This email struck a chord....don't know why...I'm so young afterall!!
HOW DID WE EVER SURVIVE?
According to today’s regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who
Were kids in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s probably shouldn’t have survived.
Our baby cots were covered in brightly coloured lead-based paint, which was promptly chewed and licked. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans. When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just jandals and fluorescent ‘clackers ‘ on our wheels.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags, riding in the front passenger seat was a treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle, it still tasted the same. We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no-one actually died from this. We would spend hours building go karts out of scraps and then went down the hill, only to find we forgot the brakes.after running into stinging nettles 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 before dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one minded.
We did not have play stations, X boxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on T.V., no videotaped movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no internet chat rooms. We had friends; we went outside and found them. We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt. We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits. There were accidents. We learnt not to do the same things again. We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue; we learned to get over it.
We walked to friends homes. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and ate live stuff and although we were told it would happen, we did not have many eyes poked out, nor did the live stuff live in us forever. We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore coats only by the hood. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected.
The idea of a parent bailing you out if we broke the 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 your are one of them, congratulations.
Please pass this on to others who had the luck to grow up as real kids, before lawyers and government ruled our lives, for your own good.(If you aren’t old enough, though you might like to read about us)
According to today’s regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who
Were kids in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s probably shouldn’t have survived.
Our baby cots were covered in brightly coloured lead-based paint, which was promptly chewed and licked. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans. When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just jandals and fluorescent ‘clackers ‘ on our wheels.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags, riding in the front passenger seat was a treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle, it still tasted the same. We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no-one actually died from this. We would spend hours building go karts out of scraps and then went down the hill, only to find we forgot the brakes.after running into stinging nettles 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 before dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one minded.
We did not have play stations, X boxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on T.V., no videotaped movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no internet chat rooms. We had friends; we went outside and found them. We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt. We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits. There were accidents. We learnt not to do the same things again. We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue; we learned to get over it.
We walked to friends homes. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and ate live stuff and although we were told it would happen, we did not have many eyes poked out, nor did the live stuff live in us forever. We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore coats only by the hood. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected.
The idea of a parent bailing you out if we broke the 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 your are one of them, congratulations.
Please pass this on to others who had the luck to grow up as real kids, before lawyers and government ruled our lives, for your own good.(If you aren’t old enough, though you might like to read about us)
posted by madcow at 12:53 PM
1 Comments:
Well, Gail beat me to it, but my response it a resounding AMEN!!!!
I'm glad that my kids also played outside....They both grew up and graduated from college and are quite well adjusted....considering how the past 10 or so years has affected us all 3 -- personally.
katie
Post a Comment
<< Home