Who can relate to this........

ncligs

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WE MADE IT! Didn't We?

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's or even the early 80's, probably shouldn't have survived.
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 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 pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.
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 all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones. Unthinkable!
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms. We had friends! We went outside and found them.
We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits 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 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.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home 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.
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, 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 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're one of them. Congratulations!

Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before government regulated our lives, for our own good.
 
It's true we made it through all of these things :teeth:
 
We most certainly did make it! :D
 

I sure can relate:D I feel badly my DS is unable to experience the things my DH and I did growing up. I do remember some nasty accidents on the school playground, but don't think I ever heard about lawsuits.:confused:
 
Yeah, many of us are lucky to be alive today. Heck, I grew up in a big city and used to play ball IN THE STREET! We actually walked to the corner store to buy candy. We didn't have to depend on our parents to drive us anywhere, because we had everything right in the neighborhood.

I don't have any children yet, but if I ever in my life have to use the phrase "play date," please shoot me.
 
Dh and I were discussing this last night..
We saw ANOTHER young child with a motorized jeep in the neighborhood
.. Gee whiz..
what ever happened to
Tricycles, wagons, Big Wheels or pedal cars????

As kids we had a blast pushing/pulling the big red wagon!
Our kids ADORED their Big Wheels.. oh they wore out lots of tennis shoes and several Big Wheels!!
You hardly see tricycles anymore..

I know they still make those yellow and red bubble top cars that you push with your feet.. those are great..

I vote for pushing, pulling, running and pedaling making stronger kids who may sleep better at night from being plain old tired from playing all day.

Personally I am not a fan of the motorized cars for kids.. especially those under the age of 5... to each his own...jmho...
 
Originally posted by apagano
Yeah, many of us are lucky to be alive today. Heck, I grew up in a big city and used to play ball IN THE STREET! We actually walked to the corner store to buy candy. We didn't have to depend on our parents to drive us anywhere, because we had everything right in the neighborhood.

I don't have any children yet, but if I ever in my life have to use the phrase "play date," please shoot me.

I can relate to all of these. The STREET was our park.;) No one ever got hit by a car.

Anyone remember the parks back then? The swings were made of metal, the seesaws were made of wood, the slides were very HIGH, they didn't have any mats on the ground. How high were the monkey mars!!

If you feel you would cut your knee, and/or hands. Did our parents take the city to court? Nope, we just cleaned up the cuts and went to play some more.

What the heck is a "play date"??? What ever happened to going outside and just playing. Why does everything have to be scheduled now?

Oh, who in the world came up with the bright idea of not keeping score at a ball game?:rolleyes:

Boy, I can go on and on
 
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.

How well I remember that one (along with the others of course) and if all else failed, we'd slide down hills on trays or old cardboard boxes! :rolleyes:
 
I'm a member of that generation and reading that sure brought back a lot of neat memories of growing up in the 60's. Ah, such simple times. I wish we could go back to them....
 
Oh yes!

I also remember collecting soda bottles and cashing them in at the local store - that was our spending money!

The tooth fairy gave a dime or at the most - a quarter.

We used to walk around the local dump and bring home cool things and build stuf with them. (that's how we got a lot of the wheels for our go-carts)

Every Sunday night we sat around the tv to watch The Wonderful World of Disney. (I still remeber black & white tv with only channels 2,4,5,7 and three UHF channels - 27, 38 & 56)

We actually had to get up and change a channel on the tv - no remote!

Remember those typewriter erasers? The erasers on on end and the little brushes on the other? No such thing as spell check.

On Halloween you would use a pillowcase and walk for miles - into neighborhoods where you didn't Know a soul - and come home with so much candy you had to drag your bag. And then they gave out the good stuff - the large hershey bars - none of the cheap small stuff they give out now! And some years you had the little box so you could trick or treat for UNICIEF.

Did anyone actually have a carnival for muscular dystrophy? I remember always wanting to send away for it. And did anyone go to California with Rex Trailer (sp?) - or is that a local thing? (I rememer I wanted to take my niece)

Remeber when you got real cool free things inside of cereal boxes? And your Mom got glassses inside detergent? And gas stations checked your oil, washed your windows and gave out glasses?

Did anyone ever order any of those cool things on the back pages of comic books?

I did have to walk miles to school - in the snow, rain , cold and hot weather. But it was not uphill both ways. :) also had to wear a uniform. Catholic school for a few years. That was back when the nuns could hit you and you NEVER wanted to get sent to Mother Superior's office!

oh well...wonder what OUR kids will say were the good ole days??

Jill

P.S. I despise play dates too! :)
 
apagano reminded me of the corner stores. You could always tell the seasons by what they sold. In Fall, the wax lips, teeth and the harmonicas would be sold. Spring would have yo-yos, kites and those wooden paddles with the rubber ball. I also remember a gumball that was blue called Sputnik (or Spudnik?) Must have been early 60's. Does anyone else remember that?? Also, regarding "play dates":eek: We would just go outside and look for friends, if someone couldn't play, just get on your bike and look for someone else. Just had to remember to come home when the street lights came on!!!! Otherwise you would face the embarrasment of your mother calling your name to come home! I remember saving my Bazooka comics to get an ID bracelet. There was only 1 car in the house and your father had it. There was no need for a ride to friend's houses, you didn't know anyone outside your neighborhood until you got to high school.
 
Yep we made it but I'm still hallucinating from the lead based paint on my crib and from getting into the medicine bottles.

:p :p

One of the neatest things I remember is my brothers and other neighborhood boys making a paddle boat to use in the bayou behind us and it actually worked!!
 
GEEZ the memories. I rode my bike everywhere, When I got my DL i was the most popular person at the place I rented horses. I would go get pizza and pop. The kids used to fight over who could ride with me. I still remember riding my bike to DR appts. and stuff.
 
I remember Sputnik gum - we used to buy it at the penny candy store that was only 1 block from our school. It was a little grocery store but over half of it was the candy counter and most of the customers were the kids from school.

I remember that in 2nd grade as we were preparing for First Holy Communion they big candy to get was flying saucers because they were the same size as the host and we would practice receiving communion.

We also would spend hours on end at night playing kick the can in and around the 3 blocks between my house and my best friends house.

Then they built a public pool a half block from my house and we spent every open hour there. Each year we'd get a new swim suit and a pool pass. You used the same towel year after year and you would walk over in bare feet.

Ah the good old days!
 
I live in a small TX town and one store is only blocks from my house.Most of the store's business during the summer is from the local kids and the big event is the flea market
 







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