TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 30S40S50S60S70S

[mdunn]

TO ALL THE KIDS
WHO SURVIVED the
1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

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-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 infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster
seats, seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up 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 and real butter and drank koolade made with
sugar, 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 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound, CD's
or Ipods, no cell! phones!, no personal computers , no Internet or 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
forever.

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!

If 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 so much of our lives
for our own good

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how
brave (and lucky) their parents were.
!

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:

"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding,
severe thunderstorms tearing up the
country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and
terrorist attacks,"Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the
Pledge of Allegiance?"

For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us....go ahead
and delete this.
For the rest of us.....pass this on.

[waterboy]

Bleu Cheese? What's wrong with Bleu Cheese?

That was fun. thanks for reminding me how lucky to have survived I am.

[Steve]

Great post.  I wasn't around in the 30s & 40s, but survived the 50s and the rest with all the experiences you mentioned.  I think those of my generation are much better for growing up that way, and I don't understand how we have managed to produce such a bunch of spoiled, over-priveleged, over-protected, materialistic kids.  My family was not poor by any means, and we had a nice home, good clothes, ample food on the table, etc., but we were not doted on, over-induldged, and we were taught respect for authority, manners, thrift, and diciplined with a good swift swat when our behaviour warranted it.  I would bet it has a lot to do with the fact that my parents were children of the 1920s, the Depression years, and the WWII years, when people knew what real hardship, sacrifice, and the threat of poverty were.

As far as removing "under God" from the pledge, I am neutral on that issue.  The phrase was not part of the original pledge, being added in the 1950s after lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, to distinguish the U.S. from those "godless communist countries."  Removing it from the pledge would have zilch impact on the social fabric, but I think we have much more pressing issues to address.

[mdunn]

I have always believed that when the good firm azz whupins went away,the kids became spoiled,and part of todays problem.If I ever talked to my parents the way kids do today,I wouldnt be typing this right now!

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by mdunn

I have always believed that when the good firm azz whupins went away,the kids became spoiled,and part of todays problem.If I ever talked to my parents the way kids do today,I wouldnt be typing this right now!

Me too!  Backtalk by me or my brother, or "being sassy" as my mother used to call it, was returned with a mouth full of Ivory soap, or a stinging spanking on the posterior.  It didn't have to happen very often at all, because we learned the lesson in short order.

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by mdunn

TO ALL THE KIDS
WHO SURVIVED the
1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!


we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took
hitchhiking.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with
sugar, but we weren't overweight because .

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
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!

Some of my favorite childhood activities from the 1960s:

Sliding down hills on flattened cardboard boxes, "dirt surfing" we called it then.

Riding bikes everywhere, with cardboard strips clothespinned to the wheel spokes to make that clapping sound.  I used the shirt cardboards that came from my dad's dress shirts when they came back from the dry cleaners.

Roller skating all over the neighborhood, with those heavy metal skates you clamped onto your PF Flyers or Keds canvas shoes.  Damn, where did I put that skate key?!?  Oh yea, it is in the plastic dish on top of the fridge, where we always kept them.

On rainy days, making "spook houses" in my bedroom, or making Creepy Crawlers with my Thingmaker set, which I believe was the coolest kid's toy from the 1960s.  Sure you got your fingers burned on the hot plate if you were not carefull, but one good blister taught you the lesson.  That was probably one of the first kid's toys where the manufacturers made a key ingredient (the Plastigoop) something you would always be running out of, so you had to buy more!  Or playing classic board games, or listening to Beatles albums.

I know you can't turn back the clock, but it is fun to wax nostalgic.

[mdunn]

yea we did the same as kids in the 70s with the cardboard boxes on hills,we called it"Boxsliding".Overpasses by the Pepsi plant were great place for that.

[waterboy]

Wheelies on Stingray bikes (or homemade clones of Stingrays). Model cars from Revel that you entered into the TG&Y model contest but never won. Walking down to Whittier Square to see a movie at the Circle then using your last 8 cents to buy Lik-m-aid, pixie sticks and red licorice.

Practicing casting with a Zebco Jr. and a plastic plug that always got wrapped around the electric lines right next to the remains of your kite. Kick the can, hide n go seek, red light/green light or mother may I on the front porch with the neighbor girls.

Yeah, life was good.

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by mdunn

yea we did the same as kids in the 70s with the cardboard boxes on hills,we called it"Boxsliding".Overpasses by the Pepsi plant were great place for that.

Our favorite place for dirt surfing or boxsliding was the hills just north of 15th street and 71st E Ave.  The was a building there called "Burtek" I remember, with lots of great, bumpy hills surrounding it where we used to slide, circa 1965 or so.  

Slot cars, and slot car racing centers, Hot Wheels, etc.  My older brother was really into model building in the mid 60s, especially monster models, Dracula, Wolfman, Mummy, Frankenstein, etc.  I can still smell the glue and "Testors" model paints that came in those tiny glass bottles!

[mdunn]

what about cox cars,the little smelly and loud engines.And fishing in the creeks when they actually had fish in them!We also used to go crawdad hunting,and lift rocks and usually a snake or tarantula under each one,dont see that anymore.

[Steve]

quote:Originally posted by mdunn

what about cox cars,the little smelly and loud engines.And fishing in the creeks when they actually had fish in them!We also used to go crawdad hunting,and lift rocks and usually a snake or tarantula under each one,dont see that anymore.

We used to go crawdad hunting too, in the creek that ran through our neighborhood around 16th Street and 71st E Ave, by the old John Paul Jones elementary school, where I proudly attended.  I think it has been largely altered and filled in now.  We use to crawl through drainage pipes and come up through manholes!  Its a wonder I never broke a bone or didn't come down with cholera!

[mdunn]

yea we did the sewer crawling too.Behind Crystal City shopping center in west Tulsa where 244 is now,you could ride your bikes thru them for miles.at one point it came to a room where 6 tunnels branched off in different directions.didnt want your flashlight to get wet!or lose it.

[rwarn17588]

Sewer-crawling.

Must ... restrain myself ... from telling ... insult.

[]

[waterboy]

quote:Originally posted by rwarn17588

Sewer-crawling.

Must ... restrain myself ... from telling ... insult.

[]

Lots of sewer crawlers around town. We followed the one starting at Roosevelt and ended up at Riverside. You were not an official "sewer rat" unless you travelled the entire distance in the dark. Usually three or more at a time. You had to memorize where the criss-crossing water & gas lines were or get a concussion. Great place to feel up the opposite sex too!

I did it.  The smell wasn't so bad unless wildlife had left their scat. Inside the entrance was graffiti indicating kids had been doing the same thing back to the 20's!

[mdunn]

lol,hard to imagine what type of girl I could find in the sewers!I think ive seen them on 11th street though!