Kind of long but fun to read...

[hulagirl87]

My mom sent me this email. It made me laugh because as a relatively new mom I am constantly reading things that scare the crap out of me. Remembering how I grew up and how I turned out, it made me smile. Now there are things at every turn that are such "no-no's" Baby can ONLY sleep on their back!!! Only whole wheat bread! No sugar! No blankets in the crib! No TV until 2 years old! Ok, sure, I don't follow some of these. No blanket in the crib? I live in NY. It's really cold here! Anyways, this is really neat. Enjoy...

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


First, we survived being born to mothers who may have 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, locks on doors or cabinets, and, when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps,not helmets, on our heads.


As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires 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 OKAY.


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 Play Stations, Nintendos and X-boxes. There were
no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs,
no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal 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 those accidents.

We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, belts, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand, and no one would call child services to report abuse.

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 to 85 years have seen 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 those born
between 1925-1970, 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.


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 ?
~~~~~~~

 

[tlbwriter]

While you are at it, forward it to your kids, so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.

More lucky than brave, IMHO.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?
~~~~~~~

Not really. Some of those "nostalgic" activities are kind of stupid, IMHO. Riding in the back of a pickup? What made our parents think that was a good idea? I know two people who are permanently brain damaged from that activity.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Not really. Some of those "nostalgic" activities are kind of stupid, IMHO. Riding in the back of a pickup? What made our parents think that was a good idea? I know two people who are permanently brain damaged from that activity.

I know dozens of kids in my generation who rode in the backs of pickup trucks and are fine, and of one adult who died. I don't understand your point. The safest activity, no - but as with the new ban on cribs with drop-sides, there've been about ten deaths in nineteen years (figures not accurate, I don't have time to find the actual stats) yet there are millions of those cribs used safely every day.

The point of the e-mail is, there's so much we did safely yet now find necessary to protect our kids from doing? Why? This part, especially, was interesting:

"These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers,
problem solvers, and inventors ever.
The past 50 to 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas... "

If everything is planned out for recent, current, and future generations, and if they're protected from all potential hazards, who will take risks? Who will problem-solve? How can you solve a problem if you don't know one exists; or even if you know one exists, if you don't have the tools to know how to fix it what can you do?

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I agree with bits and pieces, but not a lot of this.

Like all the "safety" stuff: Just because you got away with doing something unsafe doesn't make it safe.

 

[tlbwriter]

I know dozens of kids in my generation who rode in the backs of pickup trucks and are fine, and of one adult who died. I don't understand your point.

My point is, why be nostalgic about unsafe activities just because they happened in our childhood? One might as well be nostalgic about the good old days before we had the polio vaccine (admittedly, some DIS posters *are* nostalgic about that). I'm not talking about everything in this e-mail, just the few that are unnecessarily unsafe.

The point of the e-mail is, there's so much we did safely...

Well, if we had died doing those things, we wouldn't be here to read the e-mail, so it's illogical to argue that those activities were not only safe, but beneficial. The people who died aren't here to argue their side. The fact that we survived doesn't mean those activities were safe. Using that logic, driving drunk is perfectly safe, because I did it many times as a teenager and I'm alive. Woo, nostalgia!

... yet now find necessary to protect our kids from doing? Why? This part, especially, was interesting:

"These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers,
problem solvers, and inventors ever.
The past 50 to 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas... "

Yeah, but who says that had anything to do with riding in the back of a pickup truck? (A classic post-hoc logical fallacy, BTW). Also, who knows what the children of the 80s, 90s, and 00s will produce? It's hardly fair to compare them to people before them - they've barely gotten started.

(Also, can't help but wonder if the man who would have discovered a cure for cancer didn't do it because he was wearing a baseball cap instead of a helmet... these things cut both ways, you know.)

If everything is planned out for recent, current, and future generations, and if they're protected from all potential hazards, who will take risks? Who will problem-solve? How can you solve a problem if you don't know one exists; or even if you know one exists, if you don't have the tools to know how to fix it what can you do?

