Congratulations

Congratulations TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN 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 carried us.

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

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were 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 children, we would ride in cars with no 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 soda pop with sugar in it, 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 PlayStation's, Nintendo, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet 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 ***** 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 yelled for them!

School sports 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!

This generation has 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!

And 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 our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

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

 

very true..I had all of that ... was born in 80s!

 

Thanks for the great read.

 

bleh I never ate worms...who does that?

 

it's the principle dude...

it's about playing in the dirt, mud, bugz (being at one with nature, instead of being glued to the goddam TV set)

 

stumpbuster, thanks for the very good memories. I was born in the early fifties, and my son, who is now 25 grew up just the way i did. although I have never eatin a worm, I have eatin a few ants in my time. (very sour!)

Which generation stopped letting kids be kids.

 

I was born in the 30's (in my grandmother's living room). I recall all the able-bodied men (including my Dad) going off to war, rationing (my grandfather had an "A" sticker good for 4 gallons a week), the sadness when Roosevelt died and the joy when the war ended. I remember my Dad coming home with frozen feet, but never complaining. I recall my grandfather putting his name on a waiting list to buy a new truck. I remember my first job making 50 cents a day after school and a dollar on Saturday ($2.50 per week). I recall my first job after high school, driving a 1939 Reo truck for 75 cents an hour and my second job making 120,000 cotton ***** per shift. Then came the Army which taught me discipline and forced me to grow up. I remember college on the G.I. Bill, broke all the time and having the most fun of my life. I remember walking into a local watering hole one night and seeing for the first time the tall blond that would be my wife for 47 years. I vividly remember the magic moment they placed my first-born in my arms. I recall answering an ad for some new machine called a computer (occupied a space about the size of a basketball court) that kept me employed for 33 years. I remember hearing my first sonic boom and staying up late to watch a man step onto the moon.
NEVER mention a past age to an old man ....... it starts an avalanche of memories.

 

dono, while I was not born in the 30's. I do remember alot of what you stated. I was born in 54. Things moved alot slower than. My first job was on a duck farm, and I was 13. I made 27 dollars a week, and in my minds eye I was rich. I remember hangin out at the local hamburger place (Skippy's) 50 cents got you a hambuger, fries, and a drink. A nickle played three songs on the juke box. AND everybody respected each other.

 

The post from tewferford reminded me of my first pizza. My girlfriend gave me a slice (cheese with anchovies) and my impression was, "A cracker with cheese and a minnow .... gross".

 

From the age of 8-16 we lived next to a drive-in. Alot of stories that can not be told here. (SMILE)

 

i too was born in the early 80s and didnt live in the city, grew up the same way you described. some one asked what started the fall of our children. with me being 25, most parents that are overprotective and sue happy seem to be older then me. im know how most of you grew up but there seems to be a handful that think they had it so bad or they didnt have it bad enough. maybe they were the ones who got picked on and have to hold it against everyone elses kids the they got called a dork in high school. now there rich cuz they got a's in school and some big degree they can afford to sue everything. sorry but they fault lies in the parents of the last 15 years not the future parents that were only taught that way.

tony

 

ya the new kids are a bunch of panseys!

 

grey i could not agree more. i have a friend who is one of those parents. she is 22 years old and i asked her if she belives in spankens? she said i would never hit my child. i told her i didnt ask if you hit your child i said spank. she said isnt it the same? ad i told her not even close. my daughter is 2 and i am no means abusive, but she gets a very lite and i mean very lite swat on the but and she wont do whatever she was doin again. she didnt belive me and told me that its child abuse. i said maybe by todays standards. but when i was growing up you didnt want grandmas paddle with the holes. that thing hurt. over christmas my friend was over and she seen my swat my daughter, my girl droped to the ground and acted like it was the end of the world. my friend looked at me and asked why she was crying so bad you didnt even touch her. i told her that its not ment to hurt it to let her know what she did was wrong. its a mental thing not physical. some chose to do it in other ways but i always remeber what hurt about getting a whoppen when i was younger. it wasnt the paddle it was the fact that i did something to make someone i cared for mad.

tony

 

born in '61....i still eat worms

 

I have eaten mud. But not because I wanted to.