Born Before 1980?

[GIDDLEPIN]

Born before 1980?

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-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, CD's or Ipods! 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, broken 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.

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, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives so much, than for our own good.

And while you are at it, share 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?!

[Fizz]

was born in '79... and so yes.. i used to play out all day long in the summer.. mum never used to see me for hours on end and she had no idea where i was..

[1bloke1dog1mr2]

My friend emailed this to me a while back and it's all so true as a kid born in the hottest summer of '76. To some extent this was true of the 80's too! Makes you realise while reading it through how things have changed..

[celsteve]

Oh so true. I just about qualify with 1974. What a pathetic country we now live in, can't wait to move abroad!!

[DaveSR]

I cant wait for the one created for today .....

Can you remember getting your first knife and stabbing someone as a joke

Can you remember never going home at night and spending it on the streets ******

Can you remember the time that you got your first asbo and showed off to all your mates at how 'well ard' you was

;)

[Demonic Angel]

I'm 1981 and I remember all of the above...

Everything is so overly-cautios and PC these days... you can't do this and you can't do that.... its quite ridiculous actually when you look at how life was!

[Devil-ish]

Ah yes I remember it well!!!!!!!!!!!

[gus]

i remember that all too well 1968 - and no jokes about reaching the big 40 next year thankyou :!Removed!:

[Vlad_E]

its a shame :(

[Paul C]

i remember that all too well 1968 - and no jokes about reaching the big 40 next year thankyou :!Removed!:

yep the same as that my gosh where has the time gone?

i'm a mechanic by trade and it makes me think of the things we used to get upto in the workshop we'd never get away with it now the apprentices would have us in court quicker than that.

[Boro Sera]

When I was a kid I played in the park, the woods, the beck etc. Got injured, fell out of trees ........it's all part of growing up !

PLUS, not sure if anyone else has deduced the same thing, but there are germs in the world ! It's not clean.......it didn't matter to my generation though. We didn't have all of this antibacterial kitchen cleaner/handwash etc, hoovers with hepa filters etc. The world our kids are exposed to now is on the whole much cleaner than the one I grew up in..........and that's not a good thing !

Kids need germs to develop immune systems. It's no surprise they sit infront of playstations all the time - they'd probably end up in hospital if they ventured outside..............OH NO ! the Common Cold ! that's gotta be a month off school and endless trips to the doctor !!!!!

[Moffmo]

When I was a kid I played in the park, the woods, the beck etc. Got injured, fell out of trees ........it's all part of growing up !

PLUS, not sure if anyone else has deduced the same thing, but there are germs in the world ! It's not clean.......it didn't matter to my generation though. We didn't have all of this antibacterial kitchen cleaner/handwash etc, hoovers with hepa filters etc. The world our kids are exposed to now is on the whole much cleaner than the one I grew up in..........and that's not a good thing !

Kids need germs to develop immune systems. It's no surprise they sit infront of playstations all the time - they'd probably end up in hospital if they ventured outside..............OH NO ! the Common Cold ! that's gotta be a month off school and endless trips to the doctor !!!!!

yeah this is true..

Too much sterilization harms the immune system

[JappyBeast]

Born 1978 and its so true :(

There is another email going around just like that one.

I weep for the future generations!

I know I'll teach my kids (when I have them) the values of life.

[GIDDLEPIN]

i remember that all too well 1968 - and no jokes about reaching the big 40 next year thankyou :shutit:

yep the same as that my gosh where has the time gone?

i'm a mechanic by trade and it makes me think of the things we used to get upto in the workshop we'd never get away with it now the apprentices would have us in court quicker than that.

You mean like getting winched up to the rafters after having your nether regions smeared with grease you're right they would take you to court and sue you today then have to go for counseling

[Red Yaris 54]

i remember that all too well 1968 - and no jokes about reaching the big 40 next year thankyou :shutit:

yep the same as that my gosh where has the time gone?

i'm a mechanic by trade and it makes me think of the things we used to get upto in the workshop we'd never get away with it now the apprentices would have us in court quicker than that.

You mean like getting winched up to the rafters after having your nether regions smeared with grease you're right they would take you to court and sue you today then have to go for counseling

Vintage 1951 here (Like you Les ;) )

Ha Ha......................I remember getting that treatment with engineers blue years ago as an apprentice

Certainly would not get away with it these days

[JustJJ]

Got this email a while ago.. included the 80s too... its so true..

:P

[Paul C]

i remember that all too well 1968 - and no jokes about reaching the big 40 next year thankyou :!Removed!:

yep the same as that my gosh where has the time gone?

i'm a mechanic by trade and it makes me think of the things we used to get upto in the workshop we'd never get away with it now the apprentices would have us in court quicker than that.

You mean like getting winched up to the rafters after having your nether regions smeared with grease you're right they would take you to court and sue you today then have to go for counseling

the first garage i worked at they had an Irritating know it all apprentice in the body shop so they sprayed his balls with under seal and gave him a tin of nitromors to get it off

[GIDDLEPIN]

the first garage i worked at they had an Irritating know it all apprentice in the body shop so they sprayed his balls with under seal and gave him a tin of nitromors to get it off

He should have left it on then any kids he fathered would have been born with protection

[JustJJ]

mmmm nitromors... we have a can of that at uni... we used to put it in plastic pint glasses and let it melt... and set fire to things with it.. and write in flames with it...ahhhh the memories

[dawesy]

born in '72 and yes reading that you realise how much the world has changed, and not for the better.

saw some thing on TV saying in the 70's the accepted maximum distance from home for an 8 yr old was just over 800mtrs now its the back yard!!

bring back the good ol days

[Bizarra]

The entire human race evolved like this , or similarly. now we have been forced to opt out by the Politically correct lobby. the sad part is that there is no way that I can see that our society can ,or will, become sensible again. We are becoming too sanitised & protected to live in our own environ ment..

born in '41..... Beat that !

[Al J]

When I was a kid I played in the park, the woods, the beck etc. Got injured, fell out of trees ........it's all part of growing up !

PLUS, not sure if anyone else has deduced the same thing, but there are germs in the world ! It's not clean.......it didn't matter to my generation though. We didn't have all of this antibacterial kitchen cleaner/handwash etc, hoovers with hepa filters etc. The world our kids are exposed to now is on the whole much cleaner than the one I grew up in..........and that's not a good thing !

Kids need germs to develop immune systems. It's no surprise they sit infront of playstations all the time - they'd probably end up in hospital if they ventured outside..............OH NO ! the Common Cold ! that's gotta be a month off school and endless trips to the doctor !!!!!

yeah this is true..

Too much sterilization harms the immune system

People who think the same as I, at last!

As a teacher, I'm amazed at the number of kids on inhalers nowadays, compared to when I was a youngster and don't even get me started on the other (legal) drugs some of them are on!

Born in 1954 and loved my childhood. We had only a few channels on the telly but a lot of programmes were actually planned out rather than just shove some of the public on them

And we had Doctor Who!

We had collectors cards that came with bubble gum. Mars Attacks and Civil War News were the best and very gory and violent. We also played with toy soldiers, tanks and guns. We didn't turn into homicidal maniacs though.

We all wanted nice clothes as we grew up a bit but they didn't have designer names. You could wear a cheap pair of "pumps" or trainies without feeling like a social outcast.

Best of all, we knew where are parents were (and they us, given about a mile or so!) and they actually wanted to eat with us and us them.

Odd that in some ways, we had less freedom and in others, so much more.