Seeking old jigsaw type puzzle from my childhood. Possibly Mad magazine related, or drawn by Al Jaffee... slim details inside. [more inside]
posted by routergirl on Nov 16, 2009 - 6 answers

Please help me identify this scene/sketch. [more inside]
posted by thivaia on Nov 10, 2009 - 5 answers

Google-Fu fail. I had a toy in the mid 70's that I can best describe as a hydraulic-watermill-waterpump-erector-set. It allowed you to connect a series of clear tubes, mills, and various other pieces to create a crazy pump station that ran water up, down and across the tubes, mills. etc. It could grow to several feet high. If I remember correctly, there may have been an electric pump that drove it all. I may be mistaken. The toy may have been a lot older as I used it at my grandparents house. It was basically like one of those electronic kits where you could perform experiments but this used water, and it was awesome. Help me find this toy!
posted by jasondigitized on Nov 10, 2009 - 9 answers

Is there a set of Urban Alphabet Flashcards? Alternatively, I'd like to create my own for my kid. [more inside]
posted by MasonDixon on Nov 3, 2009 - 15 answers

How can I handle my feelings for my parents during this holiday season? [more inside]
posted by bananaskin on Nov 1, 2009 - 32 answers

A quickie - what's the name of the game where a bunch of people sit in a circle and the first person whispers a secret into the ear of the person on one side, they whisper it to the next, and it goes around the circle, only to end up being an entirely different secret? [more inside]
posted by zinfandel on Oct 24, 2009 - 35 answers

Can someone help me figure out the meaning of this toe-based Eastern European nursery rhyme? [more inside]
posted by gallusgallus on Sep 9, 2009 - 7 answers

It's time for another round of 'name that childhood story'! Please help me identify a novel about a society that (literally) lived underground... [more inside]
posted by ghost dance beat on Sep 7, 2009 - 7 answers

In situations with three or more children, my son appears to come out on the losing end socially when a certain other child is added to the mix. My wife and I are beginning to worry that a pattern is developing that we need to break somehow. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Sep 3, 2009 - 12 answers

Jules Verne. Hans Christian Anderson. Don Quixote. The Brothers Grimn. Pippi Longstocking. They say that Americans don't read books in translation (only 874 of the 185,000 books published in the US in 2004 were adult literature books translated from other languages, according to this link), but I'm sure that more than 0.4% of my childhood canon was from non-English sources. Help me add to the list! [more inside]
posted by math on Aug 14, 2009 - 41 answers

I have a substantial Lego collection and a two-year-old. Eventually I will want to introduce the two. How best to do this? [more inside]
posted by kmennie on Aug 4, 2009 - 35 answers

I am looking for a book from my boyfriend's childhood. What he remembers: kids controlling a spaceship who can't get the food replicator to make anything other than potato salad. [more inside]
posted by eleanna on Jul 20, 2009 - 12 answers

How much has where you grew up determined your personality? How important is location? Those who grew up in New Zealand, how much has its culture and limitations shaped you? Children of expats, how did having expat parents influence you? Any Americans in NZ want to tell me why they are raising their children there? [more inside]
posted by scazza on Jun 19, 2009 - 9 answers

Should my 18-month old niece attend my grandmother's funeral? [more inside]
posted by Lleyam on Jun 4, 2009 - 28 answers

Which modern careers rooted in real life is most similar in nature to that of a Starfleet officer abroad the Enterprise? [more inside]
posted by joewandy on Jun 3, 2009 - 33 answers

I am curious about a childhood habit I had of daydreaming, or fantasizing, I suppose, while... running (for lack of a better term). Has anyone heard of this phenomenon? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on May 28, 2009 - 12 answers

What are some medical reasons that would warrant an operation removing one testicle from a 5 or 6 year old boy? [more inside]
posted by potatopeople on May 11, 2009 - 15 answers

When I was in elementary school, we called front-wedgies (where you pull up someone's underwear in the front, rather than in the back) 'mortons'... am I the only one to have done this, or is it something common? also, if anyone actually did call it a 'morton,' where does the name come from?
posted by chicago2penn on May 7, 2009 - 15 answers

At what age do your memories begin? [more inside]
posted by Billegible on Apr 19, 2009 - 78 answers

How do you tell a friend that their dreams aren't realistic? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Mar 22, 2009 - 54 answers

Why am I suddenly unable to stop obsessing about the childhood bullying that happened to me? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Mar 14, 2009 - 19 answers

How can my 13-year-old stepson get to sleep? [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Mar 11, 2009 - 35 answers

When should one attempt to promote team sports to a boy? [more inside]
posted by wilful on Jan 27, 2009 - 17 answers

What were these traceable cartoon characters with mix-and-match features called that I remember getting handouts of in elementary school? [more inside]
posted by flod logic on Jan 8, 2009 - 9 answers

Can anyone suggest a good book to deal with the sleep problems and separation anxiety felt by a 9-month old, just adopted baby?
posted by luriete on Jan 3, 2009 - 37 answers

How to deal with a bad aesthetic environment whilst bringing up a child. [more inside]
posted by anonymous on Dec 1, 2008 - 27 answers

What happy memories do you have of being a young child that make you think either "those were good times" or "that was good parenting"? [more inside]
posted by onlyconnect on Aug 12, 2008 - 64 answers

