Born 1930-1979

[DisneyMom81]

TO ALL THE KIDS
WHO SURVIVED the
1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!


First, 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-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 infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, 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 koolade made with sugar, 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 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 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 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound , CD's or Ipods, no cell phones! , no personal computers , no Internet or 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 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!


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 so much of our lives for our own good


And 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, tornadoes, 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?"

 

[Dopey's twin Dippy]

PERFECT..........i love this.... it is so true...... What changes huh???? and i dont think all for the better......

 

[MM27]

My aunt sent me that email the other day. It's so true.

I remember when I was little, my dad had a big station wagon. We used to put the back seats down and lay in the back while he drove. Also had a pickup truck and not only would we kids sit in the open back, but we would fight over who got to sit on the tire bumps.

 

[Piglet4Ever]

We always rode in the back of our station wagon, I didn't start using a seatbelt until I was 16 and took driver's ed. DH and I were talking the other day about all the stupid stuff we did as kids and survived through. We both have a few scars that come with really good stories, haha I used to love drinking from the garden hose on a hot summer day. Ahh sweet memories!!

 

[darlak]

The only seat belts I can even remember being in any of my parent's cars were lap belts and my youngest brother's (he was born in 1970) carseat was a seat with a padded lap bar that lifted for him to get in or out of the seat. The whole little seat hooked by 2 metal bars over the center of the bench front seat.

Television was a treat and we only had 4 channels (including our local PBS channel!). In spite of not having child proof tops on medicine bottles, I cannot remember ever hearing of a child accidentally overdosing on anyone's medication.

 

[tileman]

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle

I was working in the garden sat and was drinking out of the hose and started thinking hmmm never see kids do this anymore.

Yep used to play all day outside till lunch time then back out.

Building a fort in the woods using a axe or a machete that my mom knew I had.


Ron.

 

[Carly_Roach]

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 so much of our lives for our own good.

It should be remembered that it isn't the government deciding what's good for people and what isn't. It's the people going to the government and demanding they do something "for everyone's safety" that got the bills started to create laws about car seats, helmets, lead paint, smoking, etc.

Ditto for the lawyers. If people hadn't started suing each other and corporations for accidents and their own stupidity, some of these laws wouldn't be affecting the rest of us.

 

[h20jag]

Really miss those days, neighbor-helping-neighbor just because it was right.
Now it's a dadgum "entitlement" issue, thanks to many who wanted Gov't to protect & equalize us.

 

[kellyg403]

So true...I think about those days often. I remember riding with my two sisters in my mom's vw bug..small car and no seatbelts. We lived to tell the story.

Recently in our school system they are now doing a fifth quarter in Middle School football for the all the kids who don't get to play. Doesn't count as part of the game Well, I am on the fence. Part of me is wondering what ever happened to working your way to the first string. I feel like it gives the wrong impression. Then the mother part of me sees those boys who haven't hit their growth spurt and out on the field playing and I see the good in it. Still not sure about it!

I also think of my childhood when I am standing in the line and the cashier is trying to find her phone to use the calculator because she made a mistake entering money in the register. I just want to say HELLO..you typed in 2.00, she handed you a 20..20-2= 18.00...type it in!

Kelly

 

[jfoofj]

One of my favorite childhood memories is my Dad packing us in the "way back" of our station wagon to go to the beach. He would literally pack all the bags on the back seat so my brothers and I could sit in the way back with our games and snacks and keep each other occupied. Ahhhhhh, the 70's... bad haircuts, paisely pants and no seatbelts!

 

[Carly_Roach]

Really miss those days, neighbor-helping-neighbor just because it was right.
Now it's a dadgum "entitlement" issue, thanks to many who wanted Gov't to protect & equalize us.

Not to mention all the people who think they're in the right by walking up to a pregnant woman who happens to be smoking and give her a lecture about how she's "harming her baby". Or the ones who want to call CPS because they see kids who aren't wearing seatbelts.

Before we bemoan the loss of our own civil liberties, it's best to make sure that we ourselves aren't the ones taking them away from others based on our standard of what's "right". Kids born from 1930 - 1970 lived in a society that knew how to keep it's collective noses out of other people's business. Sure, there were downfalls to that - the Sylvia Likens case comes to mind immediately.

But look at the tradeoff: for every instance of Sylvia Likens, there are hundreds of thousands of other children who learned how to be self-sufficient and aware of their surroundings; how to figure out their own problems; who learned to deal with disappointment; who had the basic tools to be able to go forward without any help from anyone.

Due to the mentality of "If only ONE child is helped, then it's all worth it" we now have childhood obesity, adult obesity epidemic, college graduates who expect to be given credit just for showing up at their job while not being able to write a grammatically correct sentence, skyrocketing taxes on tobacco products and new bills about taxes on food with high fructose corn syrup.

