Th 8 Most Wildly Irrisponsible Vintage Toys

[LizzieMaine]

In my neighborhood we didn't bother with any of your fancy-schmancy store-bought weaponry. We waited till winter and threw frozen crabapples at each other. Or if it was someone you really hated, you'd make a big ball of burdocks, stick it on the end of a stick, and fling it at her hair.

 

[scottyrocks]

Remember these?

A good way to cause self-inflicted lacerations when they shattered.

 

[jamespowers]

RANT:

Let's face it, according to the changes in attitiudes history should show us that all children were physically and psychologically damaged by their surroundings because it was simply so dangerous to be alive 40 or more years ago. Children rode bikes without helmets and actually operated devices that could harm them. The fact that some children survived is only based on luck. No child has ever had anything akin to common sense or had the ability to reason out that placing your hand on a hot burner might actually cause pain and damage. no child could be taught how to be cautious or how to handle things now considered too dangerous for ordinary people to handle.

Legislation has eliminated the need for common sense with hazard lables such as "don't take the electric hairdryer into the shower." Darwin's Survival of the fittest is also supposed to apply to humans, it's time to weed out true incompitants before it is passed down. What was that film- Mediocracy?

Idiocracy:
(warning, coarse language and adult situations so just a link has been posted to the beginnning)
http://youtu.be/BXRjmyJFzrU

 

[scottyrocks]

Here's another wonder, as in, it's a wonder no one was killed while playing:

Lawn darts, or 'jarts.'

 

[jamespowers]

As a kid back in the 40s, my uncle once built some type of explosive device and rigged it to my grandfather's tractor, so that it created a small explosion (apparently more visual than anything else) upon startup. lol

I still have one. I had two but there was the vice principal and all.....

I think it was called a car bomb right on it. It has two wires coming out of it that you attach to two spark plugs and put the plug wires back on. When you start the car it ignites the firework and first it makes a loud whistling sound, then a loud boom and finishes off with a smoke bomb. If you have ever seen it you would die laughing at the poor sap who thinks he has blown up his car engine. I think there was an old Nancy Drew episode where the kids attached one to the car. It is on youtube somewhere and I can't find it now---darn it.:eusa_doh:

 

[scottyrocks]

Creepy Crawlers were a real winner. A hot plate to cook the critters, great for burning fingers, and then the finished product was a choking hazard.

 

[Gregg Axley]

Jarts...
They should have had a guy winking to advertise them.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Creepy Crawlers were a real winner. A hot plate to cook the critters, great for burning fingers, and then the finished product was a choking hazard.

"If it's Mattel, it's Swell!"

 

[Effingham]

Man, I loved Jarts. And clackers. And I had the Creepy Crawlers -- and the soldier-making version of the same product, too.

 

[Philip Adams]

Remember these?

A good way to cause self-inflicted lacerations when they shattered.

Wow - I've not seem those in years. I also remember them doing damage without them shattering!

 

[John in Covina]

Idiocracy:
(warning, coarse language and adult situations so just a link has been posted to the beginnning)
http://youtu.be/BXRjmyJFzrU

The amazing thing is I could not recall the title of the film - yesterday I read an article about Mike Judge and the title was there- Idiocracy. Synchronicity rears its ugly head yet again.

 

[Atomic Age]

I would loved to have had some of those toys as a kid, especially the toy steam engines!

I also love the mini power tools

My brother got the mini steam engine for Christmas one year. I played with it a lot too. You put sterno in a little tray under the pressure vessel.

I think something a lot of people today don't realize, is this was a time before parents expected their kids toys to babysit for them. All of the toys listed in that article were expected to be used with parental supervision. They were also considered to be learning experiences where the parent taught the child a valuable skill, like how to safely use a power tool.

Today parents expect everything to be completely safe with no risk whats so ever. They sit the kid down in front of the electronic babysitter and expect to not have to deal with the kid again for an hour or so. Parents didn't do that when we were kids. At a certain age, kids were expected to have a little bit of common sense. They were expected to know that you don't stick your tongue, or anything else into a power socket. No one needed to put plastic covers over them. When I was a kid, we had several neighbors who had back yard swimming pools, and they had no fence around their yard at all. No one fell in and drown, because they weren't stupid.

