We Survived, we really did...............against all odds, the good old days, wished you were back..
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, not helmets, on our heads.
As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, 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 it. 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 OKAY! We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out that we forgot about brakes.
After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have Play Stations, Nintendo, and 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 lost teeth, and there were no lawsuits from those accidents. We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand, and no one would call child services to report abuse. 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, 22 rifles for our 12th, rode horses, 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.
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't have 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 60 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 1925-1955, CONGRATULATIONS! You had the luck to grow up as kids before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.
Comments (27)
If my parents ever heard that I was in jail they would've left me there instead of bailing me out.
You forgot the vaccines?
We didn't have any either, and penicillin was for the rich!
A bag of oranges for Xmas was a luxury item.
But I survived it all and built a strong immune system.
No, I didn't get any of those kids vaccines when I was a kid.
Our best immunity was to catch everything that was going around ...
Chicken pox, measles, mumps etc....
I only got the polio vax when I was older because they came round the schools.
Add to the list, playing baseball in the roadway, walking miles from home with friends to a shopping center (not many malls back then), playing Evel Knievel on our bikes jumping trash cans using a rickety ramp. Those were the days!
Those vaccines took years to develop.
Found out years later that my youngest sister Ina had been a guinea pig for several vaccines.
It paid her very well but what a way to make money.
She is 12 years younger than I am but she is not healthy...............
No wonder we look back with longing. It was so much more innocent.........
Only for one reason, we don't want to go back and that is medicine.................
The way people raise their kids I see the kids having no where near as much memories as ourselves, the kids these days are glued to the tv or video games..
Parents are far to busy these days to take the time with kids to make memories/connections to their own relations, if kids are not taught the skills of making memories/connections with their own relatives then they will find it hard to make friends and connection with anyone..
My brothers kids know everything about video games, ipads and the best programs on youtube, but they are very shy when it comes to making connections with other.. (even their own relations)..
There's a certain amount of time that parents have to teach their kids these skills, and this time is from around 4 years old to about 12 years old;; after 12 the parents become the enemy to the kids..
Age 50 Up, I think we passed and survived all....
But what remains is physical health. After age 50 When health checks, nothing is wrong.
All that's left is to take care of yourself.....
Everything changes naturally and with time.
I will be 84 years old in September thus and old woman with so far only forgetting some name's thus can
not complain. ..................
My computer has more problems than I have lol I can buy a new computer, not a new me
No I am doing great..................
Lovely blog Jenny
Add to the list, playing baseball in the roadway, walking miles from home with friends to a shopping center (not many malls back then), playing Evel Knievel on our bikes jumping trash cans using a rickety ramp. Those were the days!
Our past is not that far behind us really.............
Our past is not that far behind us really.............
it wasn't my birthday but Mbken's instead.
Sorry Mbken Happy Birthday to you...........
Sorry Mbken Happy Birthday to you...........
But not to worry I forgive you
Going back to your blog.....
not too long ago I were watching the last survivor of an iron lung.
I couldn't watch it all, I felt so sorry for him.
Maybe sometimes surviving is NOT everything..
Now polio is on the rise again. Just when we thought it had gone for good..............
I was vccinated as a baby and again when I was 18 years old.................
Too make it up to you should we forget your next birthday?.............lol
Kids today are cuddled, driven to and from school. They can not stay behind a class as this will damage their psyche.........
Have parents who get paranoid about a sneeze.................
I am so very grateful that I lived in another time
I will be 84 years old in September thus and old woman with so far only forgetting some name's thus can
not complain. ..................
My computer has more problems than I have lol I can buy a new computer, not a new me
No I am doing great.................. ...........................jenny
Health is important to take care of...from now on....
Oh dear, you're 84 like my father. He turned 84 a few months ago. Can i call you mom?
My father is still strong He has a very good memory.
He can also water the trees, gardening, and growing vegetables in the countryside.
"Computers have more problems than you"
That means you are healthy and your eyesight is great...wow!
Thank you too BCJenny!
Thanks for the blog. Brings back so many good memories.
We had a lot of fun and freedom to do all kinds of games a lot on them we made as money was is short supply most of the time............
growing up I was always corrected if I addressed an actress as an actor....
now when I address one as such, I'm told that title don't exist anymore, we now address them as actors instead WTF
Is it any wonder we become confused as we age
We have more these days then we ever did....
but what's that they say about less being better
So we used a piece of cardboard and you can know the result lol
One time mam had bought the three oldest a new coat and hat.
It was a Sunday and yep snow and a " mountain" at least we thought it was. Oh glory!
Now don"t go sledding with your new coats. Oh no mam we wouldn't think about it, said three little liars.....
with a straight face.
We found a larger piece of cardboard and after we had gone down once would ask; "Can you see anything? "No you are clean. After a few you are still clean, we stopped asking.
Somehow we did end up with the tell tail signs of what we had been up too on our back side of the new coats.......such sweet angels.......I believe all three angels had our backsite warmed up a bit that day.
We had a lot of fun and freedom to do all kinds of games a lot on them we made as money was is short supply most of the time............
One time when I was 16 my friend had a car. We would go out to the country at night and ride on the hood of his car through a cornfield. I was crazy...but I'm still alive.
Those vaccines took years to develop.
Found out years later that my youngest sister Ina had been a guinea pig for several vaccines.
It paid her very well but what a way to make money.
She is 12 years younger than I am but she is not healthy...............
When somebody had chicken pox or measles, we went to visit them in their home so that we could catch it as well and develop immunity.
Jenny, every country had their own rules.
Your idea to get sick on perpose Dan sounds like a good plan to me to get immunity that way.
But all of us 6 kids did not escape any of the sicknesses going around then...........