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General Category => The Coffee Shop => Topic started by: sgood on March 09, 2011, 07:46:05 pm
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TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED 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-base paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles,
Locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode
Our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.
As infants & children,
We would ride in cars with no car seats,
No booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.
Riding in the back of a pick-up truck 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, real butter and bacon.
We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar.
And, we weren't overweight.
WHY?
Because we were
Always outside playing...that's why!
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 them 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 and X-boxes.
There were no video games, 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 and no 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 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 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 ?
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You are so right Steve! I am a child of the 50's and I remember going out all day with my bike and no helmet and not coming home until the street lights came on!
Those where the days for sure.
Now my son thinks he has it so bad! Even though he has an Ipod, Iphone, Macbook and an Xbox!
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You nailed it Steve! The physical bumps and bruises we dealt with as kids helped us learn to deal with the emotional bumps and bruises we have to deal with as adults! Those who are protected as children usually can't cope as adults. I've seen it time and time again! Great thoughts Steve!
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hmmm....I guess I'm not a survivor
Oh well, can't win them all
;)
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I even survived laying on the living room floor LISTENING to radio shows with out color pictures and surround sound on a 55" flat screen!
Life was Hell but...
WE Survived!!!
~~~GB~~~
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Steve you forgot about sitting in the rear facing seats in our parents station wagon or with the seats down just sliding around back there. Yep them were the days.
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I am a kid of the 70's, so I remember all this as well and miss it. Was nice not having a cell phone so anyone can get ahold of you...kids these days don't even know what "playing outside" means for the most part! Thanks Steve!
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HWPlmbr1@ I also remember laying in the back window of my dad's car while he drove 80mph on the interstate. He would stop and pick up hitchhikers and not once did they ever have a chainsaw. He would stop at the grocery and leave all three of us kids in the car. No one ever kidnapped us even though I think that was his plan sometimes. If we got on his nerves he would threaten to pull the car over and beat our butts. It was not just a threat. No one ever called child protective services and reported a crazy man beating his kids on the side of the road. We survived and I sure wish my dad was around to talk about all those fun trips we had. I never felt abused but I sure felt loved.
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Ahh Yes, those where the good ole days and I remember them well. I was raised on a farm where my brother and I got up at 5:00 am every morning, milked the cows and tended to the animals before we left for school. My mother would be in the kitchen cooking us breakfast, bacon, eggs, grits, biscuits, etc. every morning. We only went to the store once a month to by salt, flour, coffee, tea the things we didn't make, grow or raise on the farm. And we weren't given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, they where real guns with real bullets to. LOL I miss those days, my mother and my father. :)
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Before we moved to the big city. Which we all hated but needed the work. We listened to the radio there were some pretty good programs back then and it made you use your imagination since you couldn't see what was happening but the announcer would verbally set the stage for you, and the big treat was when we got the Saturday Evening Post, and Mom would read the stories to us, some were short stories and others were serial and came in installments kind of like the matin?es at the movies. She was very good at it and would change her voice for the different characters. If we got silly or disruptive she put it away and sent us to bed, which was harsh punishment because this was the only time we were allowed to stay up late. We all loved those stories and her reading to us so most of the time we behaved pretty well. I commented a while back about Al's intarsia of the Saturday bath. We didn't have running water except sometimes in the irrigation ditches, so all our water was hauled in 5 gallon milk cans from town, this was for all our needs and I had 3 brothers older than I, and I was the one that they had to be careful not to throw out the baby with the bath water since I was always last. That water was pretty thick by the time I got to it.
Enough reminiscing for now.
Look what you started Steve. You got old Gabby wound up again. ;D
After reading other's posts after mine I can see many of us shared similar childhoods, living out in the sticks as we used to call it.
Didn't know what a bathroom was until I was in school. In winter time we had a thunder mug in the back room, other wise it was a 50 yard dash to the outhouse. I'm sure others had it colder but the winters there could dip to 40F or 50F below zero. After deer hunting we would hang their carcasses on the North side of the house, it was a good deep freeze, when we needed meat one of the bigger boys or Dad would go out with a meat saw and carve off what was needed frozen hard as a board, sometimes we'd have 3 or four deer hanging out there at once.
