According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's or even the early 80's, probably shouldn't have survived.
Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.
We had no childproof lids or locks 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.
Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one soft drink with four friends! , from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.
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. (oh yeah!) 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 street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones. Unthinkable!
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.
We had friends! We went outside and found them.
We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits 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 made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out any eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rang the bell or just walked in and talked to them.
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.
The idea of parents bailing us out if we got in trouble in school or broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the school or the law. Imagine that!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors, ever.
We had freedom, failure, success, and responsibility --- and we learned how to deal with it.
Makes one wonder, doesn't it?
_________________________________________________________________ Tired of slow downloads and busy signals? Get a high-speed Internet connection! Comparison-shop your local high-speed providers here. https://broadband.msn.com Posted by Harris Kohen (Member # 2139) on :
Joey that is filled with ALOT of truth. Kids today couldnt survive the way we did. But that is because people we grew up with (their parents) turned into a bunch of wimps.
Darn Liberals!
Society sux anymore
Posted by Michael Boone (Member # 308) on :
So...who's the best????
WE ARE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DANG BECHA....
Merry Christmas.....J
Posted by Si Allen (Member # 420) on :
Thanks Joey...we needed that!
And all this time, I thought my childhood was unique!
Posted by Kathy Joiner (Member # 1814) on :
That brought back a lot of memories. Thanks
You forgot to mention that our parents allowed us to play with toy guns. We played cowboys and cops and robbers and I still haven't killed anyone. Yet!!!
Posted by Deb Fowler (Member # 1039) on :
sure and we ate dirt and the doctor's kids ran barefoot while the dentist's kids ate more candy than anyone in town. My dentist's kids had the prettiest teeth and candy jars in town, and the doctor's son wore barefeet and ragged jeans in my artclass and didn't get kicked out, can you imagine. Oh we didn't lock our doors and cars either and slept with the windows open.
Posted by Kissymatina (Member # 2028) on :
Playing chicken with bicycles on the gravel driveway. Hide & seek in the cornfields in the dark. Spending hours roaming around in the woods. First decent snow, grab the sleds & spend the afternoon on the hill trying to avoid the remnants of corn stalks. Ya know when ya hit one. Playing in the corn crib looking for indian corn. Crawling around the hay building forts.
Good thing I didn't develop allergies til I was in my 20s.
Posted by dave parr (Member # 3868) on :
Joey,
We lived it up, didn't we! In a very general way, isn't it then our children that seem to be afflicted by the problems you described. Why were we not able to pass on the means of truly having fun?
From a personal point of view, my father didn't allow his children to watch much television. We watched major world events and major sports events, that was about it; although, when he was away, we snuck a few hours of evening sitcoms in if we could, but he was pretty good at smelling a hot television when walking in from a long day on the road, so we had to keep that to a minimum. I doubt that seeing children scatter when pulling in the drive had much to do with him knowing what we were up to. He tried to be tough and lay down the law. It's funny, since quite early in life I've always been rather glad he did, and some how I think we all knew he was right, even back then when television was "still good. " I'm going to over simplify here, but people sit in front of the tube & completely tune out, get sucked into someone else's imagination (if there is one) and turn off their own ability to think or be creative. The computer, even at its worst, is more of an interactive tool. One of the many things my folks used to do was gather the kids up into the '57 Chevy Wagon and go for a Sunday afternoon drive. We would go bird watching, or take our sketch pads out to the abandon brick yards to sketch. There was a little hiking too. It was wholesome, good, clean, family fun.
I moved into the city when I got into my twenties, closer to work. There are still a lot of folks living out in the rural areas. The rural areas seem to be getting smaller even here in central Illinois, so there must be some appreciation for the fresh air.
I'm guessing somewhere there are youngsters that grab a few sandwiches and head out in to the fields and hike until dark, like we used to do. I'm guessing there are fewer than there were. There are moments I'm afraid those times can't exist again Joey, for fear it's a different world. Well, ...is it really a different world?
