The RetiredBums Club can probably relate

[asawadude]

I get these damn chain letters from various people (mostly retired with nothing better to do) and most end up in the Deleted Items folder, but this one caught my attention.

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 bleu 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-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads. As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes. Riding in the back of a pick- up truck 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, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY?

Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

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 them 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, Nintendos and X-Boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no 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.

[AzNMpower32]

I begin many of my sentences with <sigh> "Back in the good ol' days........."

They don't really even have outdoor recess in schools anymore. The counties want to meet federal and state education requirements so field trips and recess were the first things cut from the programme.

[brian5]

Originally Posted by AzNMpower32

I begin many of my sentences with <sigh> "Back in the good ol' days........."

They don't really even have outdoor recess in schools anymore. The counties want to meet federal and state education requirements so field trips and recess were the first things cut from the programme.

Not in CT. My kids have outdoor recess (except when it's raining like it has been the last two weeks). And they still have field trips -- I wish those would end as they're such a waste of time...

[motordavid]

I get 'em too, ADude...I enjoy them, but I suspect most of the under
40 or especially the under 30 gang, consider these rememberances to
be old history/hard to believe, and doesn't matter, lol!
Different "parenting", less PC/paranoia, and in different times.
The '50s were dream-like, for me.
BR,mD

[Quicksilver]

Aw shucks I thought someone was starting a new
xoutpost thing called the "The RetiredBums Club"

[Wagner]

I was born in '78 and qual'd a lot of that of course we were dirt poor

[Quicksilver]

asawadude;

I have one (can't find it now) for people who were
born before television..... It was a different world.

[X Foomph]

I can relate to most of what's written except the bit about eating worms. I like MD's analogy of this thread.

Sheesh, I can even remember buying an 8 track cassette unit for my first car. I betcha young guys today wouldn't even know what that was. And what about the size of the first 'mobile' telephones you'd fit in the car & video recorders. They were like friggin bricks.

Q'Silver, see if you can find that one you refer to.

[Dannyell]

Different world then...a better simpler one from these perspectives...what play station/xbox/pc ... outside all day doin something

[X Foomph]

Originally Posted by Dannyell

Different world then...a better simpler one from these perspectives...what play station/xbox/pc ... outside all day doin something

True dat, and even while it was raining.