| 03/09/09 03:42 PM |
#13
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Janet Watson
To Kids Who Survived Growing Up in the 1960's, 70's and 80'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-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, Nintendo's 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 person al 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 and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
WE made up games with sticks and tennis balls.
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? CONGRADULATIONS!
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.
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?
Jay Leno made this comment the other night:
'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 & swine flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'
For those of us that prefer to think that God is always watching over us...Thank God AMEN!
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