Any people of the 40's, 50's, and most of the 60'?

Question

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. 
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes and can poisoning. 
Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.
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 seat belts or air bags. 
Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun. 
We drank water from the garden hosepipe and NOT from a sanitised bottle. 
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. 
We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because...... 

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

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 down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we forgot the scars and srapes and we learned to solve the problem . 
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside with them! 
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents and we where proud of it. 
We played with worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. 
Made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out any eyes. 
We actualy rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! 
Local teams had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that today !! 
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law an beat us black and blue! 

This generation has 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, CONGRATULATIONS !

But YOU today's kids, are none of them ! 

 You might want to share this with others of our generation who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. 
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and tough their parents were. 

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

denis9705 · Accepted Answer

I'm 69yrs
you said well' and very true
I came from the ghetto's in Birmingham, We did not have electricity or' wait for it....water in the house
toilets was outside in the brick yard sharing with over family's
no double glazing, or heating....only small coal fire-place
no television...and for a period ...no radio [wireless]
Vegetables was full of grubs and fly,.....
school we had jam sandwiches every day or...fish paste
school classes was freezing, and oh boy' was it cold in the 1940s   and are they happier today'  me thinks no

Ms Mat Urity · Answer

Born 1949 - Oh ALL that you said is so true.  We also raked the middens, had concerts up closes, dressed in old curtains, played shops out the back of the tenements, weighing dirt and stones, nearest thing to grafitti paint was chalk AND we walked or travelled in tramcars, buses, trains not car from door to door. Went to parks, rowed the boats in the pond, found frogspawn in filthy swamps and waited in great anticipation for the frogs. Ate 'jeely pieces' with dirty hands,played ball against walls, went to the local 'steamie' every week for a bath, just about fell under wedding cars trying to get the money from the 'scramble'. Oh I could go on and on and on.  Here I am still here thriving and not even an oap yet and look at the way the world has changed. My family are in their early 30's  now so they were children even before Nintendo's etc but I still used to tell them they didn't really know how to have fun. To be honest I think TV has a lot to answer for as this was the very start of kids beginning to spend more and more time indoors.

Friedrich v. Schiller · Answer

I was born mid to late sixties, and I'm glad I grew up during that time. I enjoyed both the eighties (the best music) and the nineties the best, but was too young to truly appreciate the seventies. The ten birthday parties I had in the 70's were the best ever, however! When I see old footage of all the turmoil from the sixties that carried over to an extent into the 70's, I'm always amazed that I was actually alive during that time! Not yet so keen on the 00's.....

Richard_SM · Answer

Yes Trucky - that is an exceptionally accurate portrayal of my childhood.

However, kids can't help the year they were born - and I daresay we would be the same if we had been born in the last 20 years.

There is some shame here as well though.

It is our generation that has steered us to this situation. 

It is our generation who have failed miserably to deal with climate change. 

It is our generation who went to war on two countries that posed no threat to us - and did not fight back nation against nation.

Don't misunderstand me - I welcome the point you've made - and so vividly  -  but how did we end up invading two countries like that?

We had the backcloth of World War II behind us. We witnessed the horrors and stupidity of the Vietnam war. And we lived with the potential of a cold war switching to a hot war.

I really believed we had largely seen the end of hostilities - and I'm still amazed it was a Labour Government that led us into it.

Thanks for your posting though.

Anonymous · Answer

You just said everything I have been feeling for the last 20 years....though in defence of my son, he did point this out.

I was going on at him about how active I was when I was his age and asking him why he didn't go here and there everywhere.  He looked at me and asked me if I knew someone who had been stabbed?...I said "no."

"Well I know 3".

It's a different world out there my friend.

Jill · Answer

Oh the good ole days.....got this as a email the other day
born in 57....but lived a rural  life ,,  I was scared to get in a shower...got my hair caught in a wringer washer...loved the cellar with the neat smells  of  veggies and looking at all the canning jars, plus swipe pickles...drove when I was 5 on a tractor around our farm... came home for supper and gone all day.....The kids today are ok and learning so fast compared to us,,, it amazes me my granddaughter is way ahead of me at her age...all is good
Have a great day ,  thanks for the memories

SUE G online · Answer

BRAVO, I am glad someone has said all those things, the world has gone mad, you cant do anything without getting sued nowadays, the local bobby could give you a cuff round the ear and we didnt dare break the law for fear of what out parents would say, not that my parents used violence towards me, their words were enough, that was called respect for your elders. and nowadays parents are too clean with their children so they have no resistance to germs anymore, a bit of dirt never hurt us., well done

Willow · Answer

A star for you! You are so right, those really were great days. We can point to many things that have brought about todays change, but the reality is, it is all down to us. Would take too long to explain why I feel this is the case, but if you reallly look at it you might just agree with me. Thanks for the memories.

Anonymous · Answer

i so agree, i'm glad i grew up when i did, now-a-days kids don't want to be kids anymore.

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Any people of the 40's, 50's, and most of the 60'?

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