TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE
1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!
F irst, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank
while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and
didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby
cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or
cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on
our heads.
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no
booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tire s and sometimes no
brakes
Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a
special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no
one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank
Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY?
Because we were always outside playing...that's why!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we
were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were O.K.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then
ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After
running into the bushes a few times,we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no
video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no
surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no person al computers, no Internet
and no chat rooms
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were
no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made f rom dirt, and the worms did not
live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with
sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did
not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door
or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who
didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.
Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard
of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers,
problem solvers and inventors ever.
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new
ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
how to deal with it all.
If YOU are one of them? CONGRATULATIONS!
Yo u might want to share this with others who have had the luck to
grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of
our lives for our own good.
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how
brave and lucky their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors,
doesn't it ?
The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides,
flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to
another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure
this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'
For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us...go
ahead and delete this.
For the rest of us...pass this on.
I agree. Bucky Covington said what you said in song...enjoy
Not a Bucky fan but a good song........
Scary how we made thru all that.
Scary how we made thru all that.
And we are the better for it!
I don't know how we survived some of those things but you sure did bring back some good memories.
And add to that we went barefoot all summer and no one told us we violated health codes by being barefoot LOL.
I still love being barefoot ! I must stil be a kid !
Anyone ever had a Dad who laid on the couch, yelled for you till you came in and had you change the channel? Not only that, the turn knob was broken and you had to rotate the dial with a pair of pliers? LOL...oh the days..I can see me calling my daughter in to push the remote control for me!!
Unusual time of year to reopen this topic with winter upon us, but like you, chgobuzzbald, I'm still a kid at 57 and I love to be barefoot. At home, I'm always barefoot and barefoot any other opportunity that I get. My feet are no worse for the wear, in fact, my feet are healthy with no problems whatsover!
Have to agree, it is a good article.
Reminds me of a discussion I had with a 40 year old mother of 3. She was telling me about the THREE STEP PLAN FOR STOPPING BULLYING at her kids' school.
Step one is to tell the bully that what they are doing is hurting your feelings.
Step two is repeating step one and adding that if they don't stop you're going to tell the teacher.
Step three is telling the teacher.
I asked her what step four of the plan is. She told me that there is no step four. I told her that there most definitely is a step four. Step four is when junior gets off the bus after the bully was suspended for a week and had to spend that whole time at home with two violent drunken parents who kicked his ass regularly for intruding upon their party time. Step four is that junior is down the street and around the corner from the house and right now it's just him and the bully and the bully has a lot to get even for.
Step four, then, is that you have prepared junior for this inevitable confrontation by making sure he knows how to box.
Ahhh, the good old days. And although it seems funny I really mean that. There were no lawyers, hell, there were no referees. We just did what we needed to to get home and we did that without remorse. Because that's just the way it was. You either grew up on two feet or you grew up on your knees.
Speaking for myself I lost way more than I won, but, I remember all the wins and they still taste sweet. And even the losses carried the message that I wasn't going to kneel. People respected that back then.
Good article.
Reminds me of a discussion I had with a 40 year old mother of 3. She was telling me about the THREE STEP PLAN FOR STOPPING BULLYING at her kids' school.
Step one is to tell the bully that what they are doing is hurting your feelings.
Step two is repeating step one and adding that if they don't stop you're going to tell the teacher.
Step three is telling the teacher.
I asked her what step four of the plan is. She told me that there is no step four. I told her that there most definitely is a step four. Step four is when junior gets off the bus after the bully was suspended for a week and had to spend that whole time at home with two violent drunken parents who kicked his ass regularly for intruding upon their party time. Step four is that junior is down the street and around the corner from the house and right now it's just him and the bully and the bully has a lot to get even for.
Step four, then, is that you have prepared junior for this inevitable confrontation by making sure he knows how to box.
Ahhh, the good old days. And although it seems funny I really mean that. There were no lawyers, hell, there were no referees. We just did what we needed to to get home and we did that without remorse. Because that's just the way it was. You either grew up on two feet or you grew up on your knees.
Speaking for myself I lost way more than I won, but, I remember all the wins and they still taste sweet. And even the losses carried the message that I wasn't going to kneel. People respected that back then.
Good article.
Ah yes, the good old days. Thanx for that Buddha.