What was your childhood environment like?

I had alittle bit of everything. I was born in New Jersey and spent a decent amount of time there. We moved to Tennessee because the area we were in was terrible. The neighbors were terrible, loud, and drunk most of the time. We lived in a more country area in Tennessee which was awesome. There weren't too many people around but those who were around were nice. I live in North Dakota now but the area and neighbors remind me of Tennessee, just alot colder, lol.

My first 8 years, I lived on a chicken farm. My dad sold the land to a developer and part of the settlement was a brand new house on an acre of our former property. I lived in this rural area until high school graduation.

A lucky Paradise for any kids fantastic dreams to ignite.
Big, gorgeous beautiful backyards with two luscious huge green leaf canopied deciduous trees side by side.
A wide tree lined boulevardstyle street with rolling front lawns mandatory for relaxing or partying on and they all did.
It was drunk or high patio parties with musical loony friends at triple decker mansions about whereJim Morrison from and the Doors was.
There was no way we could believe he was dead. No way.

It started in New England ... lots of trees, harsh winters and small towns. (Left when I was five, so I don't remember a lot about it)
Moved to Arizona ... not near as many trees, harsh summers and a little bigger towns. (Left when I was eight ... really liked Arizona!)
Moved to SoCal ... rural area and new town that was an expansion of an existing town, so lots of room for kids to do kid things without
                           bothering the grownups. Great people, very friendly ... like most rural areas. Stayed in the area until I graduated
                           High School and then moved to Los Angeles for work.

Do I miss it? "Yes" I've been back, a couple of times, but it's almost all gone. The area has been built-up. The town is now a city and most of the places that I enjoyed as a kid are covered by something ... houses, businesses, roads, etc. It's depressing.

So I don't go back anymore ... to anything. I'd rather have the memories.

Rural and quite, aside from an occasional shotgun blast. I still live in the same place, but it's gradually becoming more developed and it's sad seeing all the woodlands slowly vanish. The roads have also been widened and paved because of all the traffic now.

My childhood was not idyllic for several reasons, but the environs where I lived until I was 13 will sound that way. We lived on the outskirts of a tiny town and as kids we roamed free until dark. We played in the woods, played in the swamp, went sledding on the backyard hills, hiked to town to shop at the dime store, or to go swimming or ice skating at the lake. The town also had an amusement park and at least once each summer there was an event which allowed us to go on the rides for free.

There were enough neighbor kids to play with and the neighbors looked out for each others’ kids. No babysitter needed; they could be told ‘go play at Jane’s house’ and the parents were free to go shopping or whatever. If a parent called for a kid to come home and he was not in earshot, other parents or kids would pick up the call and pass it on until the kid came running. We also could hear the noon and 6 p.m whistles from the fire station in town which were our signals to return to home base for lunch and dinner.

The area used to be a truck farm and we had asparagus, raspberry bushes, plum trees, and other fruits that we could pick freely without having to garden. Our backyard had six apple trees just perfect for climbing. Our home’s former owner was an avid flower gardener and the yard was filled with peonies, hollyhocks, poppies, iris, tulips, pansies and probably more that I have forgotten.

As a kid, I took all this for granted. When we moved to the city, I was too busy with a whole other set of adventures to miss it. All my life I’ve found it easy to adapt to new environments and I rarely find myself living in the past. But I kind of enjoyed this look back on the good parts of childhood.

Early childhood through high school I grew up in the Bronx. I remember horse drawn wagons with men selling vegetables, other wagons had men selling coal, on other wagons they were selling flowers. I remember men with a shelf hung around their waist sharpening knives with a grinding wheel. There was  a man who repaired umbrellas; or the men who sang opera in the alleys between tenements for small change. 

At the age of 6 with a nickel I could ride the subways all day and not see the same station till I head home. Sure there was crime and problems but somehow they did not seem so earth shattering. Men and women worked and worked hard for what they wanted or needed. Widows and orphans were basically the only ones receiving any type of assistance. If you were a man you worked. If you were a man with a family you worked at whatever job you could find and supported and cared for your family.
 
Childhood back then was full of learning, formal and informal. This post was edited by Ancient One at February 14, 2017 5:59 PM MST