Somehow both mine survived.

 

[MoonShadows]

A few of the oldies

 

[sumi]

Oh my goodness… Now, that did change quite a lot!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Man oh man - just think how injured a baby would have been BECAUSE of those car seats! Whew - we've come a long way since then!