Over 30? Interesting read

>This is sad but true. Those "good ole days"

> Over 30
>
>People over 30 should be dead.
>Here's why ...........
>
>According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us
>who were kids in the 40's,50's, 60's, or even maybe
>the early 70's probably shouldn't have survived.
>
>Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based
>paint.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 took hitchhiking.)
>
>As children, we would ride in cars with no seatbelts
>or air bags.
>
>Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was
>always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from
>a bottle.
>
>Horrors!
>
>We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop
>with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because
>we were always outside playing.
>
>We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one
>bottle, and no one actually died from this.
>
>We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps
>and then rode 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 would leave home in the morning and play all day,
>as long as we were back when the street lights
>came on. No one was able to reach us all day.
>
>NO CELL PHONES!!!!! Unthinkable!
>
>We did not have Playstations,Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no
>video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video
>tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones,
>personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.
>
>We had friends!
>We went outside and found them.
>
>We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would
>really hurt.
>
>We fell out of trees, got
>cut and broke bones and
>teeth, and there were no
>lawsuits from these accidents.
>
>They were accidents.
>No one was to blame but us.
>Remember accidents?
>
>We had fights and punched each other and got black
>and blue and learned to get over it.
>We made up games with
>sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and although we
>were told it would happen, we did not put out very many
>eyes, nor did the worms
>live inside us forever.
>
>We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home 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 tolearn to deal with disappointment.
>
>Some students weren't as smart as others, so they
>failed a grade and were held back to repeat the
>same grade.
>
>Horrors!
>
>Tests were not adjusted for any reason.
>Our actions were our own.
>Consequences were expected.
>The idea of a parent bailing
>us out if we broke a law was unheard of.
>
>They actually sided with the law.
>
>Imagine that!
>
>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!
>
>Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow
>up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our
>lives, for our own good !!!!!
>
>People under 30 are WIMPS !

Too true! I love it.

Yes i fall into that category!.

I just thought the other day as i arrived home, how you never really see children play like what we did.

We never lived in fear in case someone picked us up only for us never to see our parents again.

And it's true why so many kids are overweight, because most of them just sit in front of computers.

Thanks for that, it brought back memories.

So true. I played all day every day during the summer! Outside running, swimming, etc...it was a rare day that I watched any tv

Ok so i'm 30 plus 8 but that is true! thanks for making me feel better about my olden years that was fun reading, kids these days are soooo spoiled and not to mention the occasional crybabies, out there i'm talking about those ones who call and threaten with the police for EVERYTHING! (parents) wahwahwah hootiecat

It is amazing that we lived thru our childhood, eh? LOL

"Hill Dill Tackle" was the best game when we were young. A kid was picked to stand in the middle of a field and the others would run from one end to the other and try not to be tackled by the person in the middle. If you were tackled, you stood in the middle and tackled those that ran past the next round. The last one that wasn't tackled started in the middle the next game. Got a lot of bruises and bloody knees, and my brother got a tooth knocked out once, but what great fun!

And my mother drank water from a well and she never died from it!

Our parents and grandfathers have had a lot of life's experiences which makes them wise... and at the same time cannot use a computer mouse and have a hard time using a CD player.

At the same time I have found an old 75 RPM record player, and I was having a hard time handling it and had to ask my mother how is it handled.

I'm also 30+8. Gee, I didn't think I was old enough for that drive (too old to walk ) down memory lane (what's left of it).

During the summer I was constantly outside and in fact if I was in the house my mom would kick me outside saying it's too nice to stay indoors. TV was actually a treat that could only be watched on weekends, and then for only a few hours a day. That was it!

One of my favorite pasttimes as a kid - READING A BOOK!! I wonder if kids today know what those are anymore. Sadly, I hardly do it myself anymore because I spend 9+ hours a day in front of a computer screen so my eyes are so worn out the last thing I feel like doing is going home to strain them some more.

Another thing I loved doing was to ride my bike...and I managed to survive without head gear...elbow gear...knee gear. I had my share of skin-splitting accidents and yes they were painful but you never gave it much thought. I believe in protecting children, but I think our society can go too far in overprotecting. What's next, head gear for just playing together with other kids? Or going for a ride in the car?

I miss the simpler times. Perhaps that is naive but then again, that's what made it those "special years".

That is so true. I feel sorry for the kids growing up nowadays; on the one hand many are overprotected, so they don't learn how to deal with setbacks, risks, disputes and disappointments, and on the other, they just don't seem to actually have "childhoods". The situation is worse here in Europe than in North America, but I would add something to the list: Those of us over 30 had siblings!

