I'll be giving my kid my .22 when it turns 4 but I plan to actually raise it and do that thing that makes kids not shoot people.... parenting I think it's called?

Kicking was considered effete. Proper play was to get right into the middle of things. Arm and head locks, elbows to the face and ribs, and the good ol' fashioned head-first flying gang-tackle. Your typical rugby player would recognize it immediately, save for the lack of team play.

No laps for not getting dirty, but if you didn't do *something* that made you a mess, your social standing plummeted. Social pressure is a stone ***** to evade. Tether-ball was a popular alternative. The real object was to get the ball moving fast enough to smack the other player in the face. Or clothes-line them. Bonus points if you knocked them to the pavement. Plus, that was one of the few games where it was fair to hit a girl. Of course, they hit back... and hard.Hell, even four-square turned into a contact sport.


Edit:
The runner in S-the-Q could get away with clipping people with his feet - He's running after all, so it's going to happen.
Also: S-the-Q played in the snow is much more brutal than any other kids' game I know. When your body parts are right on the verge of frostbite, impacts hurt in a way you can't expect until it happens to you the first time.

More edit:
Almost forgot about King-of-the-Hill, and its more brutal cousin: King-of-the-Hill played on bare iron monkey bars. Over pavement.

Come to think of it, by today's standards, it's amazing any of us lived. On the other hand, broken bones were rare and fascinating things - they almost never happened, and never at school - Skiing, or rock-climbing, or horseback riding... those the kinds of things that busted limbs. Not school play.

(be it the need to defend your farm from the British crown or whatever)