Posted by old paint (Member # 549) on :
hahaha joey....these couple you missed... i was 7 yrs old got my 1st pocket knife(carryed it to school, everybody had one there...till i lost it) 9 yrs old i got my 1st .22 rifle. old single shot, you learned how to hit what you aimed at with the 1st shot, no 2nd shot. 10 yrs old, a friend and i was runnin a trap line down the creek. trapin muskrats and skinnin them and sellin the pelts(nasty smellin things). in the summertime when there was no school we all worked at some farm, putin up hay, planting trees, combining grain, milkin cows. riding on the drawbar of farm tractor, hangin on and less then a foot from big tires.....then at 12-13 you graduated to driving tractors...and plowing, harrowing, raking hay...skinnin locast logs and painting them with CREASOTE(boy that stuff burnt on bare skin)for fencepost.....in the spring we picked mushrooms outa the cow pastures, cooked and ate them!!!! dug roots, ginsang, bloodroot & mayapple and sold them. remember saving "scrap copper", and burning off the insulation and gettin money for few pounds of it. parents used to go out on the back porch and "holler" your name....when it was time to come in....catchin fireflys in jars, "pickin night-crawlers,after a rain for fishin. pickin raspberrys, strawberries along the road and eating them with out washing. stealin corn from farmer john field and takin it down near the creek, rolling it it mud, and then cook it on an open fire. same with potatoes. ice skating on the creek.....and going thur the ice!!!! not smart. yep..what dont kill ya makes ya stronger....we be tough old b******
Posted by Alicia B. Jennings (Member # 1272) on :
You are so right. When I was a kid I never went to the doctor. When I was about 10 years old I got into a motorcycle accident with my Dad, We hit a car. I went flying and landed on my face. My parents didn't take me to the Doctor, they just put me on the couch and told me not to fall asleep because I might not wake up. No law suits either. Next day did I have quite a beautiful shinner. One day my older brother brought home some Mercury, we just played with it. Liquid metal My Dad would have use clean out auto parts with gasoline. Bare hands, no gloves. I got a lot more stories like that, but here I am, alive and quite.
Posted by Gavin Chachere (Member # 1443) on :
Unfortunately you won't see times like this in the near future b/c we live in a sickening culture of political correctness that makes it more socially acceptable to be a liar and a coward and pretend to be a victim ....instead of admitting to yourself and others that you are solely responsible for your life and making the decisions that control it and realizing that some non-existant entity is not going to step in and save you from yourself if you make the wrong choice...and to have an opinion thats actually not only your own and not the result of listening to human toilets like dr phil and "reality tv shows" but one you'll stand behind and not waffle from when some self important baby disguised as an adult pretends to be horrified by an idea thats not thier own b/c it threatens their ability to continue to be the intellectual center of their own universe.
Posted by Mark Matyjakowski (Member # 294) on :
Things haven't really changed that much (from a kids perspective) Is it a bad thing to tell my kids to put their seat belts on? My kids still go outside to visit friends and sometimes come home scraped and bruised because they were jumping something over a rickety ramp. Just now once they get home they can get on the puter' and IM each other to figure out how to build the ramp better ... nothing wrong with that.
quote: This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, and inventors, ever.
... and whiners, complainers and holier than thou hypocrites.
Once my kids grow up they will probably be saying the same things ... same as my grandparents and their parents said about the generations following them. The more things change the more they stay the same.
Posted by Troy Haas (Member # 472) on :
Joey,
You forgot, if we needed some information on something we looked it up in a Book or asked an elder, who probably lived it.
I printed your post out and let my wife and 13 y/o son read it.
Penny "Man that brings back a lot of Good Memories"
Stephen "You guy's had it THAT bad????? No Playstation's ?????"
Funny how the generations have different perspectives on what is "Good or Bad"....
Posted by DONALD THOMPSON (Member # 3726) on :
That does bring back alot of memories.
I use to ride my bike looking in ditches for drink bottles to sell back to the stores.
We use to play tackle football every Sunday after lunch with no pads. There would be fights, but no hard feeling or lawsuits.
We would play war with BB and pellet guns. Those things would sting.
Going to the store and buying something for a penny.
Getting your butt tore up by a friend's parents for doing something wrong and your parents knowing about it before you got home.
Just a few others I remember
Posted by Don Hulsey (Member # 128) on :
Hell, we didn't even have a TV until I was 10 years old.
My brothers and I used to play cowboys and indians with BB guns and real arrows. Luckily, that was before any of us learned how to shoot either of them.
I remember once my brothers dared me to jump out of the hayloft. I started running from the back of the barn to get enough speed to try to jump to the house(about 1/8 mile away). Just as I went out the door, Mom walked out of the house. I was so busy listening to her screaing that I didn't have a chance to get nervous about the fall. When I hit the ground, I rolled a couple times, then ran to Mom to see if she was OK.
I've got a BUNCH of "it's a wonder I'm still alive" stories, but I AM STILL ALIVE and still LIVING too.
Posted by jack wills (Member # 521) on :
WE HAD FRONT PORCHES and nieghbors would actually come to visit. The theatre of the mind was all we had to work with as we listened to a favorite radio show. We went fishing, a lot. Worst of all we would sit right next to the edge of the car and motorcycle race tracks when they raced on dirt. There was no fence. I think everybody was getting stoned on the castor oil alcohol mix.