But hey! At least that ONE child was helped! Who cares if Rome is burning and millions will die. We saved ONE child! WOO HOO!

 

[kellyg403]

One of my favorite childhood memories is my Dad packing us in the "way back" of our station wagon to go to the beach. He would literally pack all the bags on the back seat so my brothers and I could sit in the way back with our games and snacks and keep each other occupied. Ahhhhhh, the 70's... bad haircuts, paisely pants and no seatbelts!

We used to call it the 'way back' too...I loved it when we got to go to the Drive in...mom would put us all in our pj's and make a bed in the 'way back' for us. Remeber playing on the swingsets under that big movie screen?

Yeah, we had four channels. Remember when the channels played the anthem and turned off at midnight?

Kelly

 

[DisneyMom81]

It was just a light hearted little post. Chill guys.

 

[Kae]

Anybody else get carsick riding in the backwards seat of the the Station Wagon. I was such a wimp

Kae

 

[pooh4evr]

I got carsick all the time in the way back riding backwards! They made me roll down the window and hang my head out---sorry if you were ever behind us!!

 

[paintnolish]

One of my favorite childhood memories is my Dad packing us in the "way back" of our station wagon to go to the beach. He would literally pack all the bags on the back seat so my brothers and I could sit in the way back with our games and snacks and keep each other occupied. Ahhhhhh, the 70's... bad haircuts, paisely pants and no seatbelts!

We sat in the "way back", too. The best part was, we rolled up the carpet so we were sitting on the slippery metal. Then, we would have dad (only when mom wasn't with, of course) do "Batman turns" i.e. really sharp turns. We would slide all over the back, banging into each other and the door!

 

[ckay87]

So true...I think about those days often. I remember riding with my two sisters in my mom's vw bug..small car and no seatbelts. We lived to tell the story.

Well, yea...and you are lucky enough to be sitting here typing that. Those who were thrown through the windshield and instantly killed don't get a vote on this post, do they?

I'm not usually so snarky, I don't mean it personally, really. I just rode somewhere with my sister-in-law and she told my little nieces to take off their seatbelts to stretch out and take a nap. And she used that "we did it and we lived" line and it made me.... . That logic just makes NO sense to me. I accidently drove the wrong way on a road one time and I lived. Doesn't make it a safe practice.

Sorry in advance. I know it's a light-hearted post. I've just seen it a bunch of times and I don't really relate to the sentiment. I feel that by learning about and implementing health and safety measures, we are improving our quality of life.

 

[Sanchez]

Well, yea...and you are lucky enough to be sitting here typing that. Those who were thrown through the windshield and instantly killed don't get a vote on this post, do they?

I'm not usually so snarky, I don't mean it personally, really. I just rode somewhere with my sister-in-law and she told my little nieces to take off their seatbelts to stretch out and take a nap. And she used that "we did it and we lived" line and it made me.... . That logic just makes NO sense to me. I accidently drove the wrong way on a road one time and I lived. Doesn't make it a safe practice.

Sorry in advance. I know it's a light-hearted post. I've just seen it a bunch of times and I don't really relate to the sentiment. I feel that by learning about and implementing health and safety measures, we are improving our quality of life.

I wonder whether we are improving our quality of life. Yes, there are certain things we can do to improve safety (seatbelts, helmets on bikes) but at the same time we are restricting our children's exposure to many things. Just read the DIS . . . I see a world of organized playdates, not letting kids walk to school or play in the neighborhood due to fear of child abduction, and helicopter parents fretting about each and every perceived slight their snowflake suffers at school. I don't think our children are very good at solving their own problems.

 

[ckay87]

I wonder whether we are improving our quality of life. Yes, there are certain things we can do to improve safety (seatbelts, helmets on bikes) but at the same time we are restricting our children's exposure to many things. Just read the DIS . . . I see a world of organized playdates, not letting kids walk to school or play in the neighborhood due to fear of child abduction, and helicopter parents fretting about each and every perceived slight their snowflake suffers at school. I don't think our children are very good at solving their own problems.

I know what you're saying and I do agree with that. The list in the OP advocates pregnant mothers smoking, not using seatbelts, using lead paint, etc. and calls it the good old days. I do agree with the sentiment of children playing freely outside, but that didn't really relate to some of the other items on the list which were clearly NOT things that were better in the old days.

 

[J/T Gramdma]

Ditto for the lawyers. If people hadn't started suing each other and corporations for accidents and their own stupidity, some of these laws wouldn't be affecting the rest of us.

[/QUOTE]

I remember that in the late sixies that a court case stated that a man fell from a ladder and the person sued the ladder company. the Judge sided with the person suing and ladder companies were told to put a warning on the ladder saying you could fall. The result was ladders have about 10 warning on them and the period of 'personal responsibility' ended in the America culture.