Another view

[tincatinca]

Just had this sent to me. Excellent

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE

BORN IN THE

 

 

 

1930's 1940's, 50's, 60's and

even early 70's !

 

 

 

 

 

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses containing asbestos.

 

 

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

 

 

 

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were 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 or shoes, not to

mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

 

 

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

 

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

 

 

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Nandos.

 

 

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on Sundays, somehow we didn't starve to death!

 

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

 

 

 

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.

 

 

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, 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 old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and

played in river beds with matchbox cars.

 

 

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii, X-boxes, no

video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY, no20video/dvd films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet 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.

 

 

 

 

Only girls had pierced ears!

 

 

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

 

 

 

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...

 

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,

 

 

 

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

 

 

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

 

 

 

 

FOOTBALL, RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT

 

 

 

Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes .

 

Bully's always ruled the playground at school.

 

 

 

 

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

 

 

 

 

Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'

 

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

 

And 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 our lives for our own good.

 

 

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.

 

 

 

 

PS -The big type is because your eyes are not too good at your age anymore

[Ken L]

A mixture of plain common sence and utter stupidity.

 

Lead based paint got banned because people suffered horrific neurological disorders because of it.

Asbostos did and still does kill people (My uncle has just been diagnosed with asbestosis) in a slow and undignified way.

These arn't risks that should be disregarded. We learn the lessons of epidemiological studies and we move on.

 

Crimes against children are at a lower level now than they were 30 years ago. Yes, there are monsters out there but these days, their names are on a register, the church isn't hiding them and people are able to find out who they are. Kids should be allowed and indeed encouraged to go out, play games and get some excersise while learning to interact with real people - but they don't because people allow themselves to fall victim to theculture of fear drummed up by the media.

[Emma two]

A mixture of plain common sence and utter stupidity.

 

Ken, I agree with your response to this one. The lead paint and asbestos are righty gone the same way as lead drinking cups and food storage containers. Lots of the other things we did, and as pointed out armed us to deal with the rigours of life.

 

We, in here are perhaps as bad as any other part of society when it comes to concern over the notion of risk. For example the threads about water and specifically boat safety hold lots of warnings that we must use life jackets, and not any old flotation aid, but 'extra safe' and high tech ones. (yes, I have advocated their use too). On the other hand as kids wer regularly hired out from the local estate, long narrow clinker built rowing boats (5/- a day) and took off fishin' on them in a 4 mile long lake, without life jackets, adult supervision, mobile phones call the boatman to book. We travelled to the lake on a bus or cycled, I had only one childhood friend whose family had thier own transport and they were farmers.

 

There is a clear link from this to the 'that's my boy' thread, and illustrates a contradiction which also highlights Ken's comment regarding the media promoted climate of fear.

Each day just before 9am I make a short car journey through our small market town, the weight of traffic is significantly high, the parents, who according to some don't care about thier kids are too fearful for their safety to let them walk to the primary schools are driving 'em there, there must be a realistically higher danger of involvement in an RTA than being abducted from the pavement. The kids who do walk are decked out in high visibility vests and accompanied by adults.

I went to the same school, we started at 5 years old in those days, our 'Mams' took us on the first day, just to make sure we knew where it was, anyone being escorted after that lose all credibilty, and would have been considered as either 'simple' or a hopeless 'softly'.

 

I had a recent conversation about this with a primary school teacher and we remembered when he was 5 and I was 8, and his Mam and Dad (a policeman) would be entrust him into my care to be taken sledeging, fishing and simply going around the town and local hills, we just had to be back by sundown.

[kleinboet]

Now I'm not taking sides - I am just making an observation:

There were very few unmarried mothers. (this was frowned upon!)

Being "Gay" was frowned upon

If someone the same sex "touched you up", they could be arrested (and often were)

There were Bobbies on the beat (and the were respected)

If a neighbour saw you doing something wrong, they either phoned your mother or the police - and the police responded immediately!

[Steve Walker]

On the other hand as kids wer regularly hired out from the local estate, long narrow clinker built rowing boats (5/- a day) and took off fishin' on them in a 4 mile long lake, without life jackets, adult supervision, mobile phones call the boatman to book.

 

Didn't drown, therefore not duffers?

[Clifftop]

Now I'm not taking sides - I am just making an observation:

There were very few unmarried mothers. (this was frowned upon!) There were plenty they went away to stay with family

Being "Gay" was frowned upon There were NO gays ,just dirty old men

If someone the same sex "touched you up", they could be arrested (and often were)they were given a smack in the mouth

There were Bobbies on the beat (and the were respected)and feared

If a neighbour saw you doing something wrong, they either phoned your mother or the police - and the police responded immediately!your parents must have been well off, nobody had phones where i lived, you went to the police box and opened a little door on the front, if i remember right

[gozzer]

You're dead right there Fred.

 

A single girl who got pregnant, was either sent away to a relative, and either 'appeared' with a baby or it was given up for adoption.

The father (if known) was often forced to do the 'decent' thing and marry the girl, (often under threat of violence), regardless.

Back street abortionists also played a part in saving the family from a scandal, or it was done unbeknown to the family, because the girl was scared of the consequences.

 

We didn't have a phone either. You didn't really need one, because there was always someone who knew you, and your family. The cry of "I know your mother/father", still rings in my ears from my childhood days.

 

 

John.

[ColinW]

I can't ever remember seeing a Police Box. I think they were a great idea, having all that space on the inside and yet only taking up a little square of pavement. So much better than today's horrible concrete Police Stations, where, incidentally, I have yet to see a train.

[kleinboet]

Sorry guys - I spent my childhood in South Africa - we did have telephones!

 

Fred, you filled in my little rant perfectly! The only thing I will add is that the bobby could give you a thick ear (and not face a human rights tribunal) if he thought you were breaking the law

[Newt]

Certainly all the risks noted in the opening post existed and certainly people were harmed by them.

 

However, was the incidence of harm great enough to make the removal (or whatever sort of risk reduction was done) worth it?

 

In many cases, I think not. Certainly there were dangers when I was growing up that have basically been removed now but IMO we've gone way overboard and not managed to make things a helluva lot safer for kids now - just less fun. The dangers now are different but not gone.