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Title: And we survived !?! Post by echo on Mar 31st, 2003, 5:26pm According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's or even the early 80's, probably shouldn't have survived. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. 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 pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors! We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode 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 would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on.No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones. Unthinkable! We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes,no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.We had friends! We went outside and found them. We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt. We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents? We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home 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. Some students weren't as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. Horrors! Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that! This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and 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're one of them! Congratulations. Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good. |
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Title: Re: And we survived !?! Post by CathiP on Mar 31st, 2003, 5:52pm Oh, Lord! I used to go to the park with my sister- ALONE! ALL DAY!! I'd buy candy at the little green store- candy that came without wrappers!! We would plow through the wax lips, looking for a pair that hadn't gotten damaged in the shipping- our hands touching every one in the box! The "big" shopping center was the place to congregate-we never were concerned about being kidnapped- nor were our parents, AND, if someone's mom came to get us all- we didn't need a note to get into the car. I compare that to the limited pleasures my kids had- and that's STILL nothing compared to my grandson's freedom.......we made our house the "haven"- now I'm doing the same for my grandson, cause both Mom & Dad have to work- therefore, nobody gets to hang out anywhere- except for the daycare. I'm with you, Echo- give me the good ole days, when we had to determine right from wrong using our own brains- and everyone wasn't suspect . I DO remember my daughter getting her head caught in between the pickets on the staircase at our house- but that house was built in the 80's.......figures! It was a plot! Walking on down memory lane......thanks- Cathi |
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Title: Re: And we survived !?! Post by juvy on Mar 31st, 2003, 9:41pm I'm still young so the good old days weren't so long ago. but i grew up in a small (really, really small) town in southern Texas. My parents didn't have to worry about where we were or what we were doing. Of course if you did something wrong, chances are Mom and Dad new about it 2 seconds after you did it because whoever saw called your parents. I go back to that town today and see the corruption time has brought to it. Most of my childhood friends are on drugs, unemployed, and the girls have usually had at least one abortion or several kids. No one takes responsibility for their mistakes and my generation blames their parents. My childhood wasn't picture perfect, and i do blame my parents for how I turned out. Thanks Mom and Dad for teaching me responsibility and for all the values you have instilled in me. just needed to have a small rant :) April PS where do i turn in my application for my 2nd childhood? I'm tired of being an adult :P |
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Title: Re: And we survived !?! Post by totka on Apr 1st, 2003, 1:42pm In spite of my poor english I enjoyed your letters. And some addition: I used to go to the kindergarten alone when I was 5. We used to eat fatty meat - cholesterine is a new discovery! We swam in the creek and sometimes drank from it. (It was the only time when our hands was cleen). It wasn't drugs in the school. We stole firstling (?) corn on the field and "barbecue" it. We spent all our free time outside and the "house arrest" was the most hardest punishment. (I'm a "grim father" when I send out my daughters to the garden) |
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Title: Re: And we survived !?! Post by brain_cramps on Apr 1st, 2003, 3:16pm on 03/31/03 at 21:41:03, juvy wrote:
April This has been up here before, but don't know if you saw it. << I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult. I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of a 5 year old again. I want to go to McDonald's and think that it's a four star restaurant. I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make ripples in a pond with rocks. I want to think M&Ms are better than money because you can eat them. I want to lie under a big oak tree and watch the ants march up its trunk. I want to run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer's day. I want to think a quarter is worth more than a dollar bill cause it's prettier and weighs more. I want to go fishing and care more about catching the minnows along the shore than the big bass in the lake. I want to return to a time when life was simple. When all you knew were colors, multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes. When I didn't know what I know now. When all I knew was to be happy because I was blissfully unaware of all the things that should make me worried. I want to think the world is fair. I want to think that everyone is honest and good. I want to believe that anything is possible. I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things again. I don't want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness, and the loss of loved ones. I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, dreams, the imagination, Santa, the Tooth Fairy, a kiss that makes a boo-boo go away, making angels in the snow and that my dad and Superman are the strongest people in the world. So......here's my checkbook and my car-keys, my credit cards and the bills too, my 401K statements, my stocks & bonds, my collections, my insurance premiums, my job, my house and the payments too, my e-mail address pager, cell phone, computer, and watch. I am officially resigning from adulthood. And if you want to discuss this with me further, you'll have to catch me first, cause, "Tag!"... "You're it!" >> |
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Title: Re: And we survived !?! Post by cbolony on Apr 1st, 2003, 3:48pm Quote:
http://www.canedintotnes.co.uk/images/drhemp_small.jpg Great Times |
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Title: Re: And we survived !?! Post by juvy on Apr 1st, 2003, 4:08pm on 04/01/03 at 15:16:18, brain_cramps wrote:
You mean it isn't? :P Cheers, April |
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Title: Re: And we survived !?! Post by CathiP on Apr 1st, 2003, 5:41pm AMEN!!!!! I am down on my knees, my hands reaching to the heavens!!! Let me say it again, brothers & sisters..... AAAAAAAAMMMMMMEEEENNNNNNNN!!! Those really were the days- and as Echo( you cute, cueballistic studmiffin) pointed out- look at all the AMAZING people that came out of that era! Now, corral all that independent thinking- and utter brilliance, add to it the ability to think in a totally uninhibited manner- no boundaries, no fears, add to that the energy of youth-well I was always told youth was wasted on the young....'think I'll go rollerskating(but I'll wear knee pads- I'm NOT stupid)!!! Cathi P.S.- April- your parents must be proud of you.....or you're actually somewhere around 40 yrs. of age.! ;) |
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Title: Re: And we survived !?! Post by cootie on Apr 1st, 2003, 6:05pm We played with mercury in class.....it was fun rollin it around in our palm.....opps !! We used ta pull thick asbestos off pipes in school when no one was looking in sheets and get it all over the floor and us and of course breathe the dust. Used ta chew on lead paint chips off the wood trim in my upstairs apt when I was a toddler.....played ina bright green flourescent creek that ran along the railroad tracks thru isolated woods behind a tire company when a kid too and the big creek we played in would turn colors daily from the tire co but we'd run when we heard it rushing towards us when they open'd sum sorta gate and it'd flood and be red or purple or brown or grey or sumtimes almost white.......I could go on fer ever here.....did lethal things way back when Pam |
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Title: Re: And we survived !?! Post by WendyHowe on Apr 1st, 2003, 6:17pm What a brilliant post Echo. What fantastic memories it evoked. It might be hard to believe as I am in the Uk but our favourite game was 'Little House on the Prairie' (pre-TV series, this was the books) We would put long petticoats on and spend all day in the fields, miles from home, pretending to get firewood in blizzards, take our clothes off and try and catch fish in creeks, stack hay on carts etc etc. It was wonderful. Our parents never worried as long as we were home for tea. Can you imagine what people would say now. Happy Days. (no, bugger, that was a TV series too) I feel great now, thanks Echo. Wendy Wendy |
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Title: Re: And we survived !?! Post by thsa/simon on Apr 1st, 2003, 6:46pm Oh man did this post make my day!! I grew up in HOUSTON. My parents confined me to a 64 square block area that we couldnt go outside of. I still remember the names of the streets that imprisoned me. And all that time my parents didnt ever appear to worry about us and I never worried about anything. God, life was great back then. simon |
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