Kids of yesterday

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE





1920's, 30's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.







They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.







Then after that trauma, our baby cribs 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 or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking .







As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.







Riding in the back of a Ute on a warm day was always a special treat.







We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Red Rooster.


Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.


We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy fruit tingles and some crackers to blow up frogs with.


We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks 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 reach 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. We built tree houses and cubby houses and played in creek beds with matchbox cars.







We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile 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 .

Only girls had pierced ears!


We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross buns at Easter time.......no really!


We were given BB guns and sling shots for our 10th birthdays,


We drank milk laced with Strontium 90 from cows that had eaten grass covered in nuclear fallout from the atomic testing at Maralinga in 1956.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!


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

Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather staps and bully's always ruled the playground at school.



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

Our parents got married before they had children and didn't invent stupid names for their kids like \"Kiora\" and \"Blade\" (Ed. Nothing wrong with Blade (named in honour of champion ruckman Brendan Lade))

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!







The past 70 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.







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

I hear you brother, I remember at about the age seven of seven, standing between the seats, holding on to the top of the windshield of my parents MG...the wind through my hair! Try that today...we'd be all over the world news!! :blink:

I would buy candy (esp. black balls) from the corner store that were kept in a bin...scoop out a handfull, count 'em put the extra back...no packaging, no plastic gloves...get sick? only on spelling bee day :woohoo:

I think this has made my week!!

I`m really happy to hear this Lenny. I could almost picture you. I don`t know but it was these kind of things which made life a bit special. Sure I am certain that all these safety measures are justified, but now all I think about are the dangers and preventative regulations. I remember when I ate with my friends and father fish and chips out of a newspaper. Sure :laugh: you could read the latest news of your chip or fish, but they sure did taste. Now its not allowed because of the intoxication of the print, but after 20 years eating that stuff I feel ok. Now we eat out of hygienic white paper bags, who will ever remember that.

I too was one of those kids standing in the convertible. Dad's was a Fiat. I had to be very careful not to get in the way while Dad was shifting gears. Now, my kids are all strapped in the back.

I remember the days when the cops would take kids home for their parents to dish out the switch if they got busted throwing rocks or something. Nowadays, the get child services involved in everything. EVERYTHING. As a parent, I am terrified of the ability of the state to take kids away from parents just because of someone's opinion. They have the power to destroy families based on one person's recommendation. I know a guy that was arrested and his kids taken away from him because he spanked his son outside the house and a neighbor called the police.

I wore my cousin's hand me down clothes and everything was great. I thought I was the coolest. But now, if a kid goes to school in clothes that are a bit too big, the parents get a visit from child services. When I was a kid, if I got a shiner, I'd show it off proudly to anyone who would look. Nowadays, a bruise means that a kid will get interviewed by the state.

My rocking horse as a child had these lovely metal springs that would pinch you if you got too careless. I loved that thing and I cried when I outgrew it and my dad donated it to charity. I haven't seen one of those in years.

There was a real butcher behind the meat counter at the grocery store. And he knew your name.

At 8 years old I could ride my back all the way into town without fear.

If the car broke down, my DAD could fix it for a few bucks and a little time. Now it takes a trained pro with specialized tools and upwards of 800 bucks to change spark plugs.

Michael Jackson used to be a hero. *g*

Hehe. I was just looking back at my childhood. Some things may have gotten better though. My lightsaber when I was young was longer than I was tall, and it made a whistling sound when you would swing it. And it would work as a whiffle ball bat in a pinch. My kids have the electronic, spring activated collapsible sabers that are motion activated with real sounds from the movies. Makes me kind of jealous.