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 f orever.

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.

So true.

Thank-You LadyLinda

LadyLinda

Oh yeah!!! Right on.

Bets

How on earth did we survive all that ????
Let alone have such brillant people come from our generations ????

Thank You LadyLinda - Haroula - flutist - Mad :wave Yes I wonder also but we did ...I guess what attracted my attention ws the part where basically it says that Then- we exercised by hanging out withour friends whereas today we are in front of the computer ----now Im not knocking that I love my games dont get me wrong But then we didnt have the Luxuary we have now

Leeana We rock

How well I remember.

Oh, Leeana, you bring back memories. I'm a real oooldie, born in the 30's but I remember the great big boys all had BB guns and they would go into the woods and play war and actually shoot each other with bb's like paint ball now but with bb's. But they were the same generation who won the 2nd WW for us. And after kindergarten was excused the 3rd graders waited for us and chased us home and papers flying and screaming and "I'll tell mama on you" never did. And my 1st bicycle. And later the 1st time I swam the Niagara River andandandandand

Thanks for that. It brought back many many fond memories and some 'nightmares'.

Oh yeah, memories are still fresh. Parents siding with the law wasn't the worst part, it's what happened when we got home. The board of education applied to the seat of understanding.

Or as was said, we played outside with out friends, all day, without worrying if a drive by shooting would take place. But that wasn't something we'd heard much about or if ever. We all may have scars from various activities, but as was said, we dealt with it.

Leeana I do remember it all!

Leeana, how true. I miss those days!

So glad I happened to see this. Thank you, Leeana. So funny ... and so true.

Thank You all Have a Great Memorial Day today

:)Thank you for sharing this with us,Leeana! It is so great and so true.

My sister and I rode in the back seat of the station wagon, without seat belts. My brother rode in the rear seat that faced backwards. No seat belt either.

When the gas station attendant filled the car with (leaded) gas, he also washed the windows and check the fluids. All ffor less than a dollar a gallon. My father did not have to get out of the car.

Soda pop, made with sugar not corn syrup, came in 25 cent bottles which the machine had an opener on because there were no twist tops. Cans of pop or beer also required an opener. I miss my child hold 7UP. It had a bight to it, it wasn't this sickening sweet stuff you get now. Oh and root beer actually had sassafras root in it, hence the name ROOT beer. Until some idiot over dozed a rat on sassafras and it got cancer. Rats over dosed on anything get cancer. Its the nature of rats. Now sassafras root is illegal. I would have to eat an entire forest to get cancer but never mind, the nanny state knows better,

We weren't over weight also because going out to a restaurant to eat was a special treat, 4 times a year, Mother's Day and us 3 kid's birthdays. That's it.

I got to have a pop - or soda here in Missouri - once a year when the bus driver would stop at the local bar/restaurant and give each of us 10¢ because that's how much one cost! Of course "town" had a population of 500 back then.