8 forbidden things Boomer kids did behind their parents' backs that seem innocent now

My grandmother tells stories about her childhood that make me cringe. Not because they're traumatic, but because the things she did as a kid would get modern parents investigated by child services.

She's not unique. The baby boomer generation grew up in a world where danger was just background noise. Kids roamed neighborhoods until dark, played with weapons, and engaged in activities that would horrify today's safety-conscious society.

What's interesting is that most of these "forbidden" activities seem almost quaint now. The risks were real, sure, but they were also part of a different cultural landscape where helicopter parenting didn't exist yet.

Here are eight things boomer kids did behind their parents' backs that don't seem so scandalous anymore.

1) Making prank phone calls

Before caller ID ruined everything, prank calls were a sacred art form.

Groups of kids would huddle around the family phone, taking turns asking if someone's refrigerator was running or if they had Prince Albert in a can. The thrill came from the anonymity and the improvisational skills required to keep the ruse going.

Parents absolutely hated this. Not only did it tie up the phone line (remember when that was a thing?), but getting caught meant serious consequences. Kids learned quickly to make these calls when adults were out of earshot.

The practice taught a weird combination of confidence and deception. You had to think on your feet and commit to the bit, all while knowing you could get in trouble if your mom picked up the other line.

Today's kids can't fathom the appeal. With smartphones tracking everything, anonymous pranks are basically impossible. Plus, who even answers unknown numbers anymore?

2) Playing with BB guns unsupervised

This one genuinely shocks people when they hear about it.

Working-class boys (and some girls) would get BB guns around age eight. By ten, they'd disappear into patches of woods between neighborhoods for elaborate wars. The rules were simple: no aiming for faces, wear heavy clothes, and if you got hit, you were out.

Parents knew their kids had these guns. Their main concern wasn't the projectile weapons themselves but making sure nobody shot out windows or killed birds that weren't pests.

Coming home with welts hidden under shirts was just part of Saturday. Kids learned quickly which adults would ask questions and which ones wouldn't.

The psychological aspect here is fascinating. These experiences taught kids about risk assessment, consequences, and pain management in ways that organized sports never could. Whether that's good or bad depends entirely on your perspective and whether you still have both eyes.

3) Exploring abandoned buildings

Every industrial town had them. Abandoned factories, closed schools, empty warehouses that became elaborate playgrounds for unsupervised kids.

These weren't quick visits. Kids would spend entire afternoons in these places, playing hide-and-seek, having full-contact war games, and generally doing everything their parents explicitly forbade.

The danger was obvious. Broken glass, rusty metal, unstable structures, and tetanus waiting around every corner. Parents knew where their kids were going, they just didn't consider these places particularly hazardous.

Getting caught meant punishment, so kids developed elaborate systems of lookouts and escape routes. The forbidden nature made it more exciting, obviously.

Modern insurance liability would never allow this. The buildings that still exist are fenced, monitored, and heavily posted with warnings. We've collectively decided that childhood adventure isn't worth the emergency room visits.

4) Hitchhiking across town

This might be the hardest one for modern parents to wrap their heads around.

Kids treated hitchhiking like public transit. Needed to get to the pool three towns over? Stick out your thumb. Parents would give directions that included "catch a ride to the intersection" like it was no big deal.

Working-class families saw this as practical problem-solving. You couldn't drive your kid everywhere when you were working two jobs. Kids needed to get places, and hitchhiking was free.

The risks were always there, but they weren't discussed in the same catastrophizing way we approach danger now. You just hoped your kid had good instincts about which cars to avoid.

Groups of kids would hitchhike together, which probably made it slightly safer. Or maybe just meant more witnesses. Either way, the fact that this was normal speaks volumes about how differently we calculate risk now.

5) Experimenting with chemistry sets

Kids whose parents scraped together money for a chemistry set got the real thing. These sets came with actual chemicals that could create actual explosions.

The instructions included how to make gunpowder. The warnings were suggestions at best. Smart kids figured out how to concentrate the good stuff.

These weren't supervised activities. Kids mixed chemicals in basements and backyards with equal parts enthusiasm and ignorance. Small explosions were expected. Singed eyebrows were considered learning experiences.

Parents genuinely believed that kids interested in science should be encouraged, and that burns would teach better safety lessons than any lecture could. The logic was sound if slightly terrifying.

I've mentioned this before but I read a lot of behavioral science research, and the psychology here is interesting. Allowing kids to experience minor consequences of their actions created a feedback loop that taught caution. Whether that justifies the risk is debatable.

6) Writing invisible messages in class

This one seems innocent compared to the others, but it was definitely against the rules.

Kids would use lemon juice or milk to write secret messages that could only be revealed by heat. They'd pass these mysterious notes in class, feeling like real spies.

Teachers hated it because it was a distraction and required actual effort to discover. Unlike regular note-passing, you couldn't just intercept and read these messages. You needed a light bulb or match to reveal the contents.

The simple chemistry behind it would seem primitive to today's tech-savvy kids who can just send encrypted messages on their phones. But there was something magical about it in the moment.

Getting caught meant detention, confiscated supplies, and a lecture about wasting time in class. The thrill came from the elaborate secrecy, not the content of the messages themselves.

7) Playing with lawn darts

These potentially lethal yard games involved throwing large metal darts with sharp tips at plastic rings on the ground.

Parents would set these up at summer barbecues and let kids play with minimal supervision. The darts were heavy enough to cause serious injury, which is exactly what eventually happened enough times to get them banned.

Kids knew they weren't supposed to throw them at each other. That was the only rule. Whether you followed it depended on how much you liked your siblings and whether adults were watching.

The game taught hand-eye coordination and physics in a hands-on way. Also taught emergency first aid when things went wrong.

Safer versions exist now, but they're not the same. The element of actual danger added to the excitement. We've collectively decided that childhood games shouldn't require potential stitches, which seems reasonable in retrospect.

8) Riding bikes without helmets to places parents didn't know about

The double whammy of safety violations here: no protective gear and no parental knowledge of whereabouts.

Kids would tell their parents they were riding around the neighborhood, then immediately head to the quarry, the train tracks, or wherever else was explicitly off-limits. The wind in their hair wasn't just enjoyable, it was proof of freedom.

Parents assumed their kids were nearby. Kids knew that assumption was wrong and planned accordingly. The unspoken agreement was: don't get caught, don't get hurt badly enough to need the hospital, and be home before dark.

This violation required careful calibration. You had to know exactly how long different routes took, factor in time for actual adventure, and build in a buffer for unexpected problems. It was risk management at its finest.

Growing up in Sacramento, my grandmother would ride for hours to swimming holes that were definitely not the community pool her mother thought she was visiting. The stories she tells now make her laugh and make me grateful for modern GPS tracking.

The bottom line

Here's the thing about all these forbidden activities: boomer kids weren't tougher or braver. They just lived in a world where danger was normalized differently.

Some of them got hurt. Some have scars with good stories. Some learned genuine life skills through these risky experiences. And yes, some outcomes were genuinely tragic in ways we don't like to discuss.

Modern parents aren't overprotective for being horrified by these stories. They just have access to information, liability concerns, and different cultural values around childhood safety.

Both approaches got something right. The boomer era taught resilience and independence through what we'd now call benign neglect. Today's kids are statistically safer and will probably keep all their fingers.

The sweet spot between jumping off trains and being driven to supervised playdates exists somewhere. We just haven't figured out exactly where yet.