I remember when I was a youngster, no, my best friend wasn’t Barney Rubble but what I have to say will definitely date me. 

The sounds of the summer back then were: Bob Dylan and the Beatles, they had just premiered on the Ed Sullivan show; air raid sirens test sounding off every Friday at 12 noon; Cushman scooters passing by; the jingle of the of the ice cream truck. 

Our ice cream guy would let us sit in his truck with him until we got on his nerves then he would tell us to buy something or get out, so we got out. 

The summer days in Colorado were usually bright, clear and sunny; filled with unplanned adventure, one thing led to another until the day ended and the evening routine would start. After dinner we would go downstairs and watch ‘Leave it to Beaver’ on the black and white. Whose turn is it to change the channel? 

 I used to race electric slot cars. On the weekends I would get up early in the morning tell my folks where I was headed and rode across town to the slot car track. In the early afternoon I rode back across town and got home just in time to eat lunch.  

After lunch I would scramble to my room pick up the box of shells my Dad bought for me at the hardware store, pick up my 22 rifle and meet my friends at the sand quarry for an afternoon of plinking. Plinking was shooting at cans and other interesting targets.  

After the day was over, the conversation usually started with “Hi Mom, what’s for dinner?” Mom would mumble the menu and ask me how my day was, my response was usually the same, “fine”. I would tell Dad about the cool cars I saw at the track and how one of my friends found a cherry bomb in his dad’s drawer and how we lit it off under a coffee can.  

I would imagine that many of you have similar stories… 

Do you let your kids ride with the ice cream man? 

My kids go nowhere without their cell phone, in case of an emergency or the constant drill, what they are doing and who they are doing it with.  

How about the gun…..? 

Times have certainly changed, haven’t they?  

For better or for worse? 

Care to comment?