I don't understand what you mean. Am I taking away my child's problem-solving skills by requiring her to wear a bike helmet?

 

[U2_rocks!]

Not everything done back then was necessarily "safe" - but I don't understand why we're aiming for 100% safe these days either. First of all, it's difficult to achieve - you think you've covered all angles, but something you didn't think of could still end up hurting or killing you. Secondly, I agree with a PP who questions whether protecting everyone to the degree we do nowadays is really wise from the perspective of teaching people how to be creative while minimizing risk. If you go too far in minimizing risk, you stifle creativity. There has to be a middle ground, but I don't think we are there today - I think we have passed that and are heading quickly towards the other extreme.

 

[bluesaturn]

Interesting. A lot of those people who ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter, and drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar weren't fat then. But they are now. Good to know that worked out so well for them.

 

[wdwmom2]

hulagirl87 - Enjoyed it. Actually have read it before. I have experienced pretty much everything on there. And no, not everything was the safest or the smartest thing to do!

I wonder, 30-40 years from now, what people will be talking about that was done in the past (actually now), that was stupid, unsafe, whatever.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

(Also, can't help but wonder if the man who would have discovered a cure for cancer didn't do it because he was wearing a baseball cap instead of a helmet... these things cut both ways, you know.)

Or maybe he or she died in a car accident because they were riding in the back of a pickup.

 

[rie'smom]

Interesting. A lot of those people who ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter, and drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar weren't fat then. But they are now. Good to know that worked out so well for them.

Now most of these things are made with HFCS and not sugar. This is part of what has cause the spike in obesity. Before 1980 when companies started using a lot of HFCS, people ate this stuff and didn't gain weight as easily.

I don't get why people get so hostile over these posts. When I was growing up we did most of these things and we're still here today. It drives me crazy when people act like our parents were nuts or didn't take good care of us.

Just remember when your kids are adults much of what you do with your babies and kids will end up in nostalgic posts like in the OP. You will be accused of doing stupid things with your kids.

For instance, since my oldest was born 35 years ago, the thinking about how to put babies to bed has flip flopped a few times. On their stomachs, on their sides, on their backs, then back to on their stomachs, and back again. You fed your babies at 2 weeks, then not untill 9 months, then 4 months and God knows what it is today.

 

[goofyernmost]

I was born in 1948 so just about all of this applies to me:

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


First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank
while they were pregnant.

It was common practice back then. Almost everyone smoked and it was not only social acceptable it was fashionable. I don't think it hurt any of us in the slightest.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Yup, kind of makes one wonder doesn't it.

Then, after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

I still don't understand the on back sleeping thing. Logically a baby would have a bigger chance of choking from spit up or aspirating the same. I should look it up sometime and see if it scientifically makes sense.


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.

No but we were told to stay away from certain things and places and for the most part we obeyed. The helmet thing is, well, pretty silly and useless in my opinion. What do you think that helmet will do if they get hit by a car. That helmet would crack like an egg. Even if it's just falling off a bike, the force of ones weight would destroy it. Even worse is how dorky one looks wearing that tear drop shaped joke.


As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes..

That was us. We even used to lay across the shelf by the rear window and sleep, but in fairness there was no where near the traffic back then that there is now and no where near the speeds that we travel, The cars were built like tanks but the current laws are ones that we can live with. No argument from me.


Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

Agreed that this was not the safest way to travel but it was usually for very short distances and, again, we were not stupid. We were smart enough to stay seated and because we still had working imaginations back then, we could see what could happen if we didn't.


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

I can still taste the plastic and warm water that we would get from that. Yum! Didn't seem to hurt anyone though.


We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.

Yes but we did always wipe the top off with dirt covered hands. That seemed to do the trick.


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!

Well, in fairness, not all of us walked away from that with a skinny bod. Our parents were usually kids during the depression and one of the main goals of our Mothers was to make sure that we were never hungry. Sadly, mine succeeded.


