should we be dead? remember the old days...?

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids

in the 50's, 60's, and 70'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

'clackers' 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 -

tasted the same.

We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop

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 play all day, as long as we were back

before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no

one minded.

We did not have Playstations 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 Internet chat rooms. We had friends – we went outside

and found them.

We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball

really hurt.

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no

lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the sam ething again.

We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue -we learned

to get over it.

We walked to friend's homes.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate live stuff, and

although we were told it would happen, we did not have very many eyes out,

nor did the live stuff live inside us forever.

We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.

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!

Pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as real kids,

before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.

(If you aren't old enough, thought you might like to read about

us).