Its no wonder so many adults injure themselves today, trying to do things that they were never taught how to do as a child by their parents. I say bring back "dangerous" toys. They teach children common sense!

Doug

 

[ButteMT61]

^^^ Agree 100%

 

[Atomic Age]

RANT:

Let's face it, according to the changes in attitiudes history should show us that all children were physically and psychologically damaged by their surroundings because it was simply so dangerous to be alive 40 or more years ago. Children rode bikes without helmets and actually operated devices that could harm them. The fact that some children survived is only based on luck. No child has ever had anything akin to common sense or had the ability to reason out that placing your hand on a hot burner might actually cause pain and damage. no child could be taught how to be cautious or how to handle things now considered too dangerous for ordinary people to handle.

Legislation has eliminated the need for common sense with hazard lables such as "don't take the electric hairdryer into the shower." Darwin's Survival of the fittest is also supposed to apply to humans, it's time to weed out true incompitants before it is passed down. What was that film- Mediocracy?

I for one feel that the safety legislation, particularly when it comes to children's, toys isn't doing them any favors. I jokingly say that a child will never learn not to play in the traffic if he isn't ever hit by a car. As I said its a joke, but if a child is never taught the responsibility to play with toys like this, then he or she will never learn to be responsible. Maybe thats half the problem these days. No one is teaching their kids personal responsibility.

Doug

 

[Atomic Age]

Creepy Crawlers were a real winner. A hot plate to cook the critters, great for burning fingers, and then the finished product was a choking hazard.

We had this set when I was a kid. I don't remember anyone ever burning themselves, or choking on anything. Don't parents teach kids not to put things in their mouths anymore?

Doug

 

[Shangas]

Hi Doug,

I read your recent comments with great interest. I agree, people these days (not just kids) are increasingly unwilling or unable to accept responsibility for their actions. This probably accounts for the increasing number of frivolous lawsuits for which the United States has become famous for in the last decade or two. People suing because of their own stupidity and inability to say: "I made a mistake. Maybe I should be careful", not, "HE DID IT! HE DID IT! I DIDN'T KNOW I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO STICK A FORK INTO A TOASTER TO GET THE BREAD OUT!!" etc etc.

But you're right, these toys would most likely have been invented and sold with the expectation that parents would be playing with their kids and showing them how to use them safely.

I remember as a child, I used to play with lanterns with my cousins. My uncles and aunts would light them and give them to us to muck around with in the garden after dark as part of the Chinese Lantern Festival. I mean real lanterns - burn-your-hands-fire-lantern lanterns. We were allowed to quite literally play with fire, but that was because our parents were always nearby keeping an eye on us, and we'd been told about the dangers of mucking around with open flames.

It's those kinds of toys (if I can call them 'toys'), such as the Chinese lanterns, that I grew up with. They're only dangerous if you haven't been taught what danger is.

Another example is cap-guns. I'm sure a lot of guys here grew up playing with cap-guns. I did, and so did my brother.

My mother always told me never to ever, ever, ever carry the caps in my pockets but always to keep them in a separate little box when I was playing with my cap-gun outside. And, not quite knowing the full reasons why, I followed her orders. Never once had an accident. And she was quite happy to buy me more and more caps to play with.

Then a few years ago now, there was a news-spot on TV about this kid who burned his hand. The story went that his parents had bought him a toy cap-gun with the explosive cartridges, but they hadn't told him how to handle the thing safely.

He stuffed all the cap-rings into his pockets and went out to play. When his gun was empty, he opened it, removed the caps and reached into his pocket to get another round of 'ammo'.

The reason you don't keep caps in your pocket is because they can be unstable. They function the same way that old caplock pistols function - They're impact-detonated. Anyway, all the running and jumping around was shaking the caps in his pocket, and when he reached in to take some more out, they all went off at once. They burnt his hand and I believe, his shorts and his thigh as well.

Made big news about the "dangerous toys" kids are playing with today...

