includemeout
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May have been posted before but I like it.
From about the 1930's to around 1975, how did any of us survive? I mean seriously! We were born to mothers who smoke and drank during pregnancy, they took real aspirin and ate tuna right out of the can, they ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes, Imagine that!
And if that didn't traumatize us enough, as newborns, we were laid in cribs adorned with brightly colored lead-based paint, to sleep on our stomachs.
Nothing was childproof. Children had to learn what "no" meant at an early age. Medicines, light sockets, and outlets, cabinet doors and cleaning products were all covered by "NO".
We rode down-hill on our bikes, without helmets, and rode in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, nor airbags. Riding in the back of a pickup on a nice day was an option we all enjoyed. Have I mentioned the adventures we had hitchiking? No? Well, we did. And some of us hitchhiked all over and arrived just fine.
We shared food and drinks with each other; bit off the same ham sandwiches and moon pies and drank from the same pop bottles as our playmates. Our water came from the end of a garden hose and not out of a bottle, and nobody died or even got sick from it.
We ate cupcakes with frosting made with lard, thank you, and white bread with no redeeming quality. And we put real butter on it! We drank Kool-Aid made with real sugar and managed to work it off, because we were always outside.
We had no X-Boxes, Nintendos, or Playstations, no video games, movies or DVDs, no 150 channels, or cable, or surround sound, to TiVo, no CD's or cell phones, or computers, or internet chat rooms. We had friends and we went outside and found them. We rode our bikes or oller skated or just walked to our friends' houses and knocked on the door, or just walked in and talked to them in person.
On a nice summer morning, we would leave home and play all day, as long s we were back home by supper time, or when the street lights came on, we were fine.
We spent hours building soapbox cars or go-carts out of scraps and would run them downhill as far and as fast as they would go. And, sure, every now and then, we forgot to install brakes on one of them, but after a few chances to run into the bushes, we would make brakes out of something while figuring out how to problem solve on the job, as it were.
And Dad always fixed his cars and trucks himself, he would never have thought of letting anyone else touch it. He always said if you can't fix it yourself, you don't need it. Mom could even check the oil, water, put gas in it if she had to and she could even change a tire (big old bumper jack and all).
And nobody was able to reach us all day, and; believe it or not; we were actually O.K! In real life, they weren't looking for us because when we left, they knew where we were going, because they knew our friends, and our absence from under the feet of the parents gave them a chance to do necessary household chores without being bothered.
We were given BB guns for our birthdays or Christmas when we were eight or ten. We made up games with sticks, and balls of all sorts, and even though we were told it would happen, hardly anybody got an eye put out.
We occasionally got cut or broke a bone or a tooth. Accidents do happen, you know. But nobody got sured.
We ate worms and we ate mud pies made from dirt, but those worms are dead now and the dirt is gone.
Little league had try-outs and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. More problem solving on the job. Imagine that!
There is a reason those generations have produced so many of our best problem solvers and inventors, along with several risk takers, making the past 50 years an absolute explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had the freedom to fail and then to learn to succeed, and to be responsible for our own successes. Above all, we learned how to sort out our lives, and how to deal with all of it.
If you are one of us, congratulations and kudos! Makes you just want to run through the house with a pair of scissors, doesn't it?! :rock: :rock: :rock:
So, all you young whippersnappers, quit whining and go find something to do or learn
From about the 1930's to around 1975, how did any of us survive? I mean seriously! We were born to mothers who smoke and drank during pregnancy, they took real aspirin and ate tuna right out of the can, they ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes, Imagine that!
And if that didn't traumatize us enough, as newborns, we were laid in cribs adorned with brightly colored lead-based paint, to sleep on our stomachs.
Nothing was childproof. Children had to learn what "no" meant at an early age. Medicines, light sockets, and outlets, cabinet doors and cleaning products were all covered by "NO".
We rode down-hill on our bikes, without helmets, and rode in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, nor airbags. Riding in the back of a pickup on a nice day was an option we all enjoyed. Have I mentioned the adventures we had hitchiking? No? Well, we did. And some of us hitchhiked all over and arrived just fine.
We shared food and drinks with each other; bit off the same ham sandwiches and moon pies and drank from the same pop bottles as our playmates. Our water came from the end of a garden hose and not out of a bottle, and nobody died or even got sick from it.
We ate cupcakes with frosting made with lard, thank you, and white bread with no redeeming quality. And we put real butter on it! We drank Kool-Aid made with real sugar and managed to work it off, because we were always outside.
We had no X-Boxes, Nintendos, or Playstations, no video games, movies or DVDs, no 150 channels, or cable, or surround sound, to TiVo, no CD's or cell phones, or computers, or internet chat rooms. We had friends and we went outside and found them. We rode our bikes or oller skated or just walked to our friends' houses and knocked on the door, or just walked in and talked to them in person.
On a nice summer morning, we would leave home and play all day, as long s we were back home by supper time, or when the street lights came on, we were fine.
We spent hours building soapbox cars or go-carts out of scraps and would run them downhill as far and as fast as they would go. And, sure, every now and then, we forgot to install brakes on one of them, but after a few chances to run into the bushes, we would make brakes out of something while figuring out how to problem solve on the job, as it were.
And Dad always fixed his cars and trucks himself, he would never have thought of letting anyone else touch it. He always said if you can't fix it yourself, you don't need it. Mom could even check the oil, water, put gas in it if she had to and she could even change a tire (big old bumper jack and all).
And nobody was able to reach us all day, and; believe it or not; we were actually O.K! In real life, they weren't looking for us because when we left, they knew where we were going, because they knew our friends, and our absence from under the feet of the parents gave them a chance to do necessary household chores without being bothered.
We were given BB guns for our birthdays or Christmas when we were eight or ten. We made up games with sticks, and balls of all sorts, and even though we were told it would happen, hardly anybody got an eye put out.
We occasionally got cut or broke a bone or a tooth. Accidents do happen, you know. But nobody got sured.
We ate worms and we ate mud pies made from dirt, but those worms are dead now and the dirt is gone.
Little league had try-outs and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. More problem solving on the job. Imagine that!
There is a reason those generations have produced so many of our best problem solvers and inventors, along with several risk takers, making the past 50 years an absolute explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had the freedom to fail and then to learn to succeed, and to be responsible for our own successes. Above all, we learned how to sort out our lives, and how to deal with all of it.
If you are one of us, congratulations and kudos! Makes you just want to run through the house with a pair of scissors, doesn't it?! :rock: :rock: :rock:
So, all you young whippersnappers, quit whining and go find something to do or learn
