I'm with you scotty, I took woodshop in grade 7/8 and we used everything except the table saw. Now I heard somewhere that they stopped woodshop even in highschool, can anyone confirm? (due to liability issues).
We never used A/O but we used propane torches all the time in Metal Shop and HVAC. I remember in metal shop using a forge, brakes, presses, lathes, mill/drill machines, everything.
I don't know that there are more dangers to kids these days, I think it's just more publicized. I remember as a kid, 10?, there was this house all the kids knew about where some "men" gave out free candy (and not just at halloween). I remember a buddy telling me about it and let's go after school...I was a little tentative and when I saw the place? No fricken way. I talked my buddy out of it.....Now my parents told me: don't take candy from strangers, don't walk on Yonge street (even if it took 40 minutes longer to go the side streets way), don't cross without looking both ways, all the golden rules. The difference now is if I didn't listen? I got a cuff upside the head.
I remember one time I was 11 and going to the movies. It WAS on Yonge street. To get there was 5 minutes from my house going via Yonge. Easily 40 minutes and MILES via the side streets. The thing was, my buddy was even closer to yonge than I was so it was like 2 minutes from his house. He said "come on, let's just go, your parents won't know..." Sure enuff. The ONE time I do it my mom happened to be driving home from the grocery store. SHIT did I get it when I got home. No TV, no movies, no going to my friend's, and I couldn't sit down for a couple of hours.
Now I believe they went ovecommunity because after 40 years I still have this "thing" about walking on Yonge (among other things) but believe me, I did NOT F around going against them. But one thing: my parents could trust me to do what they say and if bobby said "hey, let's go jump off that there bridge" they knew I wouldn't. (and believe me, the bloor viaduct is one mother effing bridge and my buddies used to play on it all the time. Before they put fences up around the base you could climb the girders until you were over the don river. Like 100 ft up?
I see kids acting up in restaurants all the time. Screaming, running around, fidgeting. I was dating this french girl (not the one from the hottie thread, another one) and she said "He must have been a holy terror when I was a kid", my mom says "oh no, they were well behaved when out". The gf asked because I was/am still a bit of a smartass and always goofing around. Later she asked me "why are you so bad now, when you were a kid you were good"? I said "when I was a kid if I messed around I'd end up bruised and battered....now? I'm too big for her to hit". Then I told her about when I was....14? She took a swing at me and I caught her wrist and held it. I said "no more". My dad came home and heard about it and I said to him "You may still have 100 lbs on me, but I've had enough, you want to go? Come on, but I warn you, I won't be the only one with bruises....". That was the last time they ever tried......
Don't get me wrong, it wasn't an everyday occurance. More often than not it was the mere threat of it that kept us in line....but still, that was enough. Something I think is missing in today's society.
I remember I worked for a guy and we were having lunch one day. He said he was pissed at his kid because he did something really stupid, mouthed off to his mother or something. My boss said to his kid: you ever mouth off to your mother like that again, I'll bust you up. The kid said to him "you do and I'll call the cops on you". My boss said "oh you will will you? You'd better learn how to dial with your nose because every one of your fingers will be broken...."....kid never mouthed off to his mother again.....
