For the older ones among us (pretty much everyone)

[Bonzo Dog]

Congratulations to all the children who were born in the1940's, 50's, 60's 70's. You were special, your like will never be seen again.

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They gave birth with advice from family and friends without having to attend an instruction class.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured 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 later took by hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always exciting and great fun.

We drank water from the garden hose or tap and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank cordial with sugar in it, 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 instantly contact 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 99 channels,No Pay TV, No cable, No DVD movies or surround sound. It's crazy! We even had No mobile phones, No text messaging, No personal computers, No Internet or Internet chat rooms..........
WE HAD REAL FLESH FRIENDS and we went outside and found them in the pre-arranged spot at the pre-arranged time (although strangely none of us wore watches)!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.We played with worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we didn't poke out anyone's eye. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Local teams had tryouts and not everyone got in the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment of failure. Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually 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!

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 our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

Makes you want to run through the house with your eyes shut holding a pair of sharp scissors, doesn't it?!

 

[Curtsmum]

LOL Bonzo Dog, brings back memories, my brothers had a go cart but i always had to have a go. I had metal skates with 4 wheels and a chopper bike but because iam not that old i remember us all sharing a atari best games consoll ever. We found my husbands first mobile phone in the loft, it is the size of a brick, it took us a while to convince our children it was a real mobile phone, they just thought it was funny. Like you say we didn't have all the things they have today and they were great times but i suppose when are children are older all there things that they have today will be funny to their children.

 

[Karlynn]

I loved it! And it's so true.

My children hated the fact that I refused to buy a video game for them. My son, now a father himself (see avatar!), actually thanked me for that not too long ago - after years of listening to him whine about it. We also never had cable TV - until the kids went to college, then we got it. The indignation we heard from them was worth it!! My hubby and I just bought our first video game a month ago.

Jeff Foxworthy (You Might be a Redneck) just wrote a children's book called "Dirt on My Shirt". I heard him say that you knew you had a good day if your Mom made you take off your shirt before you came in the house. You knew you had a REALLY good day if she made you take off all your clothes before you came in the house.

It was a sad day last summer when we finally took down what was left of our kids' tree house. It served as their video game for years.

On the street I grew up we'd gather at someone's house with a basketball hoop, after dinner most evenings. Each person was their own team, and the age range was grade school to high school. We'd play until we couldn't see the hoop anymore.

 

[Freddie]

So very true your statement is Bonzo.

My son has always known if he gets in trouble with the law its his problem not mine - I got that from my mother.

Yes it does bring back memories.
Both of my parents worked and the house was always unlocked when we came home from school. Very seldom did we lock the house. Now we lock our self's in.

 

[njean]

1.) Remember when we played jacks, marbles, hop-scotch?

2.) And our play telephones were two cans tied at the end with a long, long string in-between?

3.) And our swimming pool was an irrigation ditch behind our house; we couldn't wait for summer so our dad & neighbors would start irrigating their crops. Our swimming pool was Offically Opened!

4.) Survived long, hot summers without air conditioners - OMG!!!!

5.) Crowded around the radio to listen to Arthur Godfrey --- remember him?

Ahh yes, I remember it well!

 

[Karlynn]

1.) Remember when we played jacks, marbles, hop-scotch?

2.) And our play telephones were two cans tied at the end with a long, long string in-between?

3.) And our swimming pool was an irrigation ditch behind our house; we couldn't wait for summer so our dad & neighbors would start irrigating their crops. Our swimming pool was Offically Opened!

4.) Survived long, hot summers without air conditioners - OMG!!!!

5.) Crowded around the radio to listen to Arthur Godfrey --- remember him?

Ahh yes, I remember it well!

Hop scotch!

We still survive the summers without air conditioning. We have a large u-shaped ranch and it has hot water baseboard heat. It would cost us $20,000 to put in central air. We have a window air conditioner we put in the family room and we judge how hot the summer is by how many times we sleep in the family room! Last summer it was once. Not to brag, but I think I'm much more able to withstand the heat (in the Chicago area, mind you - not the deep South!) than all my friends with central air. They turn it on when it hits 75! Plus I absolutely hate a closed up house and I have to keep it closed up all winter. I don't want to do it all summer.

Thanks for the can telephone reminder! One more thing to do with my Avatar!

 

[Karlynn]

We have many children in our neighborhood, but I rarely see them playing outside. There was one exception in the last 10 years. A boy down the street was always outside. He had toy trucks, road graders and dump trucks under their large pine tree. The dirt circle got bigger each year as he and a few friends would play for hours in that "construction site". Sadly, the last few years the dirt circle became empty. The boy has grown to high school age. Occasionally I see him out playing basket ball, but the construction site has closed down. It always gave me a smile to drive by that tree and the world that was continually rebuilt below it.

 

[Wise]

Sometimes I think about ditching the cell phone (but it is our long distance), giving up cable modem (I COULD go to one of the free local hotspots), and playing more outside!

I have read this before, but it is one of favorites. Thanks for sharing.

 

[CThrock]

Boy,do I remember those days!!! We used to play outside 24/7 even sleep outside with a pillow and a blanket. Those were the days...
Also,made mud pies what fun to play in the dirt. Sold rocks on a street corner and never had a license, had a little candy store in my backyard for all the kids to come and buy (did'nt make much profit ate it all up). Brings back such great childhood memories. Thanks