To All The Kids Who Survived 1930-70

[skidbump]

i was born 12/4 1958


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 or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computer! s, 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, tornados, 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?"

For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us....go ahead and delete this.
For the res t of us...pass it on

 

[andyzee]

And then we had kids.:lol:

 

[cbcbd]

You ate worms?

I grew up in a later time, but in a God-loving 3rd-world country that still embraced personal accountability and respect for authority (ie. Teachers and parents) - and I still had video games! So I guess I got pretty lucky.

 

[Paul]

You ate worms?

I grew up in a later time, but in a God-loving 3rd-world country that still embraced personal accountability and respect for authority (ie. Teachers and parents) - and I still had video games! So I guess I got pretty lucky.

You're from Canada?

 

[JimG.]

This is something I think about often and it makes me laugh.

But it isn't really funny...we coddle and cocoon kids now and make them lazy and fat.

I'm not saying let them fly through the windshield or ride bikes without helmets, but kids need to be encouraged to be outside and play with other kids. The term "play date" is stupid...play should be spontaneous.

I refuse to coddle my boys...when they fall down and get a scrape or cut, I tell them to get up and walk it off. And they do, so much so I don't have to say it anymore. I despise whiners and complainers and softies.

 

[Greg]

I was born in '73 but much of this applies to me too. We did do some gaming on the Atari and Nintendo as kids, but it didn't consume us. We didn't even have cable TV in the house until I was 15.

This is something I think about often and it makes me laugh.

But it isn't really funny...we coddle and cocoon kids now and make them lazy and fat.

I'm not saying let them fly through the windshield or ride bikes without helmets, but kids need to be encouraged to be outside and play with other kids. The term "play date" is stupid...play should be spontaneous.

I refuse to coddle my boys...when they fall down and get a scrape or cut, I tell them to get up and walk it off. And they do, so much so I don't have to say it anymore. I despise whiners and complainers and softies.

I hear ya. My wife and I already see our oldest daughter (4 in Jan.) sometimes getting too absorbed in the TV and we have to shut it off and encourage her to go outside or read. She sometimes gets pissed, but she gets over it. We are trying to make "watching her shows" a special thing, and not the norm. I can't imagine how many parents just let their kids play video games or watch TV all day long as long as they are quiet and out of the way...

 

[tree_skier]

how about some of these from my childhood

no color tv untill I was 18
to change the channel to 1 of the other 2 we received required some to get up, walk outside, grab a monkey wrench, climb a ladder and move the antenna and for the best reception have someone inside to say when it was the best.

 

[dmc]

I was eating paste while watching man land on the moon in 1969... Earlier that day - I was probably blowing something up, jumping my Schwinn off a ramp into a lake, playing smear the queer, building a treefort 50' in the air, shooting bb guns, launching model rockets... who knows...
being a kid in the 60's was fun...

 

[cbcbd]

You're from Canada?

I'm from Brazil, eh.

 

[Mike P.]

Born in 1961:

On another note:

Mom stayed home so while we played, Mom was there, we lived in a duplex with my Grandmother & my great Uncle (grandmother's little brother) in the duplex next to us. Their Mom owned both duplexes & she had a Lake house. My great grandfather died of cancer at 60, my Great uncle would die before age 60 of cancer, smoking & drinking

I played with my brothers (seven kids, fourth one born before I was 4, I'm the oldest) two uncles (born in 58 & 60, my aunt, born in 62, & a cousin, born in 59) My oldest uncle, born in 1950 would not reach 51, smoking & drinking

Dad's side, grandfather dies before age 70, 1 lung, 1 heart attack & wasted away in hospital bed from bone cancer before he saw any grandchildren married, I was engaged, he regretted it. He drank, smoked & was raised kids in manner typical of 40's. So wasn't I. What I got out of that was a high pain threshold, what I thought was a first fractured ankle was not when the orthopedist saw the X-ray, he could n't tell how many times but it wasn't the first. The team needed me so I learned to tighten the sneaker & get back out there.

Heck I remembered when the Pinto came out brand new car for under 2,000 & built in America & Yugoslavia. (so it exploded, the Corvair flew so the Pinto was safer as long as no one hit you) My parents bought a three bedroom colonial when we moved after Child # 5 & soon six was on the way, that house cost less than many large SUV's & luxury Sedans

We lived on Dad's Salary which was 1/2 or less than my wife makes teaching today & less than a 1/3 of mine. I don't recall kids disappearing but we were still told not to talk to strangers & never get in someones car.

What's a BB gun? At 13 after hunting with Dad for a year with a .410 that was part of the families collection, Dad bought me a 16 gauge. Guns are not toys so why have a toy gun who's only use is a toy to shoot at your friends & brothers?

Let's all smoke & drink because people lived longer in the good old days? What are you smoking?

Were things better? No you just did not have the information overload you do now.