 

[Atomic Age]

Hi Doug,

I read your recent comments with great interest. I agree, people these days (not just kids) are increasingly unwilling or unable to accept responsibility for their actions. This probably accounts for the increasing number of frivolous lawsuits for which the United States has become famous for in the last decade or two. People suing because of their own stupidity and inability to say: "I made a mistake. Maybe I should be careful", not, "HE DID IT! HE DID IT! I DIDN'T KNOW I WASN'T SUPPOSED TO STICK A FORK INTO A TOASTER TO GET THE BREAD OUT!!" etc etc.

But you're right, these toys would most likely have been invented and sold with the expectation that parents would be playing with their kids and showing them how to use them safely.

I remember as a child, I used to play with lanterns with my cousins. My uncles and aunts would light them and give them to us to muck around with in the garden after dark as part of the Chinese Lantern Festival. I mean real lanterns - burn-your-hands-fire-lantern lanterns. We were allowed to quite literally play with fire, but that was because our parents were always nearby keeping an eye on us, and we'd been told about the dangers of mucking around with open flames.

It's those kinds of toys (if I can call them 'toys'), such as the Chinese lanterns, that I grew up with. They're only dangerous if you haven't been taught what danger is.

Another example is cap-guns. I'm sure a lot of guys here grew up playing with cap-guns. I did, and so did my brother.

My mother always told me never to ever, ever, ever carry the caps in my pockets but always to keep them in a separate little box when I was playing with my cap-gun outside. And, not quite knowing the full reasons why, I followed her orders. Never once had an accident. And she was quite happy to buy me more and more caps to play with.

Then a few years ago now, there was a news-spot on TV about this kid who burned his hand. The story went that his parents had bought him a toy cap-gun with the explosive cartridges, but they hadn't told him how to handle the thing safely.

He stuffed all the cap-rings into his pockets and went out to play. When his gun was empty, he opened it, removed the caps and reached into his pocket to get another round of 'ammo'.

The reason you don't keep caps in your pocket is because they can be unstable. They function the same way that old caplock pistols function - They're impact-detonated. Anyway, all the running and jumping around was shaking the caps in his pocket, and when he reached in to take some more out, they all went off at once. They burnt his hand and I believe, his shorts and his thigh as well.

Made big news about the "dangerous toys" kids are playing with today...

I also used to have cap guns. I'm from the days when the caps were made of paper not plastic. The truth of the matter is that his parents probably didn't show him the right way to use the cap gun, was because they didn't know themselves. Guns, and toy guns in particular have become so politically incorrect, that many people in their late 20's and 30's have never even held a toy gun, much less a real one.

Doug

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Don't parents teach kids not to put things in their mouths anymore?

Not only do we have helicopter parents today but they're also on autopilot! :eusa_doh:

 

[LizzieMaine]

I also used to have cap guns. I'm from the days when the caps were made of paper not plastic. The truth of the matter is that his parents probably didn't show him the right way to use the cap gun, was because they didn't know themselves. Guns, and toy guns in particular have become so politically incorrect, that many people in their late 20's and 30's have never even held a toy gun, much less a real one.

Doug

My little brother knew all about how to use a cap gun. He didn't mess around with caps or any of that foolishness. Instead, he walked up behind me as I was sitting on the floor watching television and cold-cocked me across the back of the head with it. Put me out cold for ten minutes.

 

[Bluebird Marsha]

Heck, I want some of those toys for me! I didn't get any of the more "interesting" science kits when I was growing up. I think my parents trusted my intelligence and common sense. My sister- not so much. (She's the kid who decided- over my objections- to separate two extension cords by prying them apart with a butter knife. OOPS!

I do remember a microscope set, with a big needle-on-a-stick-thing. Mom caught me using it to try and draw blood from my finger. When I told her what I was doing, she looked at it, and said that it was too dull a point to work properly.

So she gave me sewing needle and a bottle of alcohol. My step-dad chimed in that I could also sterilize the needle with a flame.

And then I gave myself a jab for science, put the blood on a slide, and examined it under the microscope. Good times. I do think I asked for something chemistry oriented. But the sister made that undoable.

I really do wish they had sent her off to boarding school somewhere!