I Survived

[OneMoreLastCast]

I received this in an email just now and it hits home, being that I am old enough to remember. For others here it will as well and for some, (if not most), it will sound like stuff that Grandpa BS's about!

 

 

Those Born 1930-1979

 

 

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURV IVED the 1930's, 40'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 cheese 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 colored 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 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.

 

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 or CD's, 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.

 

We were given BB 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!

 

Little League 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!

 

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 ide as.

 

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 as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

While you are at it, forward 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?!

[reevesr1]

Seen this before. I fit in the group, that's for sure. Here is the problem though:

 

It ain't the lawyers or governments who regulate our lives, its us! If we as a group didn't like the regulations, we can have them changed. Beauty of democracy. Reality is, way too many of us don't want them changed. Here's why:

 

Does anyone really think we were better off without seatbelts. Really? Then you ignore statistics.

 

Childproof caps have saved lives. How many? Don't know, but I can guarantee the number is small. Think we should do away with them? Well no, because what if it's my kid who suffers because of it. Almost every safety example up there is the same. The risk of any one of these things impacting you are small. Which one's should we do away with? Who decides?

 

How many of us actually want to get rid of our cell phones?

 

One of my best friends lost an eye with a pellet gun. Two pumps. We were 12.

 

I also have always enjoyed the nintendo and computer game issue. Did I play with them? Well no, because they didn't exist. Had they existed would I have? Absolutely yes. How do I know this? Because EVERY KID I KNOW DOES!! Is it worse for them in the long run? I think it may be. Do I know this? Absolutely not. How could I, I'm poisoned by my past experience. I didn't have them and look how good I turned out. Problem with that is, I don't yet know how the younger gen will turn out. My bet is every preceding generation in history thought the one behind it would turn out bad. Our parents sure did. Maybe they were right!

 

I agree with the little league thing. But does any one really believe the government did that. We as parents did that. No one else.

 

If we dealt with freedom and responsibility so well, why have we allowed it (if the above rant is correct) to be taken away from our kids? Cuz it ain't the kids who took it away, it is us. Lawyers and government is a way too easy cop out.

 

Look, I think these lists are funny, and some of the things we have regulated are ridiculous. But how do you separate the ridiculous from the necessary. Who makes that call? Who explains to the parents of the kid who dies in the back of the pickup truck "we thought that one was ok cuz it's a special treat".

 

I'm also willing to bet, right now, that there are plenty of risk taking innovators coming out of the younger generation. I use history as my guide on this one. There have always been innovators and video games and seat belts ain't making kids stupid!

 

Sorry for the rant. This list always gets my blood up for some reason. It implies that my generation is somehow better because of the things that were different. I just highly, highly doubt that is true.

 

Oh and MTB, not throwing rocks at you here bud!!

[Weedy1]

This was a neccessity:

 

 

Believe it or not consumer video games have been around for almost forty years, so you young guys, don't let the old farts con you. And NO we didn't walk seven miles through blinding snow storms to get to school, only two, with no mittens.

[Guest bigbadbrent]

uphills both ways?

[Weedy1]

uphills both ways?

Yes, wearing worn out runners with no socks too!

 

(Although that's not saying much considering most kids walk around half naked nowadays with their butt cracks showing.)

[SilverDoctor]

Yep that was me all right. I remember doing show and tell in grad 6 when everyone brought in their guns, BB to high powered hunting rifles. The Idea of actually pointing a gun at someone was completely foreign to us. They where tools like a screwdriver or wrench. Many of our parent where still fresh form WW2. They knew how to instill gun safety (in my group anyway).

 

We grew up curious and free. Free of fear, free of media and free to explore our world. It was also scary times, and times of fear. Fear of the bomb. fear of war and fear of the future.

 

The local sporting goods had 2 different fly rods and 3 spinning rods. The only information at that time about fly fishing was form my Dad and the well dog eared pages of "Field and Stream" and "Outdoor life" (50 cents). I was able to find one fly tying vice in 1965 that my Dad bought for me for the huge price of $12. Few materials where available so it was off to the local sewing shop for thread or afield with my .22 to find materials in the form of Duck , Muskrat and Pheasants.

 

Was it better - no

Was it worst - no

 

but it sure was fun.

[ladystrange]

i fit in that and i'm glad i did. a lot of the problems today - in general - are the parents. if you dont have time to train a dog properly - dont have kids. the tv is not a babysitter, even if it is easier.