 

[noski]

Also vintage 1961- Mike P. hit it on the head. The kids have information overload. Our kids are exposed to too much gratuitous violence and (sorry Marc) sex in ways subtle and not so subtle. Kids were able to stay "kids" much longer in the 60s . Email, IM, cell phones et al have put these kids in a "right now" generation.

I would not let my teenage daughter get a cell phone until she bought her own car with her own money (mean mom). With her on the road, I wanted her to have the phone, but not until then. I didn't want her in the habit of calling on the spur of the moment with last minute changes in her personal itinerary. Make a plan, confirm with parents, and stick to it. We expected her home at the agreed time.

We figured stuff out, we did without, we didn't know what we didn't have. I went virtually everywhere on my 3 speed Schwinn. Looking back, even with little, we had a lot.

 

[JimG.]

Also vintage 1961- Mike P. hit it on the head. The kids have information overload. Our kids are exposed to too much gratuitous violence and (sorry Marc) sex in ways subtle and not so subtle. Kids were able to stay "kids" much longer in the 60s . Email, IM, cell phones et al have put these kids in a "right now" generation.

I would not let my teenage daughter get a cell phone until she bought her own car with her own money (mean mom). With her on the road, I wanted her to have the phone, but not until then. I didn't want her in the habit of calling on the spur of the moment with last minute changes in her personal itinerary. Make a plan, confirm with parents, and stick to it. We expected her home at the agreed time.

We figured stuff out, we did without, we didn't know what we didn't have. I went virtually everywhere on my 3 speed Schwinn. Looking back, even with little, we had a lot.

You think like me about computers, cell phones, gratuitous violence, and sex.

We have a family computer that my boys are allowed to use with adult supervision; they do not have cell phones, nor do they need them; we do not allow violent TV shows or games in the house...if that means no TV that night, so be it.

The issue of sex is a bit different. Kids talk about it all the time, so we can't control the issue outside the home. So I've had long talks with my 10 and 12 year olds about sex...everything from the basics to protection to the emotional impact of having sex. My Dad didn't talk to me about it until a few years later, but this is a fact in the times we live in...knowledge is power. My boys need to know the facts.

 

[Greg]

So I've had long talks with my 10 and 12 year olds about sex...everything from the basics to protection to the emotional impact of having sex.

Technique too?


Sorry....couldn't resist..

 

[JimG.]

Technique too?


Sorry....couldn't resist..

Like I said, the basics.

 

[jack97]

On a related note, something my wife and I have been talking about. Some communities in MA are thinking about extending the school days and adding extra days. I think this is wrong, this would be taking away more time from parents on raising and nurturing their kids so that the state (or local school system) would take more control over this.

This seems to be motivated from communities where both parents have to work, thus they may see this as a positive as free day care or extended day service.

 

[JimG.]

On a related note, something my wife and I have been talking about. Some communities in MA are thinking about extending the school days and adding extra days. I think this is wrong, this would be taking away more time from parents on raising and nurturing their kids so that the state (or local school system) would take more control over this.

This seems to be motivated from communities where both parents have to work, thus they may see this as a positive as free day care or extended day service.

I've been waiting for this to happen...and I believe you are correct about the source of the motivation for it.

The horrible joke is that teachers are overwhelmed already and expecting them to "take more control" over kids is ludicrous.

 

[jack97]

I've been waiting for this to happen...and I believe you are correct about the source of the motivation for it.

The horrible joke is that teachers are overwhelmed already and expecting them to "take more control" over kids is ludicrous.

Yeah, teachers are overwhelmed coupled with "no kids left behind initiative" along with the "achievement disparity strategies" forces the school system to teach and level the class to the lowest achievement criteria. In addition, with limited capabilities on punishment.... It's a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[JimG.]

Yeah, teachers are overwhelmed coupled with "no kids left behind initiative" along with the "achievement disparity strategies" forces the school system to teach and level the class to the lowest achievement criteria. In addition, with limited capabilities on punishment.... It's a disaster waiting to happen.

As if it isn't a disaster already.

I can't afford it, but somehow I'm going to put all of my sons into private schools by the time they enter high school.

 

[loafer89]

I was born in 1971 and my mother was already sick with the early stages of a form of MS while carrying me but she wanted one more child (I am one of three). I also played with Atari and had my first computer in 1986, an Apple 2GS with 64K of memory and it is amazing how far technology has come.

I started skiing in 1982 and I think that kept me straight and out of trouble along with having to help care for my mother who was growing worse by the year. I met my wife in 1994 and by chance her mother also had MS, but at a very late stage and she passed away in 1997.

In January of 2000 my wife and I has our one and so far only son, and I am amazed at how far along he is in school with learning a language and knowing how to read and write by age five. The kids may be overwhelmed with technology, but for better or worse the whole world is at their doorstep in an instant. Our son has his own computer, but internet access will have to wait another few years at the very least.

 

[Terry]

My son and his freinds are out in the garage building a potato gun and drinking beer as we speak. This brings back memories from my youth. I hope that nobody gets hurt! (I was out there giving them advice and also drinking their beer- which is a first because usually they are drinking mine). :beer: