CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1940s, 50s, 60s and 70s !!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or
drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese
dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn’t get tested for diabetes. Then
after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright
coloured 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 children, we would ride in cars
with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a van – loose
was always great fun.
We drank water from the garden hosepipe 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 cakes, white bread and real
butter and drank pop 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 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 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround
sound, no cell phones, no text messaging, 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. We played with 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 poke out any eyes. We rode bikes
or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the
bell, or just yelled for them!
Local teams 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!
This generation has 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!
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.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?!
The November Archives 
Have a moan - the beers are on me !!