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

[chrisy]

FIRST, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

Took asprin, ate bluecheese dressing,tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for Diabetes...

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were 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 hitch hicking...

As children we would ride in cars with no 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 soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave the 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 OK...

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and 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, X boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, No Internet or Internet 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 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 to many eyes...

We rode bikes or walked to a friends 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 dissappointment.
Imagine that!!

The idea of parents bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of, They acually sided with the law!

This generation has 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!

And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS!

sorry it is long but thought I would share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good, and while we are here, send it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

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

 

[ROCKSPRINGS]

I remember the good old days ;-)

 

[cypressfarms]

Chrisy,

Although I was just born in 1969, I made it through the 70's. I also laughed out loud at some of your items, because I've done many of them. I ate rollie pollies (don't know the real name) when I was 2 or 3 and my wife still laughs at me for it. Maybe some other members can share some of their stories as well....

 

[ROCKSPRINGS]

I remember our neighbor use to walk in without knocking. Today, that is a good way to get shot.

 

[Texas Ranch Man]

Ya I remember having to be home when the street lights came on. I also remember getting the belt when I deserved it, and a coupla times just because! Made me a better person, heck I saw a couple of my buddies get whipped too. I cant help but believe that we turned out as better adults because we were held accountable, but also our generation was allowed to be kids in the truest sence. We would run home and plead for a dime or quarter when the Good Humor Man came down the street. I mowed Grass, raked leaves, shoveled snow for the neighbors to make money. Had a Paper Route at 10 yrs old. I could have anything I wanted if I could pay for it. I dont think kids work for it anymore. I am probobly as guilty as the next guy, I gave my kids too much. I noticed a difference when my kids made young friends, there were no physical activities. We played sports, and rode bikes all day. They play X-Box all day.

 

[msscamp]

Thank you, Chrissy! I remember all to well snuggling up next to the horse when he was laying down, baking mud pies (which were then sampled) in Mom's oven, getting my toes smashed by fence posts going to fix fence (and the subsequent picnic afterwards), and so many other things.

 

[lakading]

Little league had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with dissappointment.
Imagine that!!

I for one think that it is acceptable to wait until middle school let them learn to deal with disappointment. Then again, I'm the kid who threw the last second pass in the 6th grade super bowl to a kid that could not catch a ball. I knew he would be open and told him that I knew he would catch it. Plunk. Right through his hands. Never regretted it. Heck, it was 6th grade.

Anyway, I agree whole heartedly with most all of the rest. Very valid points.

 

[Angus Guy]

There was always the good one. Getting in trouble at a freinds house and getting whupping there and then going home and getting one before you got in the door. Man some parents back then shared everything.

 

[msscamp]

Little league had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with dissappointment.
Imagine that!!

I for one think that it is acceptable to wait until middle school let them learn to deal with disappointment.

Life tends to not work that way.

 

[aplusmnt]

Can never remember playing inside when I was a kid, even when it was raining we would be doing something in Barn or in rain. I am asking my older son all the time why him and his friends are not playing basketball, football, baseball or something?

As listed above there is to many video games and to much television. When I was a kid by the time you got off the long bus ride there was nothing on TV to watch anyway. Now kids have special channels and shows after school on most all channels for kids. That is the reason when we moved back to the country we did not get a Satellite dish, we get the same old 3 channels now that I got when I was a kid.

 

[ROCKSPRINGS]

Remember the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show (Black and White TV) My father call them A bunch of long hair hippies. After that we watched the Red Skeleton Show or the Jackie Gleason Show( The Honeyrmooners )

 

[warpaint]

I grew up in the 60's. I still do quite a few of these and I'm, umm let's just say, I aint no spring chicken! :lol:

 

[A6gal]

Yeah, the good ole' days! Things were surely simpler then and more fun. I do miss just about everything about them except for the whippins which came few and far between but you sure remembered them for months afterward!

I was talking with a friend just the other day that it's funny when you drive through a neighborhood in town you don't see children out playing anymore. They used to be riding bikes or playing with dolls on the front porch or playing touch football in the street. Now, they are all inside sitting in front of a television set or a computer. It's sad. They just don't know what fun they are missing out on.

 

[fit2btied]

There was always the good one. Getting in trouble at a freinds house and getting whupping there and then going home and getting one before you got in the door. Man some parents back then shared everything.

Man! Been there, got that! It was nothing for any of our moms to light us all up like Christmas trees before they sent us home for round two. Round three - just wait till your dad gets home! I think most of us turned out OK. I'm just glad we didn't get it every time we really had it coming!

 

[ctlbaron]

We have raised ourselves to a level of total incompetence. I forget who said that but it's close to the truth. I wish my kids could have enjoyed catching crawdads and waterdogs. Collecting coke bottles to have money to go to the county fair, building your own tree house or log cabin. Plucking chickens for Sunday dinner. Stripping tobacco when it was so cold a polar bear would need a jumper. Suckering tobacco when it was so hot you could hardly breath. Cutting wood for the winter. Hog killing time and that real fresh meat cooking in the kitchen while Daddy cut up a quartered hog. Christmas morning with 4 sisters and 2 brothers. Just too many thing that we enjoyed that I can't even name now. I know I miss those days.

 

[Bullbuyer]

My favorite memory - which can not be repeated today - is my buddy from next door being whipped by his mom for back -talkin' her. She whipped him with her SHOE - she kicked it up in the air, caught it and started whippin' that boy all with the skill and speed of a ninja. I laugh everytime I think of that, no permanent scars from being whipped or witnessing it.

 

[Conagher]

Interesting, but keep in mind these kids grew up to be the parents and grandparents of today that formed the society our kids/grandkids live in today. We have identified the enemy, and he is us.

 

[Calman]

My grandkids favorite saying "i'm bored" the only board i knew, when a kid ,was the one used on my rear end. If I ever came up with saying i'm board more work was found for me to do.
and I didn't have to come home when the street lights came on we didn't have street lights down in the hollers in the ozarks. we piped out moonshine and piped in sunshine.
heck I never knew what electricity in your house was like until i was 14. Listend to the Grand ol Opery on a btry radio.
some people say the good old days, but i think the only good thing is that we were young. I myself like the pushbutton days now. Like the tv remote.

Cal

 

[VanC]

I remember going fishing when I was about 6,catching a big ol bullhead and not being able to get the hook out cause he swallowed it. Walked about 1/2 mile to an old farmhouse I'd never been to and asked for help. Old guy never said a word. Just bent down, got the hook out, patted me on the head and sent me on my way. Think that would happen today?

Remember camping out in the back yard (in town) when you were 9 or 10? Who would let their kids do that nowadays with all the perverts running around?

 

[Crowderfarms]

All I can say is I'm glad there was no Internet, no video games (except Pong?), or the kind of trash that exists on TV today. We had immaginations, fishin' poles, books, played ball,rode bikes, built forts collected Coke bottles that yielded 2 cents each, and were tickled when they went up to a nickel.Ate at the supper table together, said grace, Yes Sir, No Sir, Ma'am.Thank You. Shot out a window with a BB gun got my butt whooped.Did everything as a family.Ate what was on your plate and darn sure liked it.
I'm glad I can somewhat raise up my kids to a degree of how I was raised in the late 60's and 70's. Things sure were a lot less complex then.