Author: Darryll Sherman
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
ISBN:  978-159858-690-9

Click Here To Purchase My '70s Book: The

 
For the purpose of my work I will reveal my age. It is………32.  Why do I feel it necessary to do such a radical thing?  It is a move of solidarity with everyone else over 30, those people who can say with authority those words children dread to hear, When I was a kid…….  Darryl Sherman feels our pain and confusion.  He is a child of the 70’s and has found himself often saying just that.  The world has changed so much since that time and the author decided that his life as a kid was good, so good it needed to be shared with both fellow 70’s kids and those not lucky enough to live in those groovy times.

Darryl Sherman’s family was living the American dream.  Dad has a good job, Mom stayed at home, and they raised their four kids in a suburb of Seattle, Washington.  The Sherman kids were free and wild in a neighborhood that was still totally safe and came back each night to a home cooked meal.  Life was simple and as the reader will agree, simply wonderful.

The book’s divided into sections such as what people did or didn’t have in the 70’s and of course the things that most interest kids of any era, play time, movies, music, family vacations, and cars.  It is a look at daily life instead of focusing on the historical events of the time, that while interesting, was not the concern of kids and not welcome in happy reminiscing.

The section that was the most reveling to me was playtime.  The life of a child has drastically changed since the 70’s and even the 80’s when I was a kid.  Today’s kids are glued to the TV watching the many channels of cartoons and using their cells to call or text their friends.  The suggestion of going outside to play is met with disbelief.  Why should they go outside when they get all they want while sitting on the couch?

The kids of today would find life in the 70’s rough, but it was an wonderful time for the children lucky enough to live it.  Summer days were spent outside, riding one speed bikes and inventing their own games that required no technology to play.  It was the days of tag and war, when kids built their own ‘guns’ out of wood and no one told them they couldn’t use their weapons because guns promoted violence.

There was exploration, camps, and great tree forts.  The tree fort wasn’t from a snazzy kit, but was built out of what could be found.  It was a time to get down and dirty and a chance to be architects while learning the valuable skills of change and compromise.

We have gained so much in the last thirty years, but we have lost a lot too.  We have lost the innocence and security that allowed kids to play outside on the city streets and walk home from school.  We have given kids lots of gadgets to replace the wild freedom, but it is a sorry substitute.


Click Here To Purchase My '70s Book: The