A friend forwarded this to me, so have a read fellow 'toughies'
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese and things like tuna from a tin, etc., and didn't get tested for diabetes.
After that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in cots 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 later took hitchhiking.
As infants &children, we rode in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in car’s dickie seat on a warm day was always enjoyable.
We drank water from the garden hose, and not pre bottled.
We and our friends shared and drank from the same soft drinks bottle and nobody actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank drinks made with sugar but we weren't overweight because,
WE WERE ALWAYS OUT DOORS PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day as long as we were back home before dark.
No one was able to reach us all day and we were all right.
We would spend hours building our trolleys out of soap boxes and old perambulator wheels and then ride down hills, only to find out that we’d forgotten to fit it with brakes.
After running into thorn bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.
We did not have play stations, Nintendo's , X-boxes or video games .
No 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computer! s, no Internet or chat rooms.......
WE HAD FRIENDS because 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 cap guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not poke 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!
We organized football games and not everyone could be in 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! < BR>
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 free spirits, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives ‘for our own good’.
While you are at it, forward it to your children so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.
Well !
