Our childhoods...

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Dee

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If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's, looking back it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we
have...

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a
special treat.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead based paint.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and
when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.

(Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a young kid!), and riding on
the running board. What's a running board?

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then
rode 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 would leave home in the morning and play a all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day.

No cell phones. Unthinkable. We played dodge ball and sometimes
the ball would really hurt. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth,
and there were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame, but us.

Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and
learned to get over it.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight...we were always outside playing. We shared one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games at all,
99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell
phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends.

We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's
home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do it?

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and
although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes,nor did the worms live inside us forever.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who
didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment..... Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.....Horrors. Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to
hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was
unheard of.

They actually sided with the law, imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and
problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has 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're one of them.

Congratulations

Feel free to pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as
kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own
good.
 
Dee;

How very true. I grew up in the 50's and 60's and reading your post brought back a lot of memories, some painful and some full of fun.
 
Yea, I grew up in the late 60's and early 70's and if you rode a bike with a helmet you were a geeeeek! And we used to play a game called "Smear the Queer". Oh how times have changed...
 
I don't know if this means I will be a bad parent or not, but coming from a BMX and Freestyle background, I will have a hard time making my kids wear a helmet unless they are on a ramp or in a race. I use to beat the kids in helmets up.

Chad
 
great post.......kinda makes you feel scared of the future when you look at the present!
 
Dee, you tellin me I grew up????When did this happen????It just cant be true.....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!Must be all that lead paint I ate as a child that makes me forget....But then again,it may be all that lead paint I ate as a child that makes me forget.:D
 
I was born in '60. Boy that post really hits home. Makes me seriously miss the old days.

Thanks

Jim
 
Homeyllama once bubbled...
Dee, you tellin me I grew up????When did this happen????It just cant be true.....NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!Must be all that lead paint I ate as a child that makes me forget....But then again,it may be all that lead paint I ate as a child that makes me forget.:D

For you, we made an exception! :wink:
 
Though I was born in the early 70's I do remember alot of this. We have to bring this way of life back to the world we live in. It's never too late.If one person had an effect on say five young teens maybe they could spread it around .I have seen this personally. I have seen a community change within a year. We have to get to the younger group.Spend time with them . Eat a meal with the entire family at the table and talk about what took place that day. Alot of this is our own fault. Parents working two jobs. Dad's not being there for the kids.Mom's haveing to work because of the Dad isnt around anymore. Though my Step-Dad was there for us no matter what, I would have given anything for him to be there for me when I needed him.I would have given up my new BMX or those new shoes he had to work so many hours to get. The answer is time. NONE HAS THE TIME ANYMORE!!

Ok I,m donw who's next lol.
 
Kids just sit in front of the PC and the video game system and get fatter and fatter... FWIW, as a parent, I plan to limit my child's time on the computer and video games so they will get outside and live a little...either that or tell them they can play all they want but they have to wear parachute pants to school and can ONLY play Pac Man...
 
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