Terrible Things Michigan Youth Hid To Not Worry Mom

I am a Gen X guy, I was born in 1973. Gen X is defined as people being born between 1965-1980. Our generation was and still is, awesome. We are the ones that lived life to the fullest, so it seems.

I guess every generation thinks they are rebels. When I was a kid I played outside like it was my job. I didn't have screens to pass my time. Most of the homes I lived in as a kid didn't have air conditioning. Things were different, then technology swooped in and changed the world. Not for the better in my opinion.

I have a couple of boys at home, ages 10 and 14. They have screens but we monitor their consumption throughout the day so they don't fall victim to screen addiction. If you were a fly on the wall at our house you would often hear me say:

Go outside, get a scrape and a bruise but have fun while you are doing it!

I'm not suggesting they go out and hurt themselves, I am suggesting that they go outside and play hard! Thankfully, after we moved recently, we live in an amazing neighborhood and our neighbors have 3 kids the same age as ours. I love getting the call asking if they can go outside and play some baseball at the park by our house. Do it, scrape yourself up and we will put some Bactein on it when you get home.

Maybe my kids are doing some rebellious things that I am not aware of, I'm kind of hoping they are. These are things that I hid from my mom when I was young because I didn't want to worry her but more importantly I didn't want to get in any trouble.

Gen X Hid These "Hobbies" From Mom

Build An Awesome Ramp

My cohort at work and I were talking about this. Anything that people left out for the trash guy was fair game. If you left a piece of plywood, we took it. Once we secured the plywood for the ramp we had to secure the other materials. A ramp might take a day to build but it was well worth it.

Pier Jumping

Me and my crew would walk out on the South Pier in St. Joe in the summertime and jump off the pier into the lake. There as a ladder that we could use to get out. Not very smart to do that on some rough days on the lake.

Bike Pier Jumping

Of course once we got bored with ramps and pier jumping, the next best thing we thought we could do is jump our bikes off the pier. We brought a small ramp and some bricks to raise the front up, got a good start on our bikes and jumped as far as we could. We tied a rope to the bike so we could get it back to the surface. Needless to say these activities are banned.

Played With Fireworks

The thing about fireworks when I was growing up was any good fireworks were illegal. We had to find someone cool that would make the trip to Indiana to get us some cool fireworks. We were morons, we would have bottle rocket fights and other stupid stuff. Kids, don't play with fireworks.

Went 120 mph On A Dangerous Road

This was just plain stupid. At the time it was an adrenaline rush but when you're going 120 mph and the road is about to end, a lot of thoughts go thru your head.

Climbed A Tree

I am constantly pushing my kids to climb trees. I'm not being irresponsible, I am trying to get the kids to have some guts and have some fun. One of my favorite things to do as a kids was find a tree to climb. You would often find me and my buds climbing trees in the woods, not in someone's yard. Rebels. The tree above looks fun to climb, take away the ladder.

Rode In A Pick Up Bed

We did this all of the time. A lot of my friends had pickups and that's how we got around, until it was time to go home. Then we would shift gears and ride in the cab so my mom had zero questions. It was an absolute blast but really stupid too.

Teepeed A House

Although destruction of property wasn't my thing, I did teepee once. It was all in fun becasue it was a friend's house. They woke up to their surprise. At the end of the day I didn't get the thrill out of this like I did pier jumping.

Forked A Yard

Again, silly things my generation did. Let's go put a million forks in someone's yard for the heck of it. I get it, it irritated the victim.

Smoked Clove Cigarettes

I can remember when you couldn't buy clove cigarettes in Michigan. Thankfully South Bend, Indiana was a quick drive. We'd pay someone to get these for us.

What kinds of nasty things did you hide from mom?