The Good Old Days !

[Big J R]

How true is this?

 

If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's, looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have...

 

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

 

Our cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no

childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cupboards, and when we

rode our bikes we had no helmets.

 

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors.

 

We would spend hours building 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 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. No mobile phones. Unthinkable.

 

We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame, but us. Remember accidents?

 

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.

 

We ate patty cakes, bread and butter, and drank cordial, but we were

never overweight...we were always outside playing. We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this.

 

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games, 65

channels on pay TV, video tape movies, surround sound, personal mobile phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell, or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian - how did we do

it?

 

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and ate worms, and

although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many

eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

 

Footy and netball had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment.....

 

Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and

were held back to repeat the same grade. Tests were not adjusted for

any reason.

 

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide

behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was

unheard of. They actually sided with the law - imagine that!

 

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem

solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has 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're one of them. Congratulations!

 

Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives....... for our own good......

[Rodders]

This is fantastic, and oh so true !!

 

Cheers <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

[Rhodes]

How true is this?

If you lived as a child in the 40's, 50's, 60's or 70's, looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have...

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

Our cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cupboards, and when we rode our bikes we had no helmets.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors.

We would spend hours building 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 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. No mobile phones. Unthinkable.

We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame, but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.

We ate patty cakes, bread and butter, and drank cordial, but we were never overweight...we were always outside playing. We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games, 65 channels on pay TV, video tape movies, surround sound, personal mobile phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms ... we had friends. We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell, or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian - how did we do it?

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and ate worms, and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever.

Footy and netball had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment.....

Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. Tests were not adjusted for any reason.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law - imagine that!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has 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're one of them. Congratulations!

Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives....... for our own good......

I came across this old post from Big JR and would just like to congratulate him on it, how true can any statement be!

 

[Big J R]

... and I still stand by it - Probably more so now than since I posted it.

[Hookey]

... and I still stand by it - Probably more so now than since I posted it.

 

I have a tear in my eye! I'm gonna print it off and stick it on the wall at work.

[Rhodes]

and I still stand by it - Probably more so now than since I posted it.

Big JR - Did you create the post yourself or lift it from somewhere else, many of us on this Forum grew up in the 60's and 70's and I'm sure I speak for all of us that our green and pleasant land was a far better place to live in unlike now

[Eastside Urchin]

As a 70s child rhodes I couldn't agree more.I feel sorry for my daughter with respect to the fact that we could pretty much play where we wanted to as kids,be it in the street or in the local park/woods

[missunderstood]

Great post by big JR. Don't remember ever eating worms, but my old mum used to make us eat stuffed hearts which is almost as bad. We also used to spend time bird nesting and the eggs were kept in a box specially made for them and sold by Wards Sports shop in Romford. We also used to go scrumping and probably knew the whereabouts of every fruit tree within a one mile radius from my house. We used to target gardens in old peoples houses because they couldn't run so fast. The fifties was a great time to be a child and its such a shame that my generation is probably the first one ever to leave the world a worse place for our children.

 

Being a teenager in the sixties was probably the best time ever to be young and I bet JR has some thoughts on that as well.

[Big J R]

and I still stand by it - Probably more so now than since I posted it.

Big JR - Did you create the post yourself or lift it from somewhere else, many of us on this Forum grew up in the 60's and 70's and I'm sure I speak for all of us that our green and pleasant land was a far better place to live in unlike now

 

 

Definitely a 'cut-and-paste' job, Rhodesy.

 

Can't remember where it came from after all this time, but it IS my sentiment !