The Good Ol' Days

Natasha just sent me this via e-mail. I'm not usually a fan of 'forwards' (and she doesn't usually send them either), but I really liked this one.

Maybe I liked it because I remember so much of this. Maybe I like it because I'm raising a baby in this new generation where things are so, so different from my childhood. I can clearly remember the fun we had when we got to hop in the back of a pickup truck for a quick ride. It didn't happen often for us--even then--but it was great when it happened. I remember long bike rides through the neighborhood where we would 'explore' our surroundings. And I can remember begging my dad to let us take off our seatbelts for awhile when we were on long road trips--and how cool it was when he said yes.

I'm a worrier...and I know I'll have a tendency to over-protect. I just hope that I'll remember to let our kids just be kids sometimes--even if I insist they do it with a helmet on.

Anyhow, here's the forward:

To all the kids who survived the ’30s, ’40s, ’50s, ’60s & ’70s:

First, we survived being born to mothers who may have 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 okay.

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, Nintendos, X-Boxes. No video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computer! s, 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.

W e 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!