Today parents keep their children under the watchful eye of nanny cams, tracking apps, and (still!) the classic kid leash, but growing up in the 1910s, '20s, '30s, and '40s looked a whole lot different.
Enter the alligator-riding, street-running, and building-scaling youth of yesteryear, who were allowed to have as much fun as they pleased ... so long as they returned home by dinner time.
From dangerous playgrounds to wild snow days, here are 23 old-school unsupervised kids parents would lose their minds over today.
1
“German children playing with bundles of worthless money thanks to hyperinflation, 1923.”
2
“Paris kids playing in the snow near arc de triomphe 1930.”
3
“Boys playing air combat on a Parisian street in 1915. Photo by Leon Gimpel.”
4
“German kids playing on a Panther tank turret following the fall of Berlin, 1945.”
5
“Kids playing on and swimming around a sinking ship - Harlem slums, June 11, 1932.”
6
“Kids playing baseball in the slums of Washington D.C. (1940).”
7
“Kids playing street football, Mexico City, 1918.”
8
“Spanish children playing out a firing squad during the Spanish Civil War. 1936.”
9
“Kids playing, New York, 1940s.”
10
“A little girl visiting The California Alligator Farm where adults and kids could ride and play with alligators. Los Angeles 1920’s.”
11
“Children playing among the wreckage of the D-Day invasion of Normandy, France, 1947.”
12
“In this California alligator farm kids could ride and play with alligators, 1920s.”
13
“Children playing with weapons left in the streets of Berlin, 1945.”
14
“Local children take advantage of the snow strewn over the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, converting the slope into a hill for sledding on February 9, 1935.”
15
“Children in Brooklyn (Van Brunt and Sacket Street) scooping up alcohol from the gutters and sewers after it was dumped by Prohibition Agents, 1920.”
16
“Children playing on a cart in Harlem, New York, 1920s.”
17
“Boys fighting in the streets, United Kingdom, 10 July 1931.”
18
“Children’s Playground in the 1920’s.”
19
“Little kid enjoying a nice cigar after a rough day. 1920’s.”
20
“Children at an early 1900s Playground…”
21
“Cool kids in Paris, 1920’s”
