For some reason I was unable to post my Sky Watch pictures today -- no idea why, but something squirrelly. So, as I was looking through some emails from friends I ran across this and it did strike a chord with me as I'm sure it will with many of you. Bet you never realized how tough we were -- are!
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 koolaid 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 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!
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.
Hmmm, kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?
Sylvia's world in thoughts and pictures
I miss you Sam!!
I miss you Sam!!
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I'm interested in almost everything. Use to like to travel, but it's too expensive now. I take Tai Chi classes, swim, volunteer in a Jump-start program for pre-schoolers. I'm an avid reader and like nearly everyone these days I follow politics avidly. I'm a former teacher and Special Projects Coordinator for a Telecommunications company, Assistant to the President of a Japanese silicon wafer manufacturing company. Am now enjoying retirement -- most of the time. I have two daughters, one son-in-law and two sons scattered all over the country. No grandchildren.
17 comments:
it certainly shows the difference in times...but doesn't make me want to run through the house with scissors.
Your post set me thinking. Lives , say, in the last 30-40 years , here, in India have been so different. Not so many people had cars in the first place, so car seats and air bags and stuff werent, excuse me, still aren't an issue :-) If you go to smaller towns, kids still innovate while playing outdoors, they probably thing xbox is something in algebra, climbing and plucking mangoes and othet stuff from forbidden neighbor trees is still hankered after.
Will I be able to write a post like yours after, say 15 years, of accelerated progress in this region ? Communication and the Internet, with availability and sucess in education has quickened the pace of everything.
I wonder.
We were the last generation in this country to experience a "real" childhood -- playing outdoors, with freedom from an overscheduled life with hovering, overprotective parents.
So our mothers smoked, but they had a sense of adventure and joy and so did we. I feel fortunate, but mourn what we have lost.
Thanks for your thought-provoking post.
I was just thinking about this this evening as I opened the refrigerator to see all the organic - this free, that free stuff my DIL eats.It just made me laugh ;)
Hi Sylvia, I'm with you on this one - I feel sorry for the kids nowadays their lives are not so much fun or are as interesting - Although, I seem to remember my Mum saying the same sort of things to me when I first got married 40 years ago. She talked with a lot of excitement about her childhood and said there were things that they had and did that we missed out on - soooooo I wonder if what you said would apply to each generation .... each wondering how the next could have as happy or as an exciting a childhood as they had... I wonder if our grandchildren will be talking to their grandchildren about how they enjoyed their childhoods ? what's the chances eh ???
I wouldn't trade my childhood memories for anything.
With any luck, power sources will fail, and the current generation of kids will have to go back to outdoor play and imagination.
I am with you Sylvia. Kids today don't know how to entertain themselves. We stayed outside from dawn to dark and were never bored. We did have a go-cart with no brakes! I don't know how we kept from getting killed and being poisoned from all the wild stuff we did and ate. Those were the days my friend.
Darn, I wrote a comment and it disappeared...but, yes, we drank from the hose and we were fine; we ate junk and we survived cos we MOVED! I could smell my childhood again while i was reading your post..thank you Sylvia..that was a good one.
Thanks for the smiles! Such a happier, simplier time. I'm so glad to have been one of those kids!
I think we were healthier back then, too, because we were exposed to germs and built up immunities. Now we've become so fixated on having everything "germ-free" that all we've done is breed superbugs!
this is one terrific post. thanks and hurray for us baby boomers! no computers, no moblie (cell) phones, no ipods, yet we were never bored!!
I also love to remember my childhood because I spent so much time outdoors! I miss that!
Ah, yes, the days when people actually had immune systems!
Yeah, Mr Linky had a hissy fit. Not too late to go back and post a skywatch - if you're through with the running and the scissors. :)
It makes me just want to run outside and play!
I'm with you Sylvia - natural is best.
My link with you about today's goal doesn't seem to be working properly - says the post doesn't exist. Maybe it'll fix itself soon ...
June
My sister actually used to carry this article around in her handbag. She pulled it out on many occasion to share with pals at lunch, Red Hat activities, visits to the Senior Citizen center, etc. It gave us a good laugh everytime. It also generally left us feeling somewhat nostalgic for days gone by. Until we remembered washing dishes by hand, putting the wet clothes through the ringer, driving with wet towels in the car window to cool us down when we crossed the desert and a few other inconveniences that we haven't missed.
It was a great time to grow up, though. I've got to admit that I wish my children could have enjoyed some of the simple pleasures that we did. I also find myself wishing that my grandchildren could grow up in the world without fear that I enjoyed.
I can't seem to get your post for today open. I found the title intriguing.. "Goal for today... or maybe tomorrow." Is the title a teaser? Are you really posting it tomorrow? Am I persona non-grata? What ever could the problem be?
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