" I Can't Believe You Made It" ! If you lived as a child in the 50's, 60's or 70's. Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have... As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention hitchhiking to town as a young kid!) We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode 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 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. No cell phones. Unthinkable. We played dodgeball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame, but us. Remember accidents? We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it. We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight.........we were always outside playing. We shared one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X Boxes, video games at all, 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian. No arranged "play dates." How did we do it? We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment..... Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.....Horrors. Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a 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 has been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
I grew up right at the end of this...believe it or not, it lasted through the 80's...as far as playing outside. Sure...one kid might have an Atari down the street, and by the time we were older we had some Nintendos, but playing outside, in the neighborhood...not making the "majors" little league squad, riding a bike without a helmet...I did all that stuff too. I'm not so sure about just letting kids run free from dawn until dusk these days, however, without supervision...there's too many people out there that target children.
HELL YEAH!! Some of my most refreshing drinks came from hose water! Also, are there some stats about how prevelant diabetes is among children compared to 20 or 30 years ago? I'd be willing to bet cash money that childhood diabetes is significantly higher now than previously...
Hell yea! I remember those days.. I remember being 2 blocks away from my house and if we were getting into trouble...any one of the parents on the street would get on us about it...call our moms and tell em... Imagine doing that today...the parent would be screaming "How dare you tell me what my child is doing" I remember setting up makeshift ramps and jumping over other kids and wreaking,, and it wasnt anyone's fault...it was our own for being a dumbass.. Helmets?? what were those? If the kid on the team wasnt very good and didnt get to play much...the parents didnt come down and want to beat up the coach...they worked with their kid to help him get better.. Playing street football? you didnt just stand there when cars came along, you got the hell outta the way well before the car got to you.. Speaking of football....none of this *flag football* pansy crap....full contact no holds barred...if ya got hurt, you didnt call a lawyer...you got the iodine Good ole days...is it stuff like this that contributes to the pansy PC society we exist in now??
