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
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 and
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 s[bad language filtered out]s 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!&n bsp; We fell out of
trees,
got cut, and broke bones but there were no law suits. We had full on
fist
fights but no prosecution followed from other parents.
We played knock-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. And you're one of them. Congratulations![msnwink]
Julie
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