It is so weird to think about, isn't it? Like, parents today know the exact whereabouts of their children constantly — we sort of just mulled around outdoors and our parents just yelled into the sky for us to come home. What a wild place the pre-cell phone era used to be. 

whenever I was at a neighbor's house my mom would always call out for me! if i was at a friend's house, a little bit further, there'd always be the dreaded landline ring, my friend's mom answering it, then my friend's mom coming to interrupt me and my friend to say "Bread, your mom is on her way." 

We literally had a bell that my mom would ring. We'd come in from the creeks or the woods or whatever when we heard it, and it was time for dinner. OMG it was a literal dinner bell. Wow, just putting that together.

I always wondered what it was like to have a yard. Where I grew up, we were just surrounded by forest, so we couldn’t really do much unsupervised play. And it was cold as hell, so we had to go to the YMCA for the real fun. 

I'm happy I didn't grow up in the era of cell phones for a myriad of reasons, perhaps most notably that your parents couldn't get a hold of you all day and we all blissfuly lived under the assumption no one was getting kidnapped. Seriously, I would just take off all day and that was that. I'd call from a friend's house (SOMETIMES) or from the mall pay phones when I needed to get picked up (most of the time). 

What's funny to think about now is that my dad would just open the door and yell for us when we were out and about in the neighborhood. It was mostly to inform us that dinner was ready, but if I was playing in a friend's yard and heard the call, that was that. Time to go home. 

I realize this is probably a very suburban thing, but I know I wasn't the only kid in my neighborhood who was basically summoned to come home by a yell or a whistle from a parent. So, I'm curious, did you parents do this to you, too?

Getting "called" home before cell phones 

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