We had a big potbellied stove for heat but I think Mom had an electric range to cook on. Our first phone was one of those tall black ones with the ear piece on a long cord. I suspect the term "hang up" started with those early models because you had to literally
hang up the earpiece which turned it off. Evereyone was on a "party" line and sometimes us kids would listen in when someone else's number rang. I guess they could hear us breath or giggle because they would say "you kids get off the line" that would scare us so we did!
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Guess I am a survivor. Born in the 50's. I can identify with a lot of things you say Steve. I always find it facinating to see that some things are pretty much the same all over the world. You growing up in the US and me in South Africa and yet even on this topic there is a conection and a lot of recognition.
I do think back of those years with fond memories.
David
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I have coffee with a group of old f--ts everyday and this exact subject came up a while ago. One of them punched(not hard) my shoulder and asked what I was grinning about-- all I could say was " memories, just memories" Youth is a wonderful time of your life. I tell all my grand kids not to take life so serious, to have a great time and not to worry about the small stuff. They will grow up too soon anyway. They are always asking when I am going to grow up?--you don't have to grow up , just grow old. Thanks for posting this Steve--really enjoyed it--Richard aka thumbs
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Yeah, I think I remember those days, or was it a TV program, my memory isn't what it used to be ??? ???
Pete
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I grew up in the country and remember these well. A special treat was collecting a group of kids and heading for the swimming hole. Often driving with kids riding on the front fenders. You had to periodically get out and pluck off the leeches that lived in the leaves on the bottom of the creek.
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I Look back on those days with very fond memories and think about how lazy these kids are today we took a cardboard box and did so many things with it you give a kid one today they wouldn't have the first clue what to do with it...
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Yes, I remember those days very fondly, I grew up in a family of 10. we lived in a house with no heat, just a coal burning stove in the kitchen which my mom used to cook and make hot water with a side water storage bin. We had one bathroom and 3 bedrooms, a small kitchen and living room. We had no TV so we would all huddle together in the evening and listen to the radio, programs like "The shadow knows", "the green Hornet" and other oldies.
We walked to school and after we got home we all had chores to do and then there was homework to do. no internet to research or calculators to help with math problems.
After we got all of these things accomplished we were then allowed to go outside but had to be home on time for dinner. The weekends were fun as we would get together and play punch ball or stick ball. We had sing along with all of the girls and boys on each others stoops, At times we rented bikes and would ride for miles on Saturday mornings. We were always outdoors getting as much exercise, sunshine and fresh air as we could endure.
We were all healthy and very happy. We all survived with no ipods, cell phones, Xboxes,play stations,etc. Yes I have to agree that those were the good old days.
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I have great memories of by-gone times. Born on a Nebraska farm in '36, I was another who got up, helped with chores and then went off to my one-room school where my aunt was the teacher. My grandparents lived on another farm about 1/4 mile away, and nearly every Sunday we would have dinner with them, along with several aunts, uncles and cousins. "Kids were made to be seen but not heard" was often said, so we played outside. Tag, hide & seek, etc. I helped separating the milk to get the cream out, made butter and lye soap. Mom made dresses from flour sacks. Best part was cranking the ice cream maker(we were the motor) and arguing who got to lick the beaters when it was done. We didn't have electricity or running water, and the toilet was outdoors. I can still remember the phone being installed, two oak boxes on the wall, one being for the batteries. Our number was two longs, one short! But I NEVER felt deprived of anything. These are memories of a true family, something I miss today. All my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles (except two aunts) are now gone. The two remaining aunts are now 90 and 96, and each lives in their own home, both still drive, and they go to a casino every Tuesday to play the slots. I call each every Sunday, and I'm still learning about the lives they and my now gone relatives led. I'm not sure my kids are or ever will be interested in that knowledge, but they should be.
BTW, I was actually born on that farm, the doctor came out at 2am for my birth, and later billed Dad $25.00, which included that trip and the office visits Mom had made. My sister was born 18 months later, and she cost another $25.
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My sister was born 18 months later, and she cost another $25.
Kids cost a lot more these days! Maybe that's why they are coddled!?