 

i'm not a fan of daycare, having children is a responsibility to the life that that person chose of their own freewill to bring in to the world, dont drop it off at a daycare 8-10 hrs a day 5 days a week, to be looked after by someone being paid $10/hr to watch 30 other kids. - yes i was a daycare kid. dont tell me it is a necessity to have daycare, when 1/2 or more of the monthly income from 1 parent pays for daycare. if you can afford the daycare, cable, 2 cell phones, 2 car payments, land line, internet, then you can afford to live without some of the luxuries and have the lower salery parent stay at home for the first 5 years and do daycare once or twice a week for socializing skills, while you work part time.

 

unfortunately there are too many degenerates out there who scoop up ur kid when you arent looking, sometimes even when the kid knows better than to take candy from a stranger. i'm not saying put the fear of god in to kid but they need to be trained everyday, what's safe, what's not, what's appropriate, good manners, and to those parents who have changed a diapper on a table in tim hortons - give your head a shake. i have to eat off of that at somepoint. - yes i did actually witness this. kids standing on a table in the restaurant, and i mean on the table, not the seat, is not good behaviour, but if it goes at home, why should xyz family restaurant be any different?

 

apparently it is ok for 5 yr olds to run around, and around and around the restaurant until they almost take out the waitress and have a pot of boiling coffee dumped on its head. not even so much as a glance from the parents, at least not until i caught the little brat on the 5th time passed my table, just after the waitress incident. then the father was up like a shot, grabbed the kid - who started screaming, dragged him outside and smacked the heck out of the kids butt. which would have been fine, if the kid knew what he was doing was wrong in the first place - lack of training. i cant fault the kid, how is he supposed to know? restaurant, playground, whatever.

 

anything that causes a child to sit still for too long is not a good thing, whether it is tv, video games and so on, i am a big fan of get outside and do something, learn, create and so on.

 

it isnt the government, it is the parents. if little jonny's feelings are hurt because he didnt make the baseball team, well perhaps he should practice more for next year. or he fails a grade, well try again and actually do the work this time, maybe he wouldnt fail. the amount of time and effort we put into our children shows in the results at the end of the day. if you are going to make the decission to have kids, live up to your responsibilities and spend time with them, teach, encourage.

 

ok, sorry for the rant. and for the record - no i dont have kids - why, because i wasnt prepared to make the sacrifice. too much time, responsibility and i dont want F*(^^ up some poor innocent child. i'd rather be fishing.

[DonAndersen]

Got a new truck - there must have been 30 pages of how to put on a seat belt. Now if takes that much instruction, maybe you shouldn't and the world IQ would jump a few points.

 

Don

[Taco]

What the Doc said.. It sure was fun. Hell I was driving a vehicle all over the local countryside when I was 13, so much so that I never bothered to get my steerin' papers till I was almost 18.

[bigbowtrout]

What the Doc said.. It sure was fun. Hell I was driving a vehicle all over the local countryside when I was 13, so much so that I never bothered to get my steerin' papers till I was almost 18.

 

Ya but back then there where only two cars on the road

[cdock]

I never owned a bike helmet until I moved to Calgary in 1998. A car with air bags? My newest car was a 1980 Mercury Capri. Orange. Seat belts were only a suggestion. There were no loonies back then to put your kids in danger (at least not as many). I was shooting guns and fishing from age 5 (have never had a gun incident although I was taught responsibility). Video games? My days were spent outside from dusk to dawn even in the winter. Man it was so awesome being care free. The small town in Sask where I grew up only had 800 people so I'm sure that helped. It seemed more fun back then despite the risks although back then many of these things weren't considered risks. Sure we were told to be careful but did not put on a full suit of armour. Now that I think about I can't really figure out how I didn't kill myself or my buddies. Ah...they were good friends. Oh boy I'm starting to reminise.

 

I agree, it sure was fun. The best time I remember is when my uncle told me to let him out at a hunting spot so he could flush out some deer and I was to drive the truck a couple km down the road and wait for the deer and get him if I could. I was about 10 or 11. Now this is the funny part. I was a small kid. I had to stand up to drive the truck. I would literally stand on the gas and then the brake and I could still barely see over the dash. It was awesome!

 

Then there was the time of the caves we dug in the side of the spill piles for forts. How they didn't cave in is beyond me. And skating on the thin ice and playing some shinny. I only remember one guy falling through. He was cold but was ok at the end of the day. Oh and the BB gun fights. No one lost an eye so all was well. Oh how I can go on. Were we care free or just stupid? LOL!

 

Memories last forever don't they?

