We Survived in spite of …………

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1940’s,

50’s, 60’s and 70’s…

# First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant

# They took aspirin, ate blue  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 coloured lead-based paints.

# We had no child proof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when wechildproof rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

# As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car   seats,

booster seats, seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up 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 this.

 

# We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank kool-aid made with sugar, 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.
3

# 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 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD’s, no surround-sound, CD’s or Ipods! No cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or 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 ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

# Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!jail

# We were given spud guns for our 10th birthdays,

# 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!

# 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 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!

If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives so much, for our “own good”.

And while you are at it, share it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the

house with scissors, doesn’t it?!

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28 Responses to We Survived in spite of …………

  1. Tracey says:

    FOFLMAO!Yes! l went out, with a cursery explanation to Mom, and played in the nieghbourhood! She didn\’t check up on me every half hour lol.Damn! l hate those child proof lids on things–they should call them Adult Proof! or Arthitis Proof!Double damn. My new spell check isn\’t working!

  2. Jen says:

    Aaaahhh – you left out bread and dripping;-) We had that, too. Never mind that it was totally disgusting!

  3. Douglas says:

    Hey, I laughed my ARSE off on this one, Mandy. I loved eating Lead-Based paint. As you know by reading about my youth articles, I started smoking just shortly after "I keyed" my mother, I think it was after I shot and killed Santa, dropped him like a bad habit!Nonetheless, you\’re right on these things, and I for one, am a better man about it all…

  4. Douglas says:

    Oh, the brakes, thing… Damn it, you nailed me on that one!

  5. Mandy says:

    LOL Trace…… I have a disposable "childproof" lighter, and it never gets nicked cos adults just can\’t work it, so I don\’t just hand it over and they walk off with it. I have to light it for them……..kids work in a second!!Oddly my mum NEVER gave me and my sisters bread and dripping, I think she was a bit of a snob way back, but my son told me the other day, she used to give them bread and bacon dripping when they were little, they loved it!

  6. Mandy says:

    Doug I\’m laughing my Arse off at the comments! brings back memories dun it!

  7. Tracey says:

    Are you saying you pour fat on bread?!! OMG

  8. Jen says:

    Mum gave it to us one day when we were kids, Tracey. Uuurrr! Yeah, basically, that\’s what it was. Bit of a breakfast staple in the war, or maybe they had it for tea. It really is very disgusting. Uuurrr!!!

  9. Laura says:

    This brought back lots of great memories for me…my brothers and I had all kinds of adventures outside and lived through them all! Thanks for the trip down memory lane!Jen, The bread and dripping sounds really disgusting! Whoa! that will stop a hungry moment! Have a great one everyone!

  10. Mandy says:

    Hi Laura! I agree it really sounds disgusting! and to be honest I\’ve never even thought of eating it, but a lot of people I know were brought up on it, and love it (obviously they ate other stuff as well) but I think the idea was to have the juice from the whatever you\’d roasted mixed in (like the really tasty "gravy" you get after roasting beef) to give it flavour! .. but I\’m with you eeeeoooo!

  11. Cassie says:

    amusing oversimplification.

  12. Mandy says:

    And your point would be?

  13. Cassie says:

    no point just an observation…mean to say…the original web posting of this was recognized as and known to be for humorous purposes cf http://www.idiots-guide.org/survivors.htmBut http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/hus/hus01.pdf#023 shows that not all "government intervention" is a bad idea either. Here in the States President George W. Bush fired about half of the staff at the Food and Drug Administration resulting in few government inspectors and more companies hiring their OWN inspectors—result…http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908#29561173Despite all this I did enjoy the post, Jen

  14. Cassie says:

    Third link didn\’t work—fixed it—here it is http://tinyurl.com/ck83ep

  15. Mandy says:

    Of course it was for humourous purposes, which is the whole point here! And I got it off an email, sent to me probably from some one who got it off the web. It wasn\’t to start a pointless discussion about the pros and cons of "intervention" it was to bring a smile to peoples faces when they remembered the things we did! Which it appears to have done.

  16. Cassie says:

    and i said it was amusing…so what was wrong with that?

  17. Mandy says:

    Why bother to post all the links, to a site which shows the same piece,as I wrote it, we know how good you are with google, just make your comment Cass, don\’t add the spoiler!

  18. Cassie says:

    I posted ONE link to the info you posted. The other links went elsewhere.By the way I don\’t use Google Search.Ever.

  19. Cassie says:

    I made one comment. "amusing oversimplification" then you asked me for more information—"your point being" you said. So I responded. Now you are complaining because I answered the question you asked me.Are you feeling alright today?

