Image via CrunchBaseThe following is lifted, with permission, from a post on the Linked-In website. I've modified it slightly, but the bulk is as it was originally posted. Thank you David Nicholls
This is addressed to kids who survived the 1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s, and to their children.
No matter what our kids and the new generation think about us, WE ARE AWESOME!
For those of us born 1925 – 1970: Our Lives Are Living Proof.
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 or nothing, on our heads, not helmets. As infants and children, we rode in cars with no baby seats, no boosters, 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 OK.
We spent hours building go-carts or bogies (as we called them in the UK) out of scraps and then rode 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 didn't have Play Stations, Nintendos or 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.
For those of us born 1925 – 1970: Our Lives Are Living Proof.
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 or nothing, on our heads, not helmets. As infants and children, we rode in cars with no baby seats, no boosters, 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 OK.
We spent hours building go-carts or bogies (as we called them in the UK) out of scraps and then rode 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 didn't have Play Stations, Nintendos or 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. We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, belts, ping-pong bats, or just a bare hand, and no one would report this as abuse. We ate worms, and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and -although we were told it would happen- we didn't put out 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. Teams 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're at it, forward it to your kids, so they'll know how brave and lucky their parents were. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?
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're at it, forward it to your kids, so they'll know how brave and lucky their parents were. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?
3 comments:
"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 OK."
Hey, Stuart, I was one of those kids. Sounds like a fairy-tale now, doesn' it?
Christa
LOL Stuart - how right you are. We went down the rec (park) without fear of paedophiles. We weren't overweight because we only had sweets once a week and ice-cream was a real treat.
Sue
The thing is, there was probably the same proportion of children abused, murdered and raped as there is today; we just didn't have the worldwide media machine to tell us all about it. i suspect that children are in no more danger now than we were; it just FEELS worse.
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