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as born in the sixties I remembered a lot of these things.
when the teacher gave us a corrective tap/slap and I told this to my dad, he asked what I have done and then he gave me 2 more because I've earned it >:(
The day's we have to walk home with our bike for over 6 miles with a flat tire, instead of calling home on the cell phone to tell where they are and if we can hurry to get them.
I remember that on Saturday night all the children had to go in a small tub, on the table in the living room, all in the same water, and being the eldest I was always last.....
we didn't had a bath but later we get a home with a lavette.
we had wired distribution radio with only 3 stations.
my dad worked at the telephone company and we were the only one with a phone in the block.
in the early seventies most people only had a rented wall phone in the hall.
patience: from requesting a phone to having one installed would take 6 to 8 weeks.
but it's not all that bad.
my dad was driving the car in winter trough the forest (20 Mp/h) and we were riding a sled behind it ;D
we swam in the canal and tied a rope or a string of bicycle tires on the bridge.
we "borrowed" 8) some potato's from a farmer and made a small campfire to roast them ;D
having stomach ache after eating to much unripe apples which we "earned" by outrunning the farmers dog ::)
riding on an old moped at a piece of land at just outside the city and then arguing with the police when riding home instead of walking ;D
the good old days, glad we survived!!
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Don't forget mumbley peg with a REAL Sharp knife. And darts and, bow and arrow, the real no no Lawn DARTS! I am amazed that I survived those days. Each and everyone of us have a wealth of stories to tell our grandkids (when can get them away from the dvd), some of them they won't believe. We are all showing our ages ;) ;) Thanks for the memories!!
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Yep those were wonderful memories, but I like starting my car from in the house, hot showers, electric scroll sawing, (back then I used a coping saw). Oh by the way......Harleyryder, I played mumbly peg just last summer and yep the knife was very sharp, and my body is still in tact with no more holes in it than God intended. :D
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"The day's we have to walk home with our bike for over 6 miles with a flat tire, instead of calling home on the cell phone to tell where they are and if we can hurry to get them."
@Marcellarius: You had a BIKE?? Wow!
Actually, you brought back memories of going on watermelon "hunts" at night. One of the farmers posted a sign that said "One of these watermelons has been poisoned." Someone (I'm not telling who) crossed out One, and wrote in Two. And it sounds like many of us experienced sharing that common bath.
My kids and grandkids aren't really interested in hearing these stories, and I probably wasn't either at their ages. But now I wish I'd listened. Because of that I've written a little bio on my life so they can read it when I'm gone. My mother did the same thing and I treasure having that.
Yep, we survived it all...
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@Marcellarius: You had a BIKE?? Wow!
In Holland we don't have a school bus, so we had to go to school on our bike.
And I still have one 8).....
..... the only differences is that now it's only standing in the shed ::)
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I wa sborn in the 70's and we had BB guns. Had scissors made from steel. Never wore a seat belt. What ever happened to talking your little brother into putting a screwdriver in an electrical outlet. I broke bones had plenty of stitches and a few concussions, I am still here mostly. Those things made me a better person. Now as an adult I think how bad is this gonna hurt and will I heal before I do something crazy.
I walked to school or rode a bike. Climbed trees and anything else that was available. Swam in the pond on the old dairy farm until the farmer came after us with a gun. We just had fun and we made stuff ourselves.
Rent the movie "Grownups" with Adam Sandler and it shows just how spoiled our kids are nowadays.
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I loved reading of all of your posts and boy all the memory's . I was born in 1970 to a Marine Vet. and Dad would just have a ball with me . If I would do something real dumb he would make shore I was OK and after say " Did it hurt ? " and laugh like crazy . A lot of good life lessons came from then and the kids today are just missing out . I do think it has gotten out of control with the government stepping in . I do like the technology we have today but sometimes I think it is going to be are down fall . My Father was tough with me but it made me a better man but you better not do that now or you will get someone knocking on your door . The kids are going crazy and you are a bad parent but you better not yell at them , use fall language or even threaten to raze a hand at them . The kid know what they are doing is bad so it does not make seance to tell them so . That is all you can do . Once I thought I was doing the tight thing my son did something really bad so I grounded him to his room for the night . So what did he do climbed out his window . I felt like giving him a but worming but You can not do that . These kids know your hand are tied . Yes I survived . But I worry If my kids will .
Mike