We Survived

[sjmike]

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN 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 carried us.


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


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, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.


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


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 cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop 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. 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 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell 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 .


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 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 yelled for them!


Football teams had trials 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!


This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, 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 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?!


PS -The big type is because your eyes are shot at your age

[metmum]

That is brilliant and so true. Mud pies that takes me back, how good they used to taste

[MetDream]

I never made mud pies, I hated getting my hands dirty!!

[Kat]

Hmmm, mudpies stuffed with worms... yummy

And this is so true, thanks for reminding me. I will go to a dark corner now, crying about the good old times!

[minus clover]

i must be a rarity then... i'm a child of the '60's and my mum didnt drink, smoke, take aspirin, eat any sort of dressing, tuna and diabetes is pretty much non-existent in my family.

however, mud pies were great, especially when snails, spiders and other creepy-crawlies were added and then force-fed down the throat of the obnoxious kid next door...

and all those other points are definitely relevant to kids of my generation (which cuts most of you out, but not your parents, lol!!!)

[Poolzer]

I know a lot of kids now a days that need a good fatherly spanking...that was left out in the list. A parent could properly discipline their kid w/o worrying about hippies crying abuse.

[ret0dd]

So true, thanks I needed that

[minus clover]

I know a lot of kids now a days that need a good fatherly spanking...that was left out in the list. A parent could properly discipline their kid w/o worrying about hippies crying abuse.

yeah, my daughter has a friend with a kid who bites. my solution to this when my nephew did it to my daughter was to give him a light slap across the face... he never bit anyone ever again - my brother & his woman were those hippy type of which you speak. anyway, back to my daughters friend... she also is a hippy and will not discipline her kid at all. pity help the world when/if he goes to kindy and then school...

[LeperMessiah26]

I was brought up with Discipline....i got SOOOOO many smacks around my Ass it was unreal..but i deserved EVERY single one of them....these days if that happened,the social services would take that kid away..and bang up the parent..

How many kids from the above mentioned years,murdered anyone,stabbed anyone,beat old people for 10 bucks,raped anyone,brought guns/knives to school,were verbally abusive,beat someone to within an inch of their life,went around starting fires,hit teachers???,the list goes on and on!!!

And look at the kids of today...children as young as 10,shooting people etc....

Then you get the PC brigade,you cant do this,cant do that...and YOU get in trouble for it

I worked with a lady..and her 15 year old daughter was a real handful...a total bad seed...she "Demanded" £20 from her mother..so she could buy Marajuana!!...obviousley her mother wouldnt give it her..to the daughter Punched her in the mouth..and called her a Cunt,a Slag,a worthless piece of shit,who wasnt fit to be a mother...this,in front of me,and 2 other work collegues....

Now,i know what i would have done if she were my offspring...and quite rightly,her mother slapped her across the face,wasnt really hard,there were no marks or anything..the kid ran off...her mother was really upset at what had happened....about 2 hours later..the Social service people turned up...this snotty bitch of a woman,basically said she wasnt fit to be a mother either,if thats what she did to her children...called her an abuser,and a bad person....and the SS woman,didnt even have any children...how can she possibly lecture a parent,on parenting..if she has no experience whatsoever of being a mother herself??

Nothing happened,after the SS woman found out what ACTUALLY went down,the kid said her mum just hit her for no reason,and she did it everyday.

I thought that story was pretty relevant,as its the kids who have the power now,not the parents

[Doin]

The general theme that I think is underlying this discussion is that children are acting out like this because parents are not giving them boundaries and there are no consequences for their actions. They do things because they know they will get away with it or get off lightly. Kids nowadays are also more emotionally intellegent and aware of their rights and will abuse them when they can. Some of the shit that goes on in schools now - rudeness, violence towards teachers, general disrespect - is all a result of this and I never saw it during my school years. I suppose kids would act differently if there was the possibility of being caned or some serious consequence that made them accountable for their actions. I don't think schools should have caning as it's using violence to teach kids appropriate behaviour but at least the fear element was there to keep them in line.
Even the legal system allows minors to get off lightly with serious crimes because they haven't reached 18. A 14 year old could propbably gun down 10 people in California or Texas and not get the death penalty or a life sentence.