[reevesr1]

Did a little research:

Not that this is completely relevant, but there is a perception that as cities have become more crowded, murder rates have gone up. While murder rates (and I think crime rates in general) have gone up since about 1960, historically they are very low. Want to get murdered? Go back in time and live in Medieval Europe. Homicide rate in England in the 1340s was 110 per 100,000 people. The US in 1992? 9.2. I don't know what the rate is now, but it has gone down since then, not up. Read this: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...753C1A962958260

 

There is a perception, sometimes real, more often not, that the world is a more dangerous place now than ever before. . Why does it seem more dangerous? Because we are told of every single horrific event that happens anywhere in North America, Europe, Asia, whatever, and in many cases in real or near real time. A child gets kidnapped in California? CNN is on the case, baby, right now! One hour later, you can hear all about it with Anderson Cooper, Larry King or Nancy Grace. Pick your poison. It's all breathless and all horrible. But hearing about each individual case gives us an unrealistic vision of the danger associated with modern times. Dangerous stuff has ALWAYS happened. You just didn't hear about all of them, so you felt safer.

 

And just for the record, until I got married and my wife made me, I never locked my doors. My mom still doesn't. Never been robbed.

[Guest Rocknbugs]

1969 here!! Every line of that email is the truth. My favorite was going for rides in the back of Grandpa's truck YEEEHHAAAAA, outside from sun up to sun down fall/winter/spring or summer, that was in Saskatoon were -20 is nice out in the winter. Another one of favorite times was my Dad taking me to his old timer games (hockey) and then after the game going into the dressing room watching them all drink about 6 beers while having sips from almost all of them which would usually add up to about 2 beers myself then basically jumping in the back seat no seatbelts or anything and driving home half cut. NOw my parents have the answer to why I did not want to go to school in the morning, I was always hungover lolololol!!!! Stilll here though phew. I am a parent of a 2 and 4 year old and things are just a tad bit differant these days.

[Glenbow]

I still do most of this stuff & I'm still here............for now. No More eating worms though. I discovered smoked fish tastes better.

[walker1]

Rickr

Did your wife make you A.) get married

or B.) lock the door

 

 

Just kidding as I read the last part!!!!

[Inconnu]

Nice to see some common sense here. I agree with some of the original letter/post but times change, technology changes and what we do changes. I mean at one time thalidamide was thought to be safe. My Dad worked in a shipyard where they told him there was no proof that working inside a steel hull while riveters worked outside was dangerous to your hearing. My question almost every day though, is why we let kids who can barely ride a bike, navigate through traffic in the city? I mean man I have several heart attacks every week and I am very careful around bike riders. Anyway, good posts good answeres!!!

[reevesr1]

Rickr

Did your wife make you A.) get married

or B.) lock the door

Just kidding as I read the last part!!!!

 

Ha! Both.

 

I thank her for the first part. Not sure about the other one.

[EdB]

I don't agree with the no day-care post. It's not that easy to just have the wife up and quit her job to stay home. Most peaple were not debt free when they had kids and only have a cell phone and a new car to pay for. We both make good money and we would be giving up alot more than our phones if she quit. To start our house, with the cost of a house here how many peaple could pay a 1100-2000$ morgage on there own. No more family vacations for another thing. My kids are 6&7 and we pay full fare for them to be on a plane. Not Cheap. As i was born in 1970 i to fall into alot of the things mentioned in the original post and it was great times. Both parents smoking in the car with the windows up in the middle of winter, no seat belts. (still couphing up smoke from those days). I also had the luxary of having a stay at home mom. Would i like to tell my wife to just up and quit. Hell ya, but no way it can happen. Wouldn't be able to pay for kids sports, field trips, none of it. We have to pay 250$ each kid just to have them stay at school for lunch. JEEEZuz, at there desk no less. no microwave, nothin, jsut for supervision. I'm sure my folks didn't have that.

Maybe if the govermant would help out with daycare it would be possible for her to work alot less.

 

I'm not sure how you can critisize peaple for using daycare when you have no kids. Mine are there 2-3 hours a day and i don't think it is hurting them. She only has 5 kids there and they are not allowed to watch TV. We use daycare to allow both of us to work so that our kids can get the best things in life. You went to daycare, how bad did you turn out?

[Inconnu]

Trout Slayer I see your point and totally agree with your reasoning. My oldest daughter was special needs and required my wife to quit her job and do what needed to be done for a decade or so. In those days we could get by on one income. We lost some ground financially no doubt I feel the effects now as we age our way to retirement.

It used to be that traditionally the wife would work to make extra cash for well....extras. Now the economy has eveolved so that I do not see how people on a single income could afford to rent a home let alone buy one. The scope of what has happened to the people due to the economy is huge and pretty hard to change. Daycare can be a great experience as long as you have a good one that you can use.

[walker1]

I 100% agree with the last two statements.

