something to ponder
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us Who were
kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived
because first, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank
while they carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for
diabetes, 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 'spokey dokey's' on our
wheels. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags
-riding in the passenger seat was a treat.We drank water from the garden
hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same.
We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice 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 out 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 could play all day, as
long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and
no one minded.
We did not have Play stations 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 DVDs, no Internet chat rooms.
We had friends - we went outside and found them.
We played elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt! We
fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones but there were no lawsuits.
We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from other
parents. We played chap-the-door-run-away and were actually afraid of
the owners catching us. We walked to friends' homes. We also, believe it
or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on mummy or daddy to drive us
to school, which was just round the corner.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.
We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood. The
idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of...They
actually sided with the law. 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.
kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived
because first, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank
while they carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for
diabetes, 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 'spokey dokey's' on our
wheels. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags
-riding in the passenger seat was a treat.We drank water from the garden
hose and not from a bottle and it tasted the same.
We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice 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 out 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 could play all day, as
long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and
no one minded.
We did not have Play stations 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 DVDs, no Internet chat rooms.
We had friends - we went outside and found them.
We played elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt! We
fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones but there were no lawsuits.
We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from other
parents. We played chap-the-door-run-away and were actually afraid of
the owners catching us. We walked to friends' homes. We also, believe it
or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on mummy or daddy to drive us
to school, which was just round the corner.
We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.
We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood. The
idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of...They
actually sided with the law. 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.