badbobby Loc: texas

We were born to mothers who may have smoked,or drank when they were pregnant
They took aspirin,ate blue cheese dressing,ate tuna from the can,and weren't tested for diabetes
but we survived
Then after all that trauma,we were put to sleep on our tummies,in cribs painted with lead paint.
We had no child proof lids on medicine bottles,nor locks on doors.
When we rode our bikes we wore baseball caps--not helmets.
We rode in cars with no car seats ,no seat belts,no air bags,bald tires,and some times even no brakes.
Riding in the back of a pickup was a special treat
But we survived
We drank water from the garden hose(not from a sanitized bottle)
We shared a soda pop with two or three friends--no one got sick
We ate cup cakes,white bread,real butter,and bacon
We drank cool aid with real sugar--and we didn't gain weight!-Why?
Because we were always outside romping and playing,cowboys and indians,or jumping rope,or hide and seek
And we survived
We would go off and play all day,and as long as we were home before dark,no one worried.
We spent hours building go carts from scrap lumber,rode them down hills,only to find out that we forgot to add brakes.
But we survived
WE didn't have Play Stations,Nintendos or X Boxes,no video games,no ear phones,no TV,no cell phones,no computers,no internet and no chat rooms.
But we had lots of friends,and we went outside and found them.
WE fell out of trees,jumped off garage roofs got sprains and sometimes broken bones--and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We got spanked with belts,paddles,switches and even bare hands--but no one called child services to report abuse.
And we survived
We ate worms and mud pies,and the worms didn't (in spite of what we were told) live inside of us forever.
We were given bbguns on our 9th birthdays,and we didn't put out too many eyes ,when we played War.
But we survived
WE rode our bikes or walked to our friends house and either knocked on the door or just walked in and talked to them.
We had Little League tryouts,and not every boy made a team.Those who weren't selected had to learn to live with disappointment--Imagine that!!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.Our parents sided with the law.
But we survived
These generations produced some of the best problem solvers and inventors ever.
And the past 60 to 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas
Our generations had freedom,success,and responsibility,and we dealt with it all.
If you are one of those born between 1920 and 1950--Congratulations!!!
You might want to share this with others who had the good fortune to be kids before the do gooders and the government regulated so much of our lives.
While you are at it,show it to your grand kids and great grand kids,so they will know how brave and how lucky were their forebears
WE survived!!!
A quote from Jay Leno
"With all the hurricanes,fires out of control,mud slides,flooding,tornadoes tearing up the country from one end to the other,and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks,
are you sure this is a good time to take GOD out of the Pledge of Allegiance????"

America Only Loc: From the right hand of God

AMEN!

PoppaGringo Loc: Muslim City, Mexifornia, B.R.

Yup, that is how I was reared, and survived.

wings Loc: Georgia

I not only survived it, but later prospered because of it.

archie bunker Loc: Texas

I'm a '63 model BB, and did all that stuff. We also fought when we got sideways of each other. No guns, knives, or anything else. Just knuckle, and skull. Nobody cried to mama, nobody held grudges, we just hammered it out, and went on with life.
Hell, I'd come home torn, and swollen up, covered in blood, and get a whipping for messing up my school clothes!

I'm alive, and well today. Those were good days!

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

Well, THAT explains a lot of things..............the DNA damage showed up in their progeny.

out of the woods Loc: to hell and gone New York State

When my kids went from Christian school (where they let them build forts in the woods and climb trees)to public, where they were not allowed to run on the playground, I was appalled. The wussification of America.I still proudly bear scars from my happy dirty childhood,
my injuries today would require a trip to the ER. That and a lawsuit against whose pothole caused my bike to flip, whose tree caused me to fall.

Justsss Loc: Wisconsin

I really hate no kid left behind and participation trophies. Heros who aren't (sports heros) etc. it took decades to destroy us. Now they are working on taking every last "right" away from us and putting us under sharia law.
The end just isn't very pretty.

Big dog

If anyone in our neighborhood had a beef with another kid our fathers put boxing gloves on us and refereed the fight.

theunknown

A small addition to your great memory of the good old days. We did not have air conditioning, we did not lock our doors. we had red and blue chips for food we bought during the war ll. The red was for meat and the blue was for other food. I am white but one of my best friends was colored and the other was Japanese. I feel like the best gift I received from mother, my parents were divorced when I was 3 years old, patience to get along with people, if things did not go your way accept it and make the best it. Showed me between right and wrong. It made life easier while growing up. I am in my 80's and I would not change any thing my first 25 years of my life. theunknown

Alicia Loc: NYC

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Do you really believe that survival" should be preferred over "prevention"? I did live through the 30s and forward but I certainly am glad that my mother cared about her own health, her pregnancies and her children. Evidently yours didn't or she wouldn't have turned out such poor progeny. God was entered into the Pledge during the Eisenhower administration in an attempt to separate the U.S. from communist idiologies. He wasn't in favor of it but felt it couldn't do any harm.

Jean Deaux

:

I think we all did because the basics it taught were self reliance and ingenuity, self respect, thrift, honesty and a respect for others and the law.

Jean Deaux

:

And wasn't that the basis for "Dr Mom" who always had a cough drop or a band aid and a bottle of merthiolate, a hot water bottle and a mustard plaster for a chest cold. I don't remember ever seeing a Dr when I was a kid but my mom tended the family with extreme empathy.
And what is the crack above about Badbobbies being a bad progeny? I thought his remarks were extremely pertinent and well thought out? Maybe you ought to go back and work on some of the basics. Just a review to see that you're staying current and courteous.

Louie27 Loc: Peoria, AZ

That is when us kids were real kids and not pansies. Sure we got hurt when playing or riding a bike but that was fun. Kids of today do not know what fun really is when you are with friends and building a cave, in a vacant field and covering it with wood and then dirt, it had only one way in which may not have been safe but what the heck. Played ball in a vacant field, made our own base's out of whatever we could find, and we had no catchers masks to use. Great memories of days gone by.

PoppaGringo Loc: Muslim City, Mexifornia, B.R.