Sorry its long but its worth the read!
May 21st 2003, 7:11 am
#1
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Location: Nelson Nz
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Sorry its long but its worth the read!
Just received this email sorry its long......ahh the memories!!
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 50's, 60's, and 70's probably shouldn't have survived.
Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.
When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip flops and
fluorescent 'clackers' on our wheels.
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 - and it tasted the same.
We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and actually died from this.
We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one minded.
We did not have Playstations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet chat rooms.
We had friends, we went outside and found them.
We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball
really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the same thing again.
We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue - we learned to get over it.
We walked to friend's homes.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate live stuff, and although we were told it would happen, we did not have very many eyes out, nor did the live stuff live inside us forever.
We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected.The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and 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're one of them. Congratulations!
Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as real kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.
Tori
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 50's, 60's, and 70's probably shouldn't have survived.
Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.
When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip flops and
fluorescent 'clackers' on our wheels.
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 - and it tasted the same.
We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.
We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and actually died from this.
We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one minded.
We did not have Playstations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet chat rooms.
We had friends, we went outside and found them.
We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball
really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the same thing again.
We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue - we learned to get over it.
We walked to friend's homes.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate live stuff, and although we were told it would happen, we did not have very many eyes out, nor did the live stuff live inside us forever.
We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected.The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!
This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and 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're one of them. Congratulations!
Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as real kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.
Tori
May 21st 2003, 9:28 am
#3
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Joined: Apr 2003
Location: was Lancashire now Perth
Posts: 516
And it was great!!
May 21st 2003, 9:32 am
#4
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Joined: Dec 2002
Location: Chippenham, UK
Posts: 124
Re: Sorry its long but its worth the read!
So so true..... How did we ever get this far!!!
May 21st 2003, 10:15 am
#5
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Joined: Oct 2002
Location: Sussex
Posts: 1,927
Great read!
footie chick
footie chick
May 21st 2003, 10:19 am
#6
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 212
Re: Sorry its long but its worth the read!
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 50's, 60's, and 70's probably shouldn't have survived ....
.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles,
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
When my sister was 2 she ate half a glass of my granny's sleeping tablets and had to be taken for a stomach pump.
So some things do make sense.
As far as the rest is concerned, I'm with you there.
May 21st 2003, 10:20 am
#7
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 551
Brings back many fond memories - if the kids of today could never do even half the things I did back then (70s). As long as we were home by dark it was ok!!!
Great read
Great read
May 21st 2003, 12:04 pm
#8
too busy to work members
Joined: Jan 2003
Location: Tahmoor NSW - Southern Highlands
Posts: 1,385
those were the days I can remember the 'shows' we kids put on in the road for our parents. We could play hop skotch in the street as there was only one car in the road.
I walked to brownies and guides along an unlit alley by a river without fear.
We also knew that if we did wrong and were caught by a bobby we could get a clip around the ear or be taken to our parents for a talking to.
Most of this generation learnt right from wrong and it stuck with them for them to teach their children. What has gone wrong nowadays apart from the inability to let kids out on their own without fear any more and therefore they sit watching the box or playing electronic games?????????????
One great loss due to the above is the lack of imagination that children have in the present times - no longer is a cardboard box a multitude of great playthings theoir toys have to cost bucks$$$
I walked to brownies and guides along an unlit alley by a river without fear.
We also knew that if we did wrong and were caught by a bobby we could get a clip around the ear or be taken to our parents for a talking to.
Most of this generation learnt right from wrong and it stuck with them for them to teach their children. What has gone wrong nowadays apart from the inability to let kids out on their own without fear any more and therefore they sit watching the box or playing electronic games?????????????
One great loss due to the above is the lack of imagination that children have in the present times - no longer is a cardboard box a multitude of great playthings theoir toys have to cost bucks$$$
May 21st 2003, 12:26 pm
#9
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2003
Location: UK
Posts: 236
like some of you i was a child of the 70's, i now have 5 children ranging from 20yrs old down to 6. so my generation is supposidly responsible for all the youth crime etc.. but look what were up against..
society in general puts high expections on mothers to work, especialy single ones,
media and advertising tells our kids what they should be wearing, to be in the "in crowd"
teachers arn't allowed to disapline our children for bad behaviours, and neither are we!
over the last 20 years drugs have invaded our lives, and is often seen as "trendy" by our young ones to take ..i.e.. extacy, cannibis.
paedaphiles roam our streets and watch our children play
guns and other wepons, in some places are becoming usual "accessories".
"joy riders and car theifs" get community service
i often find my self talking about the "old day's " to my kids and how different it was then (i sound like my mother)
what worries me the most, is the next 20 years when all these "disafected" kids have kids, now thats a worry!!
ellen
society in general puts high expections on mothers to work, especialy single ones,
media and advertising tells our kids what they should be wearing, to be in the "in crowd"
teachers arn't allowed to disapline our children for bad behaviours, and neither are we!
over the last 20 years drugs have invaded our lives, and is often seen as "trendy" by our young ones to take ..i.e.. extacy, cannibis.
paedaphiles roam our streets and watch our children play
guns and other wepons, in some places are becoming usual "accessories".
"joy riders and car theifs" get community service
i often find my self talking about the "old day's " to my kids and how different it was then (i sound like my mother)
what worries me the most, is the next 20 years when all these "disafected" kids have kids, now thats a worry!!
ellen
May 21st 2003, 12:36 pm
#10
?????????