  20. Douglas says:

    Mandy;I for one enjoyed the article you\’ve posted, and I love the layout and the pictures you\’ve added. I liked it so much, I\’ve asked Laura to come here and read it. Have a good day at work Mandy, it was a pleasure speaking with you. Now, I got to go back to work…

  21. Douglas says:

    Oh, Mandy, one other thing, forgot. The picture of the little girl with a cowboy hat, is that you?

  22. Mandy says:

    @Cass, I didn\’t ask you for more information, the question is "and what point are you trying to make?" (not "and what point am I trying to make"?) Yes it is an oversimplification, of the facts. But it is intended as an amusement, not a discussion of the pros and cons. of growing up then. Humour has no need to be discussed just enjoyed, There was no need to post a link to anywhere, let alone to the same article! Your comments effectively destroyed the joke. If and when I post a blog, that invites discussion, please feel free to add whatever links you find helpful. otherwise just leave (or not, as the case may be) your comment!

  23. Mandy says:

    @ Doug …….. yes that is little me…… cute aren\’t I!

  24. Douglas says:

    @Mandy;Yes, of course you were cute then as you are now. I can\’t tell if that is a pistol in your right hand pointing at the camera or not. If it is a gun, then you and I aren\’t so different. When I was in Chicago as a kid, we didn\’t play "Cowboys and Indians" I think we played "Crooks and Cops." I played the crooked cop since there was so much material a kid could get first had.When I moved out to Oregon "Cowboys and Indians" were more common. We had a little Chinese girl that always wanted to play, she was the "Cook." I guess we got it from Bonanza, "Yeow, Hop-Sing, how \’bout some f*cking eggs!""Over Simplification…" Who gives a rat\’s ass. It is obvious to me that this article was based on certain facts and commonalities of the generation that some of us grew up in, in the light of humor. Personally, I didn\’t come here to read an in-depth account of the 1950\’s, \’60s, and the \’70s. I also like shows like VH1\’s accounts on certain decades, but this too would be considered by some as an over simplification. Still, a good program.I know that I may be getting a bit off topic here. Mandy, I come to people\’s sites to find out more about them as a person, as in the possibilities of striking up a relationship in friendship. When I come to folk\’s sites, I expect to find out more about them. What they are like, what makes them tick. If I am drawn into their world by means of stories, articles, music, pictures — Pictures such as your childhood, I get a bigger picture of who a person, who you are and in this wonderful case, who you were as a child. I believe this technology, the social networks side of things, gives me the opportunity to do that. The comments section gives me the opportunity equally to "see" what and how others think and respond that is in your network and from there, I get a good feel of your little social community, if you would. I have a friend, she is with me now that is not a member of MSN or any social network. She just read the information on this post, looked at the pictures and loved what was said and how you laid out this information, it\’s a reflection of you and your tastes, even the font set you use, color and style says something about your wonderful personification here. I for one, think you are well, in fact "swell!" Personally, I don\’t give a rat\’s ass if you originally penned this article or not, there\’s a million of them out there just like this, and every one that I read, and by no means, did I read them all, but they\’re all in the light of humor and an over simplification of the facts or of the events — Again, who gives a "shite…" Damn.I will go on to say that I believe this article was sabotaged by the some of the comments made, I believe it was intentional and deliberate and razes the spirit of the post right to the ground.

  25. Mandy says:

    Cowboys and Indians!! How we loved to play that! My friend even had a teepee, or a wigwam or whatever it was called! What the hell do kids play today, when they eventually get or are allowed, out to play? On a more serious note ….. we did survive, all those things, and it really pisses me off that parents today are "emotionally blackmailed" by advertising, into getting their children sparklingly clean, germ free and antiseptic. That the only way to be a good parent is to have such and such, and to give your child this thing or that thing! Hell ………. we did it without all of that and we did it well!

  26. BP says:

    I happened to run across one of your comments and thought I would drop by to say hello. I do like the entry and agree with 99% of it.I have often said many of the same things to the friends of mine who are the same age I am. When you watch the series Mad Men (don\’t know if you guys get this over there) you\’ll see exactly what you\’re talking about.I live in a gated community, where the kids play out all of the time. The majority of them are thin and it does have something to do with exercise, but there is definitely something in our modern day diet which keeps us a little heavier than we should be. My personal belief is its high fructose corn syrup. Have you looked to see what all has that ingredient? It\’s just about everything.Take care and don\’t hesitate to drop by if you get an opportunity.I love your attitude.BP

  27. Bob says:

    boy talk about memories….some of this i had totally forgotten till i read it. could you imagine what today\’s kids would do if they were to be reduced to this lifestyle, OMG.and one addition to all these things is that this was without lawsuits being filed and protests of the community or DCFS coming and taking us away……..the good ole days

  28. Bob says:

    p,s mandy you were such a cute lil cowgirl

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