for kids born between 1930's,40's,50's,60's and 70's?

Question

First we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us
They took aspirin ate blue cheese dressing tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes
Then after that trauma our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes we had no helmets not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking
As children we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags
Riding in the back of a pick up 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 and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it but we weren't overweight because
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING
We would leave home in the morning and play all day as long as we were back when the streetlights came onNo 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 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, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet 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 from 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 yelled for 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!
This generation has 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!
And YOU are one of them!
CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.
and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

Answer 1

All of that brought back many memories, I was born before World War II.

There was much more. On the farm we worked.

Drove horse teams.
Picked rock from the field.
Mornings emptied pots from under each bed (we had no in-house water).
After the telephone was installed, counted the rings to see if it was for us.
Collected metal, rubber, paper and other things for the war effort.
Drove tractor.
Fed the farm animals.
Milked cows.
Swam in the river (no accompanying adult).
Traveled through the woods alone.
Hunted with rifle.
Saturday bath in metal tub in the kitchen.
All of this and more before I was ten.

We listened to, and respected, adults.
We went to school because we wanted to learn and that with a number 2 pencil and paper.
We also worked with adults learning how to shingle a roof, fix a water faucet leak, repair a window Screen, fix a broken window, change oil in the car, how to do carpentry work, how to fix farm machinery.

None of this was considered a big deal, just what we did.

During the summer we play games we made up, like, pirates with sticks for swords, cowboys and Indians with home made guns and bows, made our own kites, many of our toys were our father's and mother's tools (as long as we returned them).

We made our own crystal radio sets, we watched the radio and saw the characters in our imaginations. We learned to put on plays. We actually learned to read with comprehension, to write in script, to do our "numbers" in our heads, we learned real history and appreciation for books.

Something has changed and I'm not sure what it is.

Answer 2

No kidding. Man, those were the days for sure. I grew up in the 70's so the only thing on that list I didn't do was hitchhike. LOL I had the coolest mom in the universe and I grew up in a small town so we were allowed to do pretty much anything. Fort building and swimming in the filthy creek were my favorite things to do. I didn't die of any foul diseases from that either. Thanks for reminding me of how happy my childhood was!

Answer 3

You're dead right man.
I sat around in the dirt outside home and when the milkman came round I bummed chocolate milkshakes off him saying "Mommy will pay!"
For a toy, my brother and I had a cardboard crate that we shoved around pretending it was a spaceship. Got more fun out of it than any modern gadget.
I could walk back from town at night on my own and no one thought it was strange or reckless on my parents' part.
At school in English we did sentence analysis - I didn't know what it was for, maybe even the teacher didn't know what it was for, but I KNOW NOW - I can write a grammatical sentence and don't string clauses together with commas. Even my daughter does that, and I think she's brighter than me.

Answer 4

Hmmm, sounds like you and I grew up in the same place. I did most of those things and more. My parents never saw me til supper time most days and they, and I, were probably the better off for it. This last Thanksgiving, we had about 40 people out at my parents place. They live out in the country. There's a pond full of bass and catfish. There's a basketball court. There's three ATV's. There's beautiful scenery with all sorts of wildlife. The weather was beautiful. A couple of the kids were acting up and their mother told them to behave or else. Their reply? "There's nothing to do!!!".I practically gagged on my turkey sandwich. Their idea of something to do is to sit in front of the TV playing video games. More's the pity.

Answer 5

Very good. I remember all of that. Of course we were safer. There were not near as many cars on the road then. Not so many punks who thought they knew how to drive when they were 16.
Do you remember this "Some kid on the other side of town poked his eye out doing that."?
We also ate a lot of butter. I am glad too. I am 59 and my cholesterol is 135. I still eat butter and bacon. Gravy is a beverage. My blood pressure is 132/60 and I feel great. I guess we just started right.

1947 Him 1950 Her

Answer 6

You spoke right out of my heart!!!!!!
Except one thing I do not agree with which would be: Nowadays thousands of children don't die in an car accident because they are strapped into a fitting car seat tight and nice. So that is an invention I am very glad we have!!
Other than that you are so very right!!

Answer 7

I joke about that all the time. I remember when sitting in the back dash of a car was the choice seat. Just last week, I saw a wagon that actually had little fold-up seats in it so the child would be comfortable riding in the wagon. Doesn't that defeat the point of the wagon ride? My response to my husband when I saw that wagon was, "Man, kids are wimps today!." LOL ;-)!

Answer 8

Yes ...I remember all that stuff ......I was born in 1948...Prince Edward Island...Canada

I not only had a BB gun but I also had a bow and arrow ......we lived on the edge of town , next to the woods.

In our city there was an outdoor ice rink at every school yard , with a warming hut that had a wood stove with an attendant .

We skated there just about every evening and all day saturday...1960 ....only if our homework was completed

In 1961 they made 2 rinks , one with low boards for the girls and the other one with high boards for the boys .....on saturday it was common to see 200 boys on the ice trying to play hockey with one puck ....you were lucky if you even touched the puck haha

I wouldn't trade those times for anything

Thanks for a stroll down memory lane

Answer 9

By and large, I agree with you. I was born in 1962 and took my boyscout knife to school with me each day. I played mumbletypeg with my friends at recess and none of us ever lost a toe. However, what do you tell that one mother whose kid did lose a toe? What do you say to the parents of the kid who has permanent brain damage because of landing on the pavement on his head after a bike accident? And what about the one kid who didn't make little league, but years later climbed up to a clock tower and took out pedestrians with a high powered rifle. He couldn't throw a baseball, but he's got good aim from practicing with his BB gun from his tenth birthday. Yes, these things only happen one time in a million or more, but negative sampling bias (the tendency to ignore the surgeon's 9 successful operation in favor of concentrating on the one he botched) is a human perception problem that makes those freak occurrences hard for many people to ignore.