21-03-2013, 02:49 PM
1
How Childhood Has Changed
Not sure if I've already put this up and I'm sure many will have already seen it but, after the welcome thread that some posters (not me) hijacked to reminisce, it made me think of this:According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 50s, 60s, 70s and early 80s, probably shouldn't have survived because:
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.
Riding in the passenger seat was a treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle – 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 no-one 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 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 got 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.
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.
For those who aren't old enough, thought you might like to read about us.
21-03-2013, 03:08 PM
3
Re: How Childhood Has Changed
Very true Pats. On the Island, people joke that the air stewards should advise people to set their watches back 50 years and, in a sense, it's true. Kids here do still go out and about and strangers are rarely overlooked. I always wonder why we have newspapers as the Manx Grapevine works much faster
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