[ladystrange]

i was married for 10 years. living in vancouver combined income of less than 50,000. we wanted to have kids but knew it was not finacially feesable to drop down to an income of 30,000. i/we chose not to have kids because it would not have been fair to them to pack em up at 6 in the morning (we had 1 old truck) and not get them again until 6 in the evening - if my ex was able to get off of work (construction). i was saying that parents have a responsibility to actually raise their children and not dump them off on someone else - this includes nannies for those who chose to go that route even if it is one on one.

 

now you have indicated your kids are in daycare for a 2-3 hours a day. which is 10-15 hrs a week. please note, my comment did mention daycare for a couple of days a week for sociallization is a GOOD thing, which would be somewhere around 10 - 16 hrs a week. troutslayer, don't take offence, you are NOT the kind of parent i was talking about.

 

it is not always perfect, one spouse can't always just up and quit a job - not i did not say the female, i had said the lower income earner. the other option - which is not always the best for the marriage is working opposite shifts with one day a week designated as family day where everyone spends it together doing something. the option could be having a retired family member look after the kids for a few hours. in most cases, a family member is going to care a whole lot more about what the kids are doing than some 20yr old out of 1st year college getting paid $10/hr. after all they raised us didnt they? again, grandma and grandpa may not by physically or mentally capable. there are so many other options. the saying it takes a village to raise a child is very true.

 

as a society we have become self appointed social outcasts from our extended families. we want to be independant, be on our own, show our friends and family that we can have the great job, go to parties, have the house, but the cottage or the boat,go on the $6500 - $10,000 family vacation once a year (i was a travel agent at one point), have 5 different hobbies, get the kids into dance, swimming, hockey, soccer, piano lessons and so on, we want to prove that we can do all these things without the help from the outside. However, it takes money. everything today is about keeping up with the jones. unless a 7 yr old is surrounded by kids from the HAVE parents - they really don't care if they only get to go to disney land once when they are 10. they dont care because they don't know. children, like dogs, want nothing more than to please their parents except any attention is better than no attention. hence the temper tantrums and other poor behaviour that is not brought on by either to much sugar or missing nap time. so if both parents have to spend 60 hrs a week to make the combined $140,000 a year to get all these things, that the kid could really care less about (except further education ie lessons of whatever), how is that responsible or fair to the child that the parent brought in to the world. the child becomes nothing more than another fashion excessory?

 

a 6 year old who has not spent a week every winter in mexico, but has spent every day exploring the world around them, whether it be through camping or fishing or just going for walks in the park and the family vacation means driving across canada to visit grandma in moncton every summer, doesnt know they are missing mexico. but they have gained far more. although i am all for world travel at a young age if it is financially applicable, it provides the opportunity to learn new languages, cultures, tolerance of different people.

 

keep in mind, i grew up in a part of Vancouver that was OLD money, and lots of it. at a time where most of my classmates lived in million $ plus homes, (one home was over 10) in the mid '80s when interest rates were at 18 - 22% and just the mortgage was $8000 a month. never mind the cars. you could take 4 cars from the student lot and the combined worth was more than all of those in the teachers lot. i did not have to be in daycare, it was a choice my mother made because she wanted some of the extras. but in stead of a solution such as part time or working when my dad wasnt, she chose a full time job monday to friday 9-5. for $27,000/yr in 1979. pretty good money at the time. got lots of trinkets, went on lots of vacations, travelled all over the world, had the designer clothes, had 3200 sq ft home, had 2 cars, piano, swimming, art, sculpture, modelling, ettequette (sp?), violin, dance, theater, cooking lessons etc. but it wasnt necessary. i would have been just fine in a $30,000 1500 sq ft home, wearing Sears brand clothing and learning from my mom.

 

many dual income families work because they want to work, not because they need to have both parents working. it is my personal opinion that if the parents cannot scarifice some of the trinkets that are not necessities for 5 years until the child is in kindergarten, well then, perhaps they should not have kids. the early years in a child's life is very important, they learn bonding, social skills, language and so on. personally, i would rather my children learned those things from me rather than a complete stranger, who doesnt care and could never care as much as i would.

 

at this point in my life, i KNOW i am too selfish to have children. so i'm not going to subject a child to a life where, mommy is too busy with her social calendar to spend time teaching and being a mentor, which is where the parent is supposed to be.

 

certainly, we all need to have food, clothing, education and a home to live in and sometimes the piece of mind that comes from having a new vehicle is important, yes you have a payment but you dont have to worry that it isnt going to get from point a to point b and you have to throw away $500 everytime it breaks down. other than that, everything else is just gravy. parents need to make it work for their kids and for the future of society itself.

 

sorry for the soap box rant