We Turned Out Awwesome!
To Those of Us Born
1925 - 1970 :
At the end
Of this email is a quote of the month by Jay Leno. If you don't read anything else,
Please Read what he Said.
Very well stated,
Mr. Leno.
~~~~~~~~~
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 colored
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.
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, 22 rifles for our 12th, rode horses,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 ?
~~~~~~~
The quote of the month by Jay Leno:
"With hurricanes, tornado's, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the
country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"
Tags
Who is online
439 visitors
And we survived!! Please feel free to add to this list.
Thanks for the trip down through my childhood memories! Loved it.
My parents had a saying....
"If you are stupid enough to get yourself in trouble, you better be smart enough to get yourself out!"
That kept me out of quite a bit of trouble!
Good one Nona.
I like that!!
Thanks Kav.....a friend sent this to me and it made so much sense !
Nona
Excellent article
We are a hardy generation (or two) are we not.
I did all those things with brothers and sisters and with friends and you know what was consistent through it all, we were happy, we were adventurous, we were learning and we knew we were loved in good times and in bad.
Thanks again excellent article to start the day off.!!!!
RIO.....Very well said, and true! Thanks!
Thanks John, I thought people might enjoy it.
Added in my case (born in the late 1930s):
Played with matches and accidentally lit fire to a field - needed fire trucks to put it out
Collected and kept salamanders in an aquarium
Spent a lot of time in a nearby forest alone - not afraid of strangers
Ran away from home at age of 6 - came home when I saw a police car in front of my house
Sold magazine subscriptions (New Liberty Magazine) and delivered them on my bike
Never built a go-cart, but built my own orange crate and roller skate skooter
Helped my mother grow a (WW2) victory garden behind our garage
In kindergarten ran around the school with my classmates with our arms stretched out making buzzing sounds to imitate Spitfires and Hurricanes, which is how I earned the nickname "Buzzy" (later shortened to "Buzz")
Sounds like a wonderful childhood to me, Buzzy!
When I was 12 I wanted to get a couple of summer jobs in the neighborhood so I made up a flyer and put it on people's doors on our block. I didn't know one of those people was a photographer for the local newspaper! They came and did a little story about my entrepreneurial spirit...got my picture in the paper and everything!! I ended up with several jobs over that summer...AND, I didn't have to go picking cherries again (what a miserable sticky job!)!!
"With hurricanes, tornado's, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the
country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"
Yes.
Great article and lovely reminder. I well remember the dayswhen the phrase "going outside" was regularly said and heard in most every home in America.
Just. Playing. Outside.
...AND, I didn't have to go picking cherries again (what a miserable sticky job!)!!
It's really sad how the young people are missing out on so much fun and education at the same time.
Trouble is that when I picked cherries, it was one for the bag, one for me, one for the bag, one for me....etc. Spent a lot of time in the toilet those days.
I love this! We were talking about this last night, too, about how there was someone with the first color TV, the first transistor radio, etc. We had a wonderful time, laughing-- funny how we survived!
Other than school, the only limitation on my freedom was piano lessons (ugh) but I only got to grade 4 and quit.
Not far from where I grew up there was a Westinghouse dump where my friends and I spent countless hours collecting glass tubes and other electrical parts. We weren't concerned about the risks either.
Yes, that's what kids did!! Who in their wildest dreams would have that there would be such things as computers cell phones, digital cameras etc?
Absolutely, but in my case they didn't know about it - never questioned me about where I got those strange items.
My brother was an only child and my parents moved away before I was born so I never met them.
And yet here I am.
EEEEKKK!! lol
yup...child neglect!!
Is that some kind of riddle? Makes me think of this one:
A doctor's brother died, but the man who died had no brother. How can this be?
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
The doctor was a woman.
FOREHEAD SMACK!!!
Alright you wise guy!!
Dear Friend Nona: Thought provoking.
We are indebted.
One of my High School teachers used to say, "When in doubt, don't".
Enoch.
Thanks for stopping by Dear friend! Hmm...Just think, people that ate at Jay's actually survived....so, anything else is child's play!!
I was born during that time (1956) and did many of the things mentioned in the article, but still ended up a complete mess. Too many mistakes along the way. Bad choices. Stupid choices. Ah well, that's life.
But....the main thing is, you ended up being a good person.
Spent a lot of time in the toilet those days
Nona
I ran across these andthey seemed appropriate on this article
RIO I would venture to say that these are VERY appropriate...and , thank you for posting these!
What a fun filled childhood!!
Well, sure we survived our childhood, but we mustn't forget that the bike helmet was started because some kids did fall off their bikes and end up with permanent brain damage and some kids play outside all day without their parents knowing where they were and they were raped and/or murdered.
That fact that we made it through our childhood wasn't because we had such free ones, it was pure dumb luck that we survived all of that freedom.
The dangers that lurk today were rare indeed back when I was a child.
I disagree. I think they were all still there. Kids were just as much in danger of cracking their skull or being raped as they are today. It's just that today everything get's reported in the news, where as before the news on TV or in the papers was one or two national stories, a couple of local ones, business, sports and weather. We didn't hear the minutia of what was happening in the cities or even in other small towns in our own counties. We only had three stations and the time devoted to the news was very limited so we just plain didn't hear all of the terrible things that were happening then and are happening now, except we hear about them all of the time. Not hearing about back then doesn't mean they weren't happening and somehow things have gotten much worse these days. I don't think the bad things are happening more often. They always were, but we just weren't hearing about them.
Our generation may have a higher potential for melanoma given that we played outside much more.
Plus, living out here in the desert, I get myself checked twice a year for just that. My wife, on the other hand, never, ever goes to the doctor. Our medigap insurance requires that she see the doctor once a year, so she does go, but she throws away the test requests as soon as she gets home and never goes to take them. As far as I know she's never had any kind of a test in her adult years and she is 70 years old.
As for "surviving childhood," while we unfortunately can't stop the aging process
I can always act immature.
FYI: Having children is a hereditary phenomenon; if your parents never had any children, you probably won't either.
The bike helmets.....I didn't think about those. Good one.
The bike helmets...I didn't think about that!
FYI: Having children is a hereditary phenomenon; if your parents never had any children, you probably won't either. LOL Probably not!
Sounds like something Yogi would say
We certainly cannot stop the aging process, but nothing about the aging process forces us to totally grow up at any age
At least that is what my bride says about me
I used to love to catch lightning bugs!!I haven't seen any in years....
Oh no! She really should get the tests done....you just never know if there is something wrong that could be serious. I get blood work done every 3 months, thyroid, hyper tension etc. It's so important to keep on top of these things. I think you should give her a spanking!
I live in the country and still enjoy watching (not much chasing and catching anymore)
At least you have lightning bug to watch...I haven't seen any in such a long time....