Those Born 1930-1979!

[Ellen]

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 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 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 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.

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

[unicorn]

hehe  good stuff Ellen!
I was born in 1978 to overprotective parents but they did not guard me from even half those dangers lol, i actually did eat mudpies, drank watre from flower vases and gardnehoses etc,... had a sadistic friend who pushed me down the stairs, we fed each other soap water on another occasion, we were otuside all the time, played a lot w boys from the street and poked each others eyes out and all frequently, wandered off to the river we werent supposed to get near, almost drowned trying to retrieve a toy that fell in ....  and we had great fun doing all that ... the more i look at the list... I think i really did survive ALL of the above (and mom alread HAD diabetes) ...
I never realised how cool this is... thanx Ellen

[Shelley]

I was born in the sixties and fast food was something Mum whipped upon Sunday night to eat while we watched Disneyland.

Shelley

[Cassandra]

Same here Shelley. Fast food was usually a TV dinner and those were nothing like the gourmet stuff you get these days. Heated in the oven of course, microwaves hadn't been invented yet.

Of course don't forget McDonalds. Burger, fries, coke and change back from your dollar. Those were the days. I remember many a summer evening coming back from a friends house in the back of a brand new 63 chevy pick up standing up behind the cab with the wind in our faces.

Today they would put the driver in jail and take the kids away from their family for child endangerment. Welcome to Amerika. I wish the government would just mind its own business and stay the hell out of mine. There was a lot more freedom before all the safety NAZI's.

Cassie

[Sarah Louise]

I tend to remember the Chinese take out stores when I was at my grandfathers in the 50's.

Sarah L.

[stephanie_craxford]

Feb 14th, 1952 - Aaaaaaaaaaah the good old days.  Even then living in Birmingham, England, there were still ruins from the bombing air raids in WW2, and we spend loads of time playing in them.  Makes you wonder how we ever managed to survive through it all

Steph

[Cassandra]

I remember a movie from that era in which as they cleared rubble and made way for new construction they would find unexploded bombs. The movie was about the men who would go in and diffuse them.

Cassie

[Dennis]

My neighbour, who I've known since she was 6 and I was 9, said to her son: if you're going to ride your bike, stay away from the hill and wear your helmet, kneepads and elbow pads. After he left, I said to her, didn't we used to skateboard down that hill in bathing suits?

And btw, don't blame the lawyers. Blame the people who hire them or the juries/judges who award damages. All the lawyers do is their jobs.

Dennis

[Louise]

made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it
would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

I remember as a kid (1950's) in NYC playing stickball in the street.  The manhole covers were home and second base; firehydrants, telephone poles or cars were first and third.  Never heard of Little League back then.

[Cindi Jones]

Wow... a flash of inspiration comes alive with a fond memory... actually several fond memories.

I've posted a new article in my chronicles called Missile command located at:

https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,6095.new.html#new

Cindi

[amberwish]

born oct, 1942.  i remember when there was no such thing as television.   i remember going to the movies. first was a cartoon, then a serial and finally two feature movies and only cost 25 cents.  i remember walking every day two miles to school  (i know, i know. in snow and uphill both ways lol).  i remember riding in the rumble seat of parents car.  for some reason they are refered to as the good old days.    ill take these good new days.

   amber