Childhood A.L.L. Luekemia My 2 year old niece was just diagnosed with this today and we are scouring the internet trying to find out all that we possibly can. She starts CHEMO tomorrow. Any personal experience or ideas of informative websites would be appreciated. Not generic websites but detailed and resourceful sites. [more inside]
posted by slowtree on Jul 15, 2008 - 7 answers

WhatWereThoseBooksFilter: I'm looking for several unrelated books, or possibly series of books, that I read as a kid. The first involved a family of magic users living in what was the time the modern world. [more inside]
posted by Caduceus on Jul 1, 2008 - 4 answers

Please help identify this childhood book. I'm 90% sure it was english, otherwise it could have been written in spanish. The book was wider than tall, probably 15" by 10", very colourful but dark and weird at the same time. The only page i remember is one where s the main character is walking through a cave or forest and all these very interesting animals/creatures looking at him. (I think there's also page with just eyes surrounding him in the dark). The creatures are oddly drawn and very interesting and it was scary if anything. I believe this was a hand-me-down but eitherway I had it late 80's early 90's. I know the details are vague but i'm just hoping someone out there can bring me to peace. Thankyou
posted by 0.0.0 on Jun 25, 2008 - 6 answers

What alternate rules did you follow when you played specific sports as a kid? [more inside]
posted by Joey Michaels on Jun 13, 2008 - 27 answers

How many people after being brought up in one religion, eventually choose another? [more inside]
posted by Static Vagabond on Jun 10, 2008 - 23 answers

Please help me figure out the titles of two movies that freaked me out as a child, one involving a space expedition and one involving a mummy. [more inside]
posted by Inspector.Gadget on Apr 14, 2008 - 9 answers

Need help naming a children's movie... [more inside]
posted by sprocket87 on Apr 2, 2008 - 3 answers

Health and exposure to nasty pesticides in the 1960s and 70s -- anyone have specific information on exactly what was sprayed in my home every six months when I was a kid? [more inside]
posted by shifafa on Mar 10, 2008 - 7 answers

Book from Childhood: I recall it as a pre-teen book (in the late 70s/early 80s) and all I remember was a boy (maybe a boy and a girl?) was in a science museum after hours and the Visible Woman (the see-through anatomy exhibit) came alive and befriends the kid(s). I think all of the exhibits came alive, but I most vividly remember the Visible Woman.
posted by macadamiaranch on Feb 29, 2008 - 2 answers

When I was in elementary school, I read this young adult book about a band of children who carry an American flag all the way to Washington, D.C. (along a highway, maybe?) for some reason. Anyone know the book? [more inside]
posted by irregardless on Feb 19, 2008 - 2 answers

Growing pains? Stigmata? What really were those pains I had as a child? [more inside]
posted by emd3737 on Feb 7, 2008 - 8 answers

Please help me remember the name of a childhood toy. [more inside]
posted by mockjovial on Jan 18, 2008 - 5 answers

In primary school (In the UK) we used to sing a song about Hannibal The Cannibal, King of the Cannibal Land - But I can't find any record of such a song any more. [more inside]
posted by paulfreeman on Nov 26, 2007 - 3 answers

I'm trying to find the title of a movie which frightened me as a child (40's/50's) In the movie, a young girl's mother has died & she has nightmares or fantasies about a killer who wears a feather. At the climax she sees the shadow of that feather coming for her & it turns out to be a lady's hat(the woman who is about to become her evil stepmother)maybe played by Bette Davis? & she is saved by her father. [more inside]
posted by comfortinsound on Nov 13, 2007 - 5 answers

Help identify a strange and creepy children's song from my past that seems ungoogleable. [more inside]
posted by trinarian on Nov 3, 2007 - 22 answers

Longshot stuffed animal of yore finder filter. [more inside]
posted by Cat Pie Hurts on Nov 2, 2007 - 9 answers

How can I be sure that my childhood actually happened? [more inside]
posted by Avenger on Oct 23, 2007 - 42 answers

When I was a kid in the 70's, I was an avid solver of a series of mazes published in books by an author with a Russian name (I remember it as Vladimir something). They were the kind of paperback books sold in the games section of bookstores, that you were supposed to write in like you do with crossword puzzle books. The mazes were simple, black-and-white, in a variety of shapes, and not gimmicky, just quite challenging (they were intended for grownups, not kids). Does anyone remember these books and can help me find them again?
posted by matildaben on Aug 14, 2007 - 4 answers

Twinkies, have the ingredients changed? [more inside]
posted by esereth on Jul 11, 2007 - 21 answers

Whatever happened to Nerf softballs/baseballs? [more inside]
posted by notsnot on Jun 27, 2007 - 4 answers

Help me find the name and a copy of a book similar in concept to the newer A Dangerous Book for Boys. [more inside]
posted by Soulbee on May 4, 2007 - 8 answers

Is anyone else here familiar with the Brown Paper School books published by Little, Brown & Co.? I am trying to find a definitive listing of all of the books in this series. [more inside]
posted by drfu on Apr 8, 2007 - 4 answers

Is the type of person you're attracted to or consider attractive hard-wired in you during childhood? [more inside]
posted by whitneykitty on Apr 4, 2007 - 42 answers