By BETTY CARLISLE

Special to The Gazette

Children of the ’70s recall playing with toys that represented the growing influence of the media and technology on their lives. But they also reminisced about playing outdoors and being expected to entertain themselves.

Wendi Clardy, born Oct. 11, 1971, in Newark, suggested that childhood in the ’70s offered an interlude when “You were allowed to be just a kid! The world didn’t revolve around you.” “It was a time when things were kept simple,” agreed her husband, Jim Clardy, born April 5, 1971, in the West Park neighborhood of Cleveland. “The family’s schedule didn’t revolve around the kids’ activities.

Medina Township resident Wendi Clardy holds her 1970s-era toy clock in her backyard. (Andrew Dolph | Staff Photographer)

“You played one sport at a time. On a summer day you’d play baseball all day outside. If you played on a Little League team, then you played until July, had the All-Star game, and that was it until next summer. There was no traveling around to play a sport.”

Wendi Clardy, a Medina City School elementary teacher and varsity cheerleading coach for Medina High School, said, “I lived way out in the country with the nearest kid maybe two or three miles away. I played school and colored a lot. I carried around a Raggedy Ann doll and played with Holly Hobby and Strawberry Shortcake dolls.”

Wendi retrieved her childhood wooden Fisher Price Music Box Teaching Clock to demonstrate how it can still play its catchy tune and tick-tock rhythm three decades later.

Jim Clardy, a sales manager for Endries International, shared vivid memories of the childhood fun he had playing with Star Wars toys and action figures, listing his X-Wing Fighter, Tie Fighter, Death Star and Land Speeder as his favorites.

“The best thing ever was a Millennium Falcon that my friend had,” he said. “Everyone had Nerf footballs. I think my greatest gift was the Cleveland Browns football helmet that made me feel like king of the world.” He laughed, adding that he also had a Stretch Armstrong toy introduced by Kenner in 1976 that was filled with stretchy “goop” and remembered riding a Huffy BMX bike with a banana seat.

For Wadsworth native Valarie Tripp Weust, play time also included her older twin brothers.

“My brothers would let me play Atari, and I remember writing our high scores on a board. I beat my brother one time at Asteroids, and he erased the evidence,” said Weust, born Oct. 3, 1974.

Playing with Strawberry Shortcake, Smurfs, My Little Pony, Rainbow Brite and Lite Brite was fun for Angelia VanSwearingen, born July 10, 1977, in Medina. Playing outside with water guns, Slip-N-Slide, a kiddie pool, her bike and just “silly little games” like rolling down a hillside filled a typical summer day.

“We were able to ride our bike to the elementary school playground, and we also went to the nearby park where there was a program for kids to make crafts and play games,” said VanSwearingen, recently married to James Bomba and currently working in customer service at Audio Video Interiors in Medina.

Only one TV

When most households had one TV, siblings often had to fight for the remote.

“I would race home from school to get to the television before my sister,” said Jim Clardy, who watched “Little Rascals” while his sister missed an episode of “General Hospital.”

Favorite television shows reported by those interviewed ranged from the “Little House on the Prairie,” “M*A*S*H*,” “Mork and Mindy,” “Love Boat,” “The Jetsons” and “Diff’rent Strokes” to watching reruns of favorite shows on Channel 43.

“I remember watching cartoons in the afternoon,” VanSwearingen said.

Rare restaurant fare

“We ate out occasionally at Mamma Mia’s, Hardees and at Rustic Inn Pizza,” VanSwearingen said. “We went to the ice cream stand where Rite Aid is located.”

Weust’s family went out to eat on Friday nights at Hopocan Gardens in Barberton or at Parasson’s Italian Restaurant on Waterloo Road. “We didn’t eat out often, but if we did it would be a special night.”

Both Wendi, whose family ordered pizza as a Sunday tradition, and Jim Clardy remembered how fantastic it was to drink Pepsi out of glass bottles before cans became the norm.

Growing up

The children of the ’70s decade retrospectively viewed the era as a time of respite before adulthood during which families and neighborhoods provided a quieter, less hectic lifestyle.

“When you look back you realize how great, loving and supportive your family was,” Weust said. “We had each other.”

Carlisle may be reached at accent@ohio.net.