We couldn't even spell Al-Kada
CrazyJack
Posted by Delzell (Member # 1965) on :
I remember playing with the Mercury too Just got lucky I guess. And the cowboy and indians with guns, forts and arrows. All the neighborhood kids. Steping on a nail every summer and it going in deep and having to get a tetnus shot. And wading barefoot in a creek on shale and slicing my foot and having to walk home to go to the hospital for stitches. I could see the insides of my foot. And the tree climbing, falling and knocking the air out of my lungs Catching snakes before I knew what kind they were. But the one I left alone was the one who turned and started chasing me! Yes, I am lucky to be alive. Posted by Ray Rheaume (Member # 3794) on :
Brings back a lot of fond memories, Joey....
Road trips! (Still don't know how I survived them!)
BB guns and pocket knives.
Making choopers out of your bicycles by adding extra forks to the front wheel.
Coca-Cola in BOTTLES, before they made the NEW Coke!
Barbie dolls that were just called "Barbie".
Trading "Hot Wheels" (and ALL cars worked on the orange tracks...even the "Sizzlers"!)
Toys that worked when you used your imagination.
Only 3 channels of television, but you were just glad that the picture worked when the antenna got bend.
Being the original remote control! ("Raymond, fix the TV."...my dad)
All the excitment when dad bought our first COLOR TV.
PONG! (Tell the kids with the Playstations, Gamecubes and X Boxes about that one.
Fenway park in the summers before they put in the big, flashy sign over the bleachers and watching "Yaz" throwing autographed baseballs into the left field seats...withoput asking for $50 bucks a ball!
The beauty of the Christmas displays at the city hall park BEFORE being "politically correct" became a problem.
Knowing the names of all your neighbors and their kids.
Waliking to school barefoot in the snow..uphill both ways..during a blizzard..and not complaining! Cause you did it with your friends.
Maybe we need to spend less time remembering those days and more time making them real for our own kids. Rapid
Posted by Jillbeans (Member # 1912) on :
Nice twist, Ray. Just last week my eldest was hungry in the evening. I told him to get out the popcorn maker. It is a chrome 1960s retro-looking thing Mom used to make a Friday evening snack for us 7 kids. (We only were allowed pop and snacks on weekends...1 glass & 1 bowl of each) He looked at it with curiosity and I showed him the procedure...putting in the oil (!) adding 1/4 cup of popcorn...waiting for the orange light to go out so you know it is finished (as if the cessation of popping sounds is not an indicator) dumping the popcorn into the same old dented stainless steel bowl Mom used, then tossing a chunk of real butter into the hot popper to melt it and then dumping it on top of the popcorn...adding salt. So much for microwave popcorn! But he ate the whole BIG bowl himself! And I remember before there were safety seals on every product...I used to go into the cupboard and get the "new" jar of peanut butter, dig out a finger full and put it back! Mom used to get SO mad! Watching my brother Kevin give my son Justis a cherry-belly yesterday at Mom's house broght back a lot of childhood memories. My brothers used to hold me down and tickle me till I wet myself and then holler "Mom! Jill peed her pants!" (but I always had to wear a dress) What about Christmas? We got 1 toy, a coloring book and crayons, pajamas, and 1 game! And an apple & orange in our stockings. We loved it! My living room looks like Toys-R-Us on Christmas morning, and usually the kids end up playing with the boxes the stuff came in! Oh well...I better get to work. Love- JILL
Posted by Donna in BC (Member # 130) on :
I grew up in the country and that's where we are today. I remember walking to my best friend's house every day. Started playing in the AM and made it home in time for dinner. TV during the day?!? Unheard of. Also only had 3 channels with a bent antenna anyway.
Why so different where we live now? I'm unsure. There's a house just down the road that we've yet to say hi to all the kids and we've been here 5 years. We attempt, but the kids are so shy when we go by their place they run away or just sit and stare. Frustrating since I'd love my son to grow up with a good friend/s nearby like I did. That's what made my childhood so much fun, not relying on mom and dad or nintendo for my entertainment.
I attempt drive-to playdates as much as I can. I just wish there was a nearby child willing to get to know mine better.
Posted by The Moon (Member # 452) on :
Good post Joey....
I remember my Dad's 357 short barrel being tucked between the mattress and the box springs of his bed and his on-duty gun always left in his gun belt, with all the rest of the crap he had to carry on his waist while on-duty, on the floor at the base of the hall coat closet... did sis and I touch them? Noooo, we had gotten many chances to actually shoot them ourselves while camping at the family Mine in Nevada, or at the local shooting range that the sherrif's have here in town. We learned what the guns did and how powerful and serious they were by actually using them... it blew my away when I heard of a local cops son shooting his friend "accidently" because HIS dad "never showed him the CONSEQUENCES of a gun". Sad, but true.
I have two daughters, one 14 in High School and the other 8 in 3rd grade, and the world gives me enough to fear about for both of them... today we have LOTS of creepy people that want to kidnap them and do horrible things to them- I KNOW where my girls are at ALL times because of that. They don't get to "be gone for the whole day" and show up for dinner like I did, but then my dad was a drunk (when not on duty, like THAT made a difference-LOL) and my Mom wanted us OUT of the house when he was home anyway... I don't think my girls are "missing" out on anything there.