Joined: May 2003
Location: Gold Coast
Posts: 1,974
Might seem good looking back , but I think things are better now than back then.
We could,nt have gone to places like Australia or america for our hols.
People diagnosed with cancers had a no win future.
EVERYONE smoked back then not really knowing the damage it was doing them.
Valium, asbestos, drugs that deformed children, power cuts, strikes, No sugar, no Bread, no petrol, no computers, no internet,
mind you I did like playing with my Chopper
We could,nt have gone to places like Australia or america for our hols.
People diagnosed with cancers had a no win future.
EVERYONE smoked back then not really knowing the damage it was doing them.
Valium, asbestos, drugs that deformed children, power cuts, strikes, No sugar, no Bread, no petrol, no computers, no internet,
mind you I did like playing with my Chopper
May 21st 2003, 12:37 pm
#11
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Joined: May 2003
Location: Exit UK 23rd Mar 2004, arriving in NZ 29th Mar (stop off LA Disney)
Posts: 385
Originally posted by ellen1
like some of you i was a child of the 70's, i now have 5 children ranging from 20yrs old down to 6. so my generation is supposidly responsible for all the youth crime etc.. but look what were up against..
society in general puts high expections on mothers to work, especialy single ones,
media and advertising tells our kids what they should be wearing, to be in the "in crowd"
teachers arn't allowed to disapline our children for bad behaviours, and neither are we!
over the last 20 years drugs have invaded our lives, and is often seen as "trendy" by our young ones to take ..i.e.. extacy, cannibis.
paedaphiles roam our streets and watch our children play
guns and other wepons, in some places are becoming usual "accessories".
"joy riders and car theifs" get community service
i often find my self talking about the "old day's " to my kids and how different it was then (i sound like my mother)
what worries me the most, is the next 20 years when all these "disafected" kids have kids, now thats a worry!!
ellen
like some of you i was a child of the 70's, i now have 5 children ranging from 20yrs old down to 6. so my generation is supposidly responsible for all the youth crime etc.. but look what were up against..
society in general puts high expections on mothers to work, especialy single ones,
media and advertising tells our kids what they should be wearing, to be in the "in crowd"
teachers arn't allowed to disapline our children for bad behaviours, and neither are we!
over the last 20 years drugs have invaded our lives, and is often seen as "trendy" by our young ones to take ..i.e.. extacy, cannibis.
paedaphiles roam our streets and watch our children play
guns and other wepons, in some places are becoming usual "accessories".
"joy riders and car theifs" get community service
i often find my self talking about the "old day's " to my kids and how different it was then (i sound like my mother)
what worries me the most, is the next 20 years when all these "disafected" kids have kids, now thats a worry!!
ellen
I agree on many of your concerns, kids just seem to grow up very quickly in the UK. We hear so many awful things nowadays, its the norm to hear about murders, child abductions, gun culture, drug crime, its worldwide I know, but it seems the UK has plenty more of these problems than most. Its the local news thats not shown on national tv that can be just as disturbing. Like the number of rapes or kids getting beaten up for their mobile phones etc. One of the reasons to get out for most of us.
The next 20yrs is what frightens me, wouldn't want to be in the UK thank you. I'm for a quieter family orientated lifestyle thanks.
May 21st 2003, 12:37 pm
#12
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 378
Re: Sorry its long but its worth the read!
I got sent the same one the other day and it really made me smilerelating to its contents.especially
How true!
We often went on long bike rides in the summer ( cos we did tend to get a bit of summer in those days).
We would set out early in the day and then return late evening.One of us always seemed to get a puncture and more often than not that person was me.
My parents were happy for me to be out all day.They wouldn't be worried.
I can't say the same.I know that I wouldn't be too happy for my son to go off on a full days bike ride!!
Diane
How things have changed!!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one minded.
We often went on long bike rides in the summer ( cos we did tend to get a bit of summer in those days).
We would set out early in the day and then return late evening.One of us always seemed to get a puncture and more often than not that person was me.
My parents were happy for me to be out all day.They wouldn't be worried.
I can't say the same.I know that I wouldn't be too happy for my son to go off on a full days bike ride!!
Diane
How things have changed!!
May 21st 2003, 12:39 pm
#13
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Location: Exit UK 23rd Mar 2004, arriving in NZ 29th Mar (stop off LA Disney)
Posts: 385
Originally posted by paulf
mind you I did like playing with my Chopper
mind you I did like playing with my Chopper
Where you hoping to emigrate to Paul?
May 21st 2003, 12:45 pm
#14
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Joined: Mar 2003
Location: Going Home
Posts: 1,215
After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
Enjoyed reading those, I was chatting to a guy the other day who remembered steam trains and was saying how his grand kids can't think that at one time mobiles and computers did'nt excist, and don't know what a 45 was. Its a funny old world.
mind you I did like playing with my Chopper
I sound like my mother
One of us always seemed to get a puncture
Last edited by karawara88; May 21st 2003 at 12:47 pm.
May 21st 2003, 4:15 pm
#15
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Location: Nelson Nz
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Glad most people enjoyed the thread I didn't post it to compare now with then it just made me smile brought back loads of good memories.
Tori
brought back loads of good memories.Tori