Saturday, March 03, 2007

Running with scissors...

Josh got the following email, and I thought I'd pass it along to all of you...

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1940'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 tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots 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.

Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun.

We drank water from the garden hosepipe 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 text messaging, 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 played with worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out any 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!

Local 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!

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...

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?! For some reason this made me chuckle out loud...hell I remember ALL of these.

By the way, the vote on the sidebar is still open if you're interested...

9 comments:

"M" said...

Too funny, we must have received the same e-mail today, as I just finished putting up the same post on my blog. It seemed so fitting.

C's Mom said...

That is entirely true!

I got that email sometime back and, seriously, it made me kinda sad to think about the entitlement factor in so many of today's generation.

Polar Bear said...

I read this and missed my childhood. It is amazing we are all still alive. :)

M and M said...

YUP! I remember most of those. Coming home DIRTY from playing and rolling around outside ALL DAY - summer or winter!

Sugar Cookies And Hope said...

Love it! I especially loved the part about playing games with sticks and about kids having to deal with not making the team.

Special K said...

You can include the 80's in that too cuz I did all of those things as well. Awwww..... to be a kid again. Sigh.

Liz and Ava said...

Brings back memories...good ones! I remember when we had to come home when the street lights came on...never mind being "text messaged" when mom wanted you!

redmaryjanes said...

Hey there!
I just want you to know that I've included you in the slumber party I'm having at my blog for the Ultimate Blog Party. You may get a visitor or two! Hope that's ok.

Kristine said...

Ah, my childhood was so great!!!! It is wild to see how my friends and family with kids "arrange" their lives for them - even the 13-14 year olds!!!