Alex Carson
The ’60s
Compared to today, the ’60s seems like it took place on a different planet. TV shows were in black and white, phones were connected to the wall, and digital technology didn’t exist. Back in the ’60s, we were much less careful than we are today, but we had less to worry about back then. These Habits Were Totally Rad In The ’60s – But We’d Never Try Them Out Today.
Dangerous Toys
Today, toys are very safe. For toy manufacturers to avoid lawsuits from the angry parents of injured children, the toys go through rigorous safety tests. In the ’60s, toy safety was not a very big issue. There were safe toys around back then like Monopoly and Candy Land. You don’t usually hear about a kid being hurt while passing “Go.” There were, however, plenty of dangerous toys on the market. The Swing Wing was one of them. It was a hula hoop attached to a helmet. To keep the hula hoop going, you had to swing your head around using a whiplash motion. Neck, back, and head injuries were common with this toy.
Another danger toy was Jarts. These were darts with dangerous hooks attacked. When they would fly through the air, they would land on other kids. Getting a Jart to the eye proved to be very dangerous. There were also plenty of BB guns and cap guns available to kids, which could cause serious injuries. Today, due to the number of school shootings and other gun violence in the news, any type of toy gun is considered unacceptable.
Many of the toys from the ’60s would never be found on toy store shelves today.
Ironing Your Hair
Hair fashions come and go all the time. During the ’60s and ’70s, pin-straight hair was popular. During the ’80s, perms and high hair were popular. From the ’90s until today, straight hair has become popular again. Today, we have flat irons to straighten our hair. They are easy to use and safe. In the ’60s, flat irons weren’t available, so if a woman wanted her hair to be pin straight, she had to use a different, more dangerous method.
Girls in the ’60s used a clothes iron to straighten their hair. A woman would lay her hair over the ironing board, and a friend would iron her hair, the same way you would iron your clothes. This was very dangerous because irons get so hot that it isn’t safe for their hair. While this was effective in straightening the hair, it also burned the hair. Many women of the ’60s were forced to cut their long hair after severely burning it. Those who attempted to iron their own hair were very likely to burn their hair because they couldn’t see what they were doing. This is something that you would never see women doing today.
Car Safety
Back in the ’60s, nobody really thought about car safety. Young kids were allowed to sit up front with their parents without wearing a seat belt. The only protection they had was their Mom or Dad’s flinging arm when coming to a short stop. Seat belts back then were pointless, because they only went across the lap. This wasn’t effective in helping an adult or a child in an accident.
Babies were put in car seats that didn’t get strapped into the car. The car seat was either placed in the front seat with the child’s parent, or on a parent’s lap. Toddlers were put in unsophisticated car seats, or just placed in the back seat.
Most kids in the ’60s remember sitting on a parent’s lap while they were driving so that the child could have a chance to drive the car.
If the family had a pickup truck, it wasn’t uncommon for the kids to pile in the back of the truck on a beautiful day.
No Children In Front Seat
Today, everything on this list is illegal. Children cannot ride in the front seat for any reason. Passenger-side airbags can decapitate a child sitting in the front seat. It is illegal for both adults and children to ride in the car without a seat belt, that must meet the current seat belt regulations.
Babies are required to be in an approved car seat, facing the rear of the vehicle until they reach a certain weight. When they have, they must be placed in a front-facing car seat. Booster seats are necessary for any child under 80 pounds or under the age of 8.
If parents allow their children to ride in the bed of their pickup truck today, they will find themselves in jail for endangering the life of a child. The way children traveled in the ’60s is shocking.
Drinking From the Garden Hose
Kids in the ’60s and the ’70s spent most summer days playing outside. When they became thirsty, their parents would tell them to take a drink from the hose outside. Back then, hoses were not regulated the way drinking water inside the home was. When ’60s parents told their kids to take a drink from the hose, they didn’t realize that their kids were being exposed to unsafe levels of lead while they drank. They also didn’t know that the brass nozzle was a danger because it too could expose the child to lead. Today, kids go outside to play, and their parents will give them a bottle of water on the way out. Due to the dangers of lead and the potential dangers of the water, kids don’t drink from the hose at their parent’s request.