I'm only 25 and I was suprised how much of that applied to me anyway. I don't think all people under 30 are wimps (that'll be me excusing myself )

I don't think it's all bad news though, my boyfriend's little brother likes nothing better than going out on his bike with his mates and he's only 10. As for accidents, in the three years I've known him he's had stitches, broken his arm (falling off a slide ) and if he isn't covered in scrapes and bruises I know he's been ill or grounded coz it means he hasn't been outside.

I was exactly the same when I was little, I broke my arm playing cricket, rode my bike everywhere and my fair share of minor accidents.

Originally posted by jcat
That is so true. I feel sorry for the kids growing up nowadays; on the one hand many are overprotected, so they don't learn how to deal with setbacks, risks, disputes and disappointments, and on the other, they just don't seem to actually have "childhoods". The situation is worse here in Europe than in North America, but I would add something to the list: Those of us over 30 had siblings!

Click to expand...

You now jcat, I sometimes feel as if I am the only person in all my circle of friends that is capable of dealing with all those things you mentioned (disputes, setbacks, risks, etc.). All the others call me seeking help when they are in such situations!

As for siblings... when I was born my parents were 40. And I myself am appalled at all the people who are having siblings in their 20s if not less... enjoy life and worry about that later... later is better.

I have seen that before and I think it's wonderful!

Ohhhhhhhhh.....those were the days!

We didn't even have a TV until I was 10 or 11, something like that. Guess I got my appreciation for radio as a kid. I still prefer it.

That is great!!! I am 38, and very darn lucky to still be alive!!

The horrors!!!

Can you imagine, we even used to be able to take candy from strangers with no consequences!!!!

I remember being the Halloween escort, for my younger brothers, at the age of 10. At 6, I was standing on a chair, learning to wash dishes.

With 4 kids, the only way that Mom had a chance to do housework, was to throw us all out of the house, for the day. She set out a big Coleman cooler of water, with 4 plastic cups and only allowed us in, to use the bathroom.

We climbed trees, dug holes (spanked for that) and built forts. There's an old picture of me, hanging upside-down, from the top bar of a swingset. There was no soft mat under it, either. We rode bicycles, minibikes, dirt bikes and go-carts, without helmets. Roller skaters, like me, never heard of knee and elbow pads and I was at the rink, every Saturday.

Due all of this parental neglect, between the four of us, we sustained ONE broken bone (Mike's thumb), TWO small sets of stitches, numerous colds, strep throats, four cases of chicken pox, one case of mumps, two tonsillectomies and countless skinned knees and elbows. How DID we ever survive?

I'd like to send this to new parents and grandparents. Somehow, in trying to keep up with the present, we forget the past, then we complain when our children turn out so strange.

God, I can relate to this! I would never trade the endless summer days I spent outside playing for TV, the net, etc. That's what being a kid is all about. All summer long, unless it was raining (and sometimes even if it was!) we were playing outside from about 9 or 10 AM and came home for dinner when we heard the five o'clock whistle blow. And after dinner, it was back outside until the streetlights came on. Those were the days!

Brings back memories of dodgeball, tetherball, red rover, kick the can and statue maker. Our cue to go home was when our parent's car drove up in the driveway then we had to come in, eat at a table, watch our manners, clear off the table, wash the dishes then we were allowed outside until the street lights would blink.

The air was clean, we would lay on the front lawn and look up at the sky with our dad and make cloud animals- there were hamburger frys in the park every Saturday, we hung together as a family and got through the bad times and celebrated the good.

We lived in the country when I was a child...as I do now (the very same place, because I inhereted it from my father when he died 3 years ago))...but then it was different. I could play in the yard unsupervised, walk down the gravel road and play in the sandpit unattended (the sandpit was a HUGE pile of sand that the county piled up there to use to work on roads...they still use the same spot to dump sand)...it never occurred to my parents that any harm could come to me being a quarter of a mile down the road, alone. And why should it? Back in the 70's when I was a child, we didn't have the child molesters and perverts we do now. Oh I'm sure there were a few here and there...but not enough to make parents keep their children within sight at all times. I think it is sad what this world has come to. I will never let my daughter play out in the yard without worrying and constantly checking on her...and walking down to the sandpit???? No way. Not now.

Well.... I am 35 years old and I did all of that and I "survived" it so it wasn't all that bad.... I even wish I could live my childhood all over again . Growing up in the City of Chicago taught me lessons that I still keep with me to this day.