Living in Dangerrrrr!

Those were the days...

It's Friday, it's Friday, it's Flashback Friday!  Today I will cover some of those so-called dangerous toys (hee hee) that my generation used to play with.  What article on killer playthings would be complete without mentioning good 'ol Jarts.!  These were around our house for years...in fact they're still around MY house!  Yup, we still have an original set

 that has gone thorough both our generation, my daughter's generation and it's getting ready for yet another generation with my great niecey getting of age to play soon.  Lots and lots of fun was had and still is had with absolutely no injuries.  

Another fun toy was an item called "Clackers" (which also went by other names but that's what we called them) which was pretty much just two acrylic balls on the end of strings and, once you finally got them moving up and down super-fast, would make a delightful "clacking" noise. Check out the video at the right to see them in action.  I loved mine but actually more for how they looked.  I have a distinct memory of going to our State Fair and bugging my Mommy to get me a set.  They were a beautiful, translucent purple color which was my favorite color at that time.  They were a bugger to get started but once going it was clicky-clacky fun!  Mom was hesitant to get them for me because of the "shattering plastic" danger, but I have nothing but wistful memories of them.

Oooo, so tricky!

The following toy/gadget was one of the boys (my two older brothers) that they outgrew.  My Mom spaced us three out with huge age gaps so this toy was already past it's prime by the time I goofed around with it.  I have vivid memories of the finger but not of the special accessories that went with it which I'm sure was because most were lost by then.  I do vaguely remember shooting something from it but I'm not sure which piece it was but I'm thinking it was the #4.  I hardly played with it, but it was fun to pretend to have a sixth finger.  Once again, no harm (and I know no injuries to my brothers because Mom would've promptly threw it out), no foul, just fun.

Somehow us oldies got through our "dangerous" upbringing and lived to tell the tale, just as I'm doing now.  And some advice to the younger generations...supervise the kiddies, have some common sense and please, just relax and have fun!