They have 600 channels to choose from and on most of those channels they have shows that I still don't think I'm ready to see at 36! Think of them at their ages being exposed to it! They are getting calused to different things that's all... personally I'd rather have the choice to change the channel than have to leave the house to get away from the yelling and the mood swings of the alcoholic household, but that's just me.
Yes, the world is different, but there are less children being abused at home (whippin's with scraps of hose, or getting the smarts beat INTO them... well at least that's what they CALLED it) and there are less families with major dysfunctional patterns.
Now I speak from my own experience, but I am glad to have my kids being raised now as opposed to when I was... they don't have to GUESS if I am gonna whip their butts for doing something any average NORMAL kid would do AND they do KNOW I will beat their butts (or make life not so fun for a while WITHOUT their modern luxeries) if they do something I have told them NOT to do. But then again... that's just me.
Thanks for the trip down the fun side of my childhood Joey. (really, I do like the memories your post triggered for me... the good ones that is) And for the people thinking today is SOOOOOO bad, when you all have kids of your own... THEN... let me know how ya feel. (truely, I do like to hear how other parents today feel about the world and what their kids are dealing with)
The believin' we ALL try our best with what we have in life side of the Moon
Although my childhood was NOT like it was "supposed" to be according to the "good TV shows" back then... I still survived and became stronger from it. I also learned what NOT to do with my kids. I guess it all depends on HOW ya look at it, eh?
Posted by Mike Pipes (Member # 1573) on :
When I was younger my family lived in a cul-de-sac in a subdivision, and we lived it up pretty well.. my parents were active and they'd come outside and actually play with the kids!
Mom would get out her bike and before you knew it, every kid on the street fell in line chasing her on their bikes - nobody could catch her!
Dad invented "Newspaper Tag", which we played almost every night during the summer. We'd grab a neighbor's newspaper right off their driveway, and.. you guessed it - throw it at each other! Just like dodgeball, cept with a tightly packed newspaper. Everyone came out to play.
I remember one time my friends and I were walking through the woods and creek by my house. There was an old abandoned railway back there, with a broken down bridge that went over the creek. The bridge part was gone but the embankments were still there and we used to climb all over them because there were vines we could use for climbing. I fell from one, probably about 25 feet up, right into a thicket in the dry creekbed below - didnt have anyone to sue over it either.
Posted by Roy Frisby (Member # 736) on :
Boy, what a bunch of wimps When I was a kid, I had to walk ten miles to school and it was up hill both ways with 3 feet snow. In the summer time it was so hot that the creek (that's crick to some of ya) ran pure steam instead of water. It was so hot that the corn in the field started popping on the stalk. The old mule I was plowing thought it was snowing and stood right there and froze to death. We didn't have TV, just a radio and it only worked sometimes. When we played cowboys and indians we had to take turns with the stick that was our rifle, couldn't afford but one. Things were so bad around our house, the dogs used to take turns eating the same biscuit. I had my share of falling out of the hay loft, bailing hay, picking peas, growing watermelons, cutting firewood, pulling corn and the like. Yes sir, them was the days. Some folks call that "the good ole days", but I don't know so much about that.
Oh yeah, I still have a few post holes, if anyone is interested in purchasing a few.
But, it's been a great year, for that I am most thankful. As of December 12, I have been in remission 3 years from lung cancer, PRAISE GOD!
You guys have a very Merry CHRISTmas and a most prosperous New Year.
Yall come back now, ya hear!
[ December 19, 2003, 11:00 PM: Message edited by: Roy Frisby ]
Posted by Adrian Niño Anaya (Member # 3537) on :
I, too, remember with great nostalgia “good” old days. But, Growing great amount of time on the streets is not fun many times. I escaped early departure in many occasions. Looking back gives me the chills and I am NOT willing to take any chance with my kids; the risk is not worth it.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
" I'm going to over simplify here, but people sit in front of the tube & completely tune out, get sucked into someone else's imagination (if there is one) and turn off their own ability to think or be creative. The computer, even at its worst, is more of an interactive tool. One of the many things my folks used to do was gather the kids up into the '57 Chevy Wagon and go for a Sunday afternoon drive. We would go bird watching, or take our sketch pads out to the abandon brick yards to sketch. There was a little hiking too. It was wholesome, good, clean, family fun. ![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
Just got lucky I guess. And the cowboy and indians with guns, forts and arrows. All the neighborhood kids. Steping on a nail every summer and it going in deep and having to get a tetnus shot. And wading barefoot in a creek on shale and slicing my foot and having to walk home to go to the hospital for stitches. I could see the insides of my foot. ![[Applause]](graemlins/clap.gif)
![[Wink]](wink.gif)
When I was a kid,