Wintertime Sledding

We use to go sledding in Yosemite National Park with the big inner tubes boy was that fun. We would go up by Badger Pass ski resort. One time we went with some friends and was going down the hill and was heading right towards a great big pine tree and all of a sudden we hit a bump and went the other way and it saved us from hitting the tree.

One year when my kids were young it started snowing at my father in laws, he lived about 45 minutes away. We loaded up the kids and finally made it there and the kids wanted to slide down the hills. He lived in the country by the river. We got some big pieces of cardboard and they had homemade sleds and they loved it. We never even thought about helmets. They had a blast, we had a great time watching them have all that fun and no one was injured, tired yes,excited yes, injure....no. Thank goodness.

I used to love to go sledding when I was a kid. We have not had the snow this year to do any of that stuff. I miss the old days too. I used to love to build igloos also. I never worried about injuries.

I remember this when I was a kid. There is a place where I live called Huffy's Pond and they have a big hill to go down. If you are going to fast you can land on the ice of the pond. I have had that happen a bunch. My Boo and I were just talking about when we first met about 20 years ago there and he helped me out of the water. It was so cold but I didn't dare go home to change for fear mom would make me change and stay home the rest of the day. I say accidents happen. Kids are resiliant and if you look at the statistics only about 8% get injured because of stupidity not danger! Have fun!

I had a blast going sledding as a kid, and even now, I love going with my kids. We have a place here that is like sledding into a giant bowl. You have a lot of choices where to start from and how steep of a slope you want to go down. We haven't gone this year, yet, because it was way to cold while we still had snow on the ground, and when it warmed up, it did so very quickly and it all melted. If we do get another good snow, I plan to take them. We had so much fun last year, we went several times. Spinal injuries can be caused by landing on your head, but I don't think that it should be a requirement to wear a helmet. We never did as kids, and we all survived just fine. Sometimes, I think that the laws are making our kids weaker.

Heck I went sledding yesterday and I'm 41! I was with my son, though. Great fun. We didn't wear helmets or protective gear, nor did any of the other half dozen kids on the hill. I've never heard of it for sledding but I guess it's become the norm on ski slopes. We only had a couple inches of snow yesterday, which was fine for speed but there was no cushion for crashing. A helmet might have been a good idea,especially for me! Crashing on a frozen hill hurts at 41. I remember some pretty nasty crashes as a child, at least one involving barbed wire. We had a weeping spring on a steep slope near our house that would freeze over in the winter and create a large sloping ice hill that was fun to try to climb but falling down it hurt. I don't have any problem with suggesting kids wear helmets but it'd be ridiculous if it became obligatory.

Ah yes! The twilight zone of a law and regulation for everything under the sun! I used to sled on one of those old time wooden sleds you sat or laid on and steered with your feet or hands.. shaped like a t or arrow. When we were in our early twenties hubby and I went tubing on the snow in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. That was a blast! and a good time was had by all. These days we take our grand daughter out to the local hill, sometimes with one of her friends, and that's fun for us to watch!

As a Child I used to love going sledging Here in the UK we hardly have snow, so the Children here are not able to have the Winter Fun like we used to which is a shame really

Honey, I just don't know HOW we survived childhood! Why we didn't have seat belts in our parent's cars, we rode our bikes without helmets, rollerskated without shin guards. If we listen to the fear mongers, none of us should've survived! Was this just a ploy by our parents because abortion wasn't legal back then?

We used to have such fun with our sleds! And skating on random ponds was fun, too. There were no helmets then, we rode our bikes and sledded, wrecked both and got up laughing. How in the world did we every survive?!

Oh, things are so different these days than they were when we were kids. We used to do all that stuff too, and not one of us got hurt, we didn't wear helmets or anything, we didn't care, we were kids...lol. Pretty soon, they'll be telling us we need to wear safety gear when we're out walking, we might fall down or something, we'll all be dressed like robots pretty soon...I think its crazy..just let kids be kids and have fun.

Actually I took my youngest out this morning and we sledded for about an hour. I had to make a run back in initially because he looked like the kid on "A Christmas Story" when he fell over he couldn't get up! LOL But after shedding some clothes and adjusting we did fine. That is the first time I have taken him (he's 2) and he loved it. Nope no helmets for us. I have 3 boys..they are hard headed enough they don't need helmets! LOL

Yeah they can sure take all the fun out of being a kid. I remember sledding when I was a kid living in Kentucky. I even built my own sled out of scrap lumber laying around the farm. I don't think I ever had a store bought sled.

They where the good old days Bob. By the way thank you for posting up great discussions again. I missed you on here also and it was really a drag. You really bring fun and meaning to them all. Well anyway, Yes! those where the good old days. We got a sled when we where young. My Dad made it for my brother and I. It had metal runners and boy was it fast. We certainly did not care about any injury. My Dad did not either. If you fell off you did not even notice if you where hurt as it was all so exciting. I remember also we used to pour boiling water on the ice and snow to freeze it better and make it slippy. We even used to get old tin 'biscuit tin' lids and use them for sledding on. Those are great childhood memories. My children would probably be too frightened to try all these things these days, or moan that its too cold.

yes I remember as a kid we used sled in the back yard, there was always loads of snow and mountains to sled down, we made snow men and snow angels, it was great fun. I used to take my son and a sley ride with horses in the winter too, that was also fun. Yes it is true, many people are getting injured now (I wonder if they did before and why now it is only important for helmuts).

Those kids grew up and decided to not let other kids have any fun...

That was the best thing to do as a kid...We would smack into trees on the tobaggans... I am thinking about helmets for extreme sports but not just your sledding at the park... They are thinking about broken necks and in that case the spinal cord is affected and you could be paralyzed... Kinda takes all the fun out of the traditional sled riding.... Thanks for the memories...

I have never went sledding. It sounds fun though. But just like skating...I would be afraid to fall.

Children are so over protected these days its a wonder someone hasn't invented a plastic bubble for them to play in. A little dirt, a few skinned knees and a roll off a sled is a good learning experience for kids. I spent many hours sledding as a child, building snow forts, or snowmen. I remember though my most fun experience was in high school when I went sledding down this huge hill at night with my boyfriend. Being young and "in love" and sledding down a snowy hill at night with a full moon - it was an experience I'll never forget. Sigh... makes me wish I was young enough to try such things again.

Those were also the days we used lead paint and mechrochrome (sp) :-) Of course growing up in NYC, IF we could find somewhere to sled, we used trash can lids :-) those were the days! :-)