TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

[TeamCasey]

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who 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, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.

Riding in the back of a pick up 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 and real butter and drank Kool-aid made with sugar, 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. 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 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computer! s, no Internet or 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.

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

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very 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!

[westofyou]

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

Just the neighbors picture window and Pedro's teddy bears eyes.

[durl]

What a great read. How did we EVER make it to middle age?

[klw]

We were watching old family movies with my parents recently and I had to tease them as there was a great scene where my brother and I are running around sunburned at ages 2 and 4 or so playing with a rusty coffee can and an egg beater at a house we had rented on a pond on the Cape. Soon I can be seen faceplanting into shallow water near a shovel and then my brother and I are clinbing onto the top of the family VW Squareback.

[Chi-Town Red]

remember playing baseball all day in the summer from sun up to sun down!

[vaticanplum]

Originally Posted by TeamCasey

=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 took hitchhiking.

I know a kid who died in a bike accident while not wearing a helmet, plus one who died from falling and hitting his head on the pavement, and a third who spent six weeks in the hospital recovering from brain surgery after a tree fell on his head.

Not to, you know, put a damper on things

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by vaticanplum

I know a kid who died in a bike accident while not wearing a helmet, plus one who died from falling and hitting his head on the pavement, and a third who spent six weeks in the hospital recovering from brain surgery after a tree fell on his head.

Not to, you know, put a damper on things

I know a kid who died in his sleep in english class... let's ban reading!!

[pedro]

we used to snack on uncooked hot dogs and eat bologna all day long. there is no logical reason for us to still be alive.

[vaticanplum]

Originally Posted by westofyou

I know a kid who died in his sleep in english class... let's ban reading!!

Do you really? Were you in class with him? I imagine that would be quite traumatizing for a kid. Not to mention the teacher.

[westofyou]

Originally Posted by vaticanplum

Do you really? Were you in class with him? I imagine that would be quite traumatizing for a kid. Not to mention the teacher.

My wife was in the class next to him, and there were no walls between classes, and yes she was traumatized.

[OldRightHander]

Not only did you not wear a helmet when riding a bike, you would have been ridiculed mercilessly if you were seen with one on.

[RANDY IN INDY]

I remember playing a lot of sandlot baseball without a batting helmet and the pitching was usually fast and erratic. I remember being allowed to go hunting with my best friend at 12 years old, each with a shotgun. Riding a bicycle all over Gods' creation for miles on country roads with no helmet. (We didn't know what a helmet was. They were for football.) We also rode our sleighs on the road when it snowed. Grapevines, ahh yes. Fell from many rotten ones doing the Tarzan thing. Been shot many a time with a BB. They don't feel good. The good ole days.

[RedsFan75]

Yep helmets were for football. I took a baseball bat to the side of the head while playing catcher once, tried to emulate Evel Kinevel with no helmet. Fell off a grapevine, and... my Mom COOKED WITH LARD!



That's one that should be on the original list.... Lots of folks used Lard then.

[westofyou]

Grapevines, ahh yes. Fell from many rotten ones doing the Tarzan thing.

We used to swing over cars in Ann Arbor as they came down the road... it's a wonder some of us are still here.

[dabvu2498]

If we were on a long car trip and my older brother wanted to sleep in the back seat, I was relegated to laying down in the rear window area of the car.

My parents would have been charged with child endangerment many times over.