Monday, August 28, 2006

AAAAH the good old days!!

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 werode 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 downthe 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 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!

2 comments:

emc said...

Nice Post! I really enjoyed reading that this morning (you're not supposed to eat tuna from the can?!!)

Interesting synchronicity too. We don't subscribe to any cable programs like showtime, hbo and such. Don't watch much tv anyway, but occassionally I'll rent a DVD from one of those series just to check it out.

Really liked "Dead Like Me" and "6 Foot Under", for example. But I discovered a new one Sunday called "Weeds" by Showtime whose first season just came out on DVD.

It's about some rather unconventional parenting in the world of tract homes and designer "originality." Was kind of surprised this was even on cable! The actress (Mom) won a golden globe for it and so far it's a pretty funny statement on options for raising kids differently, even in our "modern" world :-)

Ger said...

Ahhh the good old days. When a large cardboard box was a treasure beyond description...because it became whatever a person wanted. Yet even in these modern times I've watched my youngest leave hundreds of dollars of toys aside to play in the big recliner box I had dragged in there.

As we pass more and more laws "for safety"...we lose more and more as well, no more riding in the backs of pickups, letting the kids play all day unattended would probably get the kids taken away, bb guns are no-no's in most city ordinances, and the tool of all tools involved in making most outdoor toys? The pocket knife, will get a kid suspended or expelled from school. yuck..that negative side could keep rolling...

But as much as kids today miss out on the freedoms...one thing I believe that truly costs them and society ..is they miss out on work. Kids knew what a hard days work was about before they ever became teenagers. Quite a few years ago that was excessive and robbed kids of other joys, but I was raised in the just-right era. Nowadays, its against the law to even give a kid the job no matter how much the kid wants it.

Its not "preserving the planet" that catches my attention...its restoring quality of life.
Thanks for bringing it to mind again. Alas, its time to jump in the car speed across town and return a dvd to the video store.

:)