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 OKAY.

Sadly, it is a different world out there now. I don't think it would be a very good idea anymore.


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 Play Stations, Nintendos and X-boxes. There were
no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs,
no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.

These two kind of go together. I do agree that we knew how to entertain ourselves more. I was around 10 before we even got a TV and that only was able to barely get three channels and one was in French. We made believe, we actually did stuff like build forts, used planks to make counters for our virtual stores, made roads in the sand and drove our trucks millions of miles through them. We used our red wagons like they were cars and drove big trips over dirt and grass highways and had a great time doing it.


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 those accidents.

Not all of us got broked bones or teeth or anything more then a few scratches. We were chance takers but we weren't stupid. I did, however, once get a handful of sand thrown in my eyes by an early bully. I survived, vision intact.

We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, belts, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand, and no one would call child services to report abuse.

Heck, my dad made my mom her own special "board of education" carved out of a thin piece of wood. She only used it once that was all that was ever necessary. We didn't mess with dear ole Mom again.

We ate worms, and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

No like I said...we weren't stupid. And those that did do that...well they probably didn't go to far in life accept to maybe fall out of the back of a moving pickup.


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!

The most important of these was to be and take responsibility for our own actions.


These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers,
problem solvers, and inventors ever.


The past 50 to 85 years have seen 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 those born
between 1925-1970, 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.


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 ?
~~~~~~~

 

[LuvLDM]

Jeez, does everything have to be analyzed & debated?
I thought it was meant to be lighthearted & amusing

 

[ProudMomTo3Boys]

Jeez, does everything have to be analyzed & debated?
I thought it was meant to be lighthearted & amusing

That is exactly how I took it. As for eating the junk food and such, I think its more because kids nowadays are always in front of the TV and playing video games. When I was a kid, we were outside all the time. I think that kids just need to be outside more.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

Jeez, does everything have to be analyzed & debated?
I thought it was meant to be lighthearted & amusing

I know, right?

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

But you also have to remember that anyone who was "different" back then was locked away in institutions and sometimes worse. How many "different" people do you know now that have impacted your life in a positive way?

We also didn't have the number of weirdos and creeps and criminals that we do now, solely based on exponential growth of society.

While many survived to tell and reminisce about the good old days, times have changed and we are a much faster-paced society that feeds on instant gratification. Priorities and incomes have changed greatly and many that are raising kids now don't have the luxury of taking their children to the park to play or are too tired to let them run around the yard.

It's all fine and dandy to look back and wish for life to be as it was, but frankly, a lot of the children of today who are being sheltered by "the lawyers and the government" (which is bull hockey if you ask me - people shelter people, not law enforcement, but that's a whole other thread) are creating and innovating things that were previously not conceivible, even 5 years ago.

I was born in 1980 and survived a good chunk of that list too... the window to which the email refers is frankly too small if you ask me.

 

[U2_rocks!]

Jeez, does everything have to be analyzed & debated?
I thought it was meant to be lighthearted & amusing

Sure it was, but why can't it also spark discussion? This is a discussion board, right?

 

[rie'smom]

Jeez, does everything have to be analyzed & debated?
I thought it was meant to be lighthearted & amusing

This is the DIS home to perfect parents with perfect children. No one else can come close to that perfection even grandparents.

 

[goofyernmost]

Jeez, does everything have to be analyzed & debated?
I thought it was meant to be lighthearted & amusing

I hope that doesn't apply to my post...I was just trying to be clever based on my point of view at the time. No offense meant at all.

 

[LuvLDM]

I hope that doesn't apply to my post...I was just trying to be clever based on my point of view at the time. No offense meant at all.

No, not you.
I just find it kind of silly, the Op posted something "fun" and several posters seemed to take it so seriously.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

No, not you.
I just find it kind of silly, the Op posted something "fun" and several posters seemed to take it so seriously.

That's because it wasn't lighthearted and fun...