If you were born in the 1940's, 50's, 60's & 70's.....

[markopolo]

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 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

[renrut]

I've heard stuff like this before. It is so true though. When you read books on kids, watch programs on raising kids, you have to laugh. I think it was Andy Rooney on 60 Minutes who said it once. If we follow all the do's and do not's that we see today, all of us born before 1980 should have never survived. I like one statistic about kids now days. Back in 1970, 95% of all kids were potty trained by the age of 2. Now, 95% of kids are not potty trained by 2.

I will say something on this; We're raising our kids to be a bit like we were and a little like their friends. Our kids go outside and play, they don't like watching TV, it's too boring and they like to create stories and act them out. My oldest ( loves reading books. The kids do have a few computer games and a Nintendo DS, but they don't play on them too much. We have a canal at the end of our road with a road running along it. We like taking walks up and down the canal to look at nature. We were out skating on a pond next door this week. Our kids go out with winter clothes on and skates. Another family would not let their kids anywhere near the ice unless they had helmets, knee and elbow pads. I understand them wanting to protect their kids but, it makes you wonder.

I know at work, we've had a lot of younger people starting. It's scary to see them. They want everything done for them, they don't want to work, they don't understand why you tell them to do a tedious job and not someone who has over 20 years on the job, they don't want to go outside if it's raining when their job is outside, they mouth back to bosses all the time, and the list goes on. The scariest part about this is, they will be the ones taking care of us when we get old. Who will do anything for them once we retire?

[markopolo]

I'm in the youngest group of Baby Boomers. In that relatively short period of time things have changed a lot!

I remember I had small toy soldiers that were made out of lead....... they weren't even painted! (yes, I know lead is injurious.... I'm not recommending lead toys)

I definitely drank water from the garden hose..........

We used to make glass candy which was boiled corn syrup or sugar (maybe both) that would harden like glass when it cooled. No wonder we had so much energy.

We were always outside. We could roam for hours. There was lots of land around.

I loved building and riding on go-carts. Had to push them until you found a hill to coast down. We steered with rope. It was fun.

Only had two over-the-air TV stations!

We really were lucky.

[g1g]

I could mention quite a few myself but I think I will just stick to one:
I don't have a cell phone glued to my ear!