Perils of Childhood

[Saint]

Dear all, I received this by e mail and thought you might like it. It made me smile and took me back to a time when we had less cares, when the sky did not fall in on our heads, we did not look on the dark side of life so often and we trusted people untill had reason to think otherwise. I beleive you will all recognise something here, even lawyers were once children..... ; - )

Perhaps when we have finished discussing this link we could start a new one for christmas remembering the stories from our childhood, its got to be more interesting than financial advice?...

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1940's, 50's, 60's and 70's!!

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 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 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, Nintendo's, 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?!

[Cassis]

Thank you for adding a touch of levity, Saint.  [:)]

[Gastines]

Brilliant! That's one of the pleasures of bringing our younger grandchildren over here for a break. As they all live on estates,no play area's that are free of druggies/foul languageetc ,very busy roads. At least when they are here they can go mad on their bikes around the field and garden,see loads of birds/horses etc and enjoy eating the veggies they've dug out of the garden.  Enjoy the sandy beaches and explore the rock pools. Given the chance I still think most can enjoy simple pleasures. After the first tantrum because the TV is off till after the evening meal they soon realise they can live without it.

regards. 5 mins St.Malo

[Saint]

Hi Gastines, we have three children in France and I agree with all that you say, there is a safety and freedom in France that is lost in the UK. My sister in law visits France from time to time and on the whole she doesn't get it. She is very materialistic (she is also great fun and I love her to bits by the way) and cant see the simple beauty around her. She lives a hectic life, breathes pollution and is surrounded by violence and fear but prefers this faster pace of life. each to their own.

[Pads]

I enjoyed that. I some times think a lot more progrss would be made in life if  we all stepped backwards rather than forwards

[Just Katie]

My mother told me the nurses used to allow mothers a cigarette and guiness in bed in the maternity ward.  The guiness got the blood count back and the ciggie was good for the nerves.[blink].

Oh, and us babies would be in the ward too.  Probably that is why I am not a nervy person from passive smoking.  You think they would bring it back wouldnt you?

[Chris Head]

Very refreshing Saint, life here is much less complicated than life there was. 

[Hoddy]

This is all very well but I shot my best friend in the ear when I was five.

It wasn't all wonderful.

Hoddy

[powerdesal]

Hoddy,

Is that genuine forum moderator indication or a hang over from last nights episode.  [:D]

[Tresco]

Steve asks the question no one else dared to...[Www]

[Hoddy]

I am a genuine moderator and the story is genuine too. I did have a very free and happy childhood. It's a wonder I didn't kill myself or anyone else.

Hoddy

[Pip]

My mother told me the nurses used to allow mothers a cigarette and guiness in bed in the maternity ward  from JK

Oh, that brought back memories Katie !  My midwife reccommended I drink Guinness every night after the birth of my daughter - I've been hooked on it ever since ! [:D]

[Cassis]

It's not strictly necessary to have a child in order to be permitted to enjoy a nightly Guinness.  Or whisky. Or whatever.

[cooperlola]

If it were, you lot would have a big problem, eh?[:D] And Guiness shares would plumet.

[Weedon]

On the other hand a little excess Guiness or Bitter is where it all starts!

[Mark]

[quote user="Weedon"]On the other hand a little excess Guiness or Bitter is where it all starts![/quote]

'Started out on Burgundy, but soon hit the harder stuff'.

It was only a few days after my first can of Top Deck that I was having to ingest vast quantities of that ghastly crack cocaine in order to get out of the door to go to school.  

[Dick Smith]

[quote user="Mark"]

It was only a few days after my first can of Top Deck that I was having to ingest vast quantities of that ghastly crack cocaine in order to get out of the door to go to school.  

[/quote]

Which is a dreadful position for the headmaster to find himself in...

[Will]

I remember those things from the first posting when growing up in the 50s.

And polio, whooping cough, bullying at school, racism, , paedophiles (though they had a rather less PC name then), corporal punishment....

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Will "]

I remember those things from the first posting when growing up in the 50s.

And polio, whooping cough, bullying at school, racism, , paedophiles (though they had a rather less PC name then), corporal punishment....

[/quote]Yes, the good old rose-tinted specs!  Still, I do feel a bit sorry for kids who can't just zoom off on their bikes for hours - but I'm certain it's only more perilous because of the amount of traffic now - there were as many creepy types then as there are now - it was just less well publicised.

[Cassis]

Yes - the weirdoes have always been about.  A girl of 8 at our Junior school was assaulted by a bloke in the local park and it never even made the papers (this in the late 60's).

I had my first fag at the age of about 6 or 7.

But this was Blaydon on Tyne.

[cooperlola]

[quote user="Cassis"]Yes - the weirdoes have always been about.  A girl of 8 at our Junior school was assaulted by a bloke in the local park and it never even made the papers (this in the late 60's).

I had my first fag at the age of about 6 or 7.

But this was Blaydon on Tyne.

[/quote]That would explain it!

[Will]

Ours were in Horsham - officially the second best place to live in England (after Winchester, apparently) [:D]

Back in the 60s the loos in the park were notorious, just about everybody at my school had been propositioned in there. Reportedly, a few years later, when the authorities started to regard it as a problem rather than part of growing up, there were police officers camped out in the loft space, keeping a watchful eye on the goings on in the cubicles...

The public loos there are long gone but the building is now a boys boxing club. Plus ça change, as they say in my other home country, remembering why, back then. the leader of the local chapel sports club used to invite the boys upstairs to see his train set. But I am sure that sort of thing doesn't go on any more.

[Saint]

"there were police officers camped out in the loft space, keeping a watchful eye on the goings on in the cubicles"

Made me smile, the "camped" out police officers brought a vision of underclothes policemen in spangly outrageous costumes having a disco in the toilet loft whilst keeping law and justice...

[Lori]

Saint - I enjoyed the post.  I haven't read anything like that before and it really said it all.  Things may have been bad, but hidden, before.  Still all in all, things are so different now.