I miss you Sam!!

I miss you Sam!!
I miss you Sam!!

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s!!



First, we survived being born to mothers who may have 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 coloured lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets,
and, when we rode our bikes,
we had baseball caps,
not helmets, on our heads.
As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes..
Riding in the back of a pick- up truck 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, real butter, and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And we weren't overweight.
WHY?
Because we were always outside playing...that's why!
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 OKAY.
We would spend hours building
our go-carts out of scraps
and then ride them 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 Play Stations, Nintendos and X-boxes. There were
no video games, no 150 channels on cable,
no video movies or DVDs,
no surround-sound or CDs,
no cell phones,
no personal computers,
no Internet and no 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 those accidents.

We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand, and no one would call child services to report abuse.

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 to 85 years have seen 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 those born
between 1925-1970, 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.
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 ?


24 comments:

Hootin Anni said...

This is super...may I borrow this to send to family and friends. Y'know? I STILL drink from the hose....often.

Love your watery Wednesday photos...especially the waterfall. Breathtaking.

A walk around OSO BAY

penny said...

Yes I'm a proud survivor sense 1943 and all that came after. So far, so good!
Thanks for my morning giggle, Sylvia.
~:)

Genie -- Paris and Beyond said...

I have seen much of this and yet am ready to face a new year with optimism and an ability to embrace new ideas, to stay young within!

Much love to you, Sylvia, in this new year. Your posts (and delightful headers) are a joy.

Bises,
Genie

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Yes it's all true, and we lived to tell the tale! It's a funny old world we live in today. Hope your week as been as you'd like it so far Sylvia.

Maude Lynn said...

I love this! We even ate raw cookie dough!

Unknown said...

Love it!

George said...

This is great and absolutely true. I really do feel sorry for today's kids. The have lots of 'things', but they have also lost a great deal.

TexWisGirl said...

*sigh* :)

Deb said...

Those were the days, my friend! Truer words were never spoken...I might have to link this to my blog. I also want to make sure my kids all see it...the list they give me of don'ts when I take care of my grandbabies is crazy. The list disappears as soon as they are out the door ! ;0

Happy New Year !

SandyCarlson said...

I am just back from my run with scissors. I crashed into a few walls but deployed no air bags. I am wondering why walls are allowed to be so hard. Maybe they should all be rubber?

Thanks for the laugh, Sylvia!

EcoRover said...

Outside playing, indeed. Still am. Read Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder if you ever get the chance--http://www.amazon.com/Last-Child-Woods-Children-Nature-Deficit/dp/156512605X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325724137&sr=1-1 .

lotusleaf said...

The same thing is happening here too, but in the countryside, kids still play on the roads, drink water from the hose, and are spanked by parents!

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Excellent post... Gosh--all of these changes are supposed to be BETTER???? GADS....

That's why young people today are protesting.. They don't want to work hard (or work at all).. They just want the good life to be handed to them... Gosh---we are definitely doing something very wrong these days....

Let's go back to the 'good ole days' .... Okay??????

Hugs,
Betsy

Sridharan said...

Excellent..!

L. Neusiedler said...

oh, I think mothers nowadays worry too much and love (sometimes) too less :). beautiful words :)!

Kay said...

Oh my! But this is so true isn't it? I'm sometimes surprised at what I survived.

Nature Rambles said...

So true! This took me back to the wide open spaces of my childhood of the Sixties!

Gattina said...

and not only that ! but we get older and older ! I think all these rules now for the new borns are made that they die earlier don't you think so, lol ? We become to expensive living up until 100 and getting pensions from the State. If we die earlier they would safe money ! So for all who are born after the 70th, buy ORGANIC FOOD (what a joke !)don't smoke and don't drink !

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

I've read this one before yet enjoyed it again!

Unknown said...

Sylvia Gracis for this wonderful and fantastic Card.
Greetings .-

Unknown said...

superb post...bow down!

coming from where i come...we did most of it all the way into the early nineties :D

i realise today tat at times it isn't bad being a developing nation!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Hi Sylvia: I'm so glad we grew up in those days. I hope your New Year is going well. I really like your header and your fabulous reward.

Gemma Wiseman said...

This rattles a few cages, but I think we have managed to throw away the key to more of this carefree, fun world! Perhaps we did not realise at the time just how good it was until we tasted the alternative progressive version!

forgetmenot said...

Sylvia, I think those were called the "good old days"--and that they were. Thanks for the reminder of what life was like back then. Mickie :)

What Can I Say?

What Can I Say?
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.

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