How Much of this do you find to be true?

scrapper · Jan 7, 2006

How true most of this is!!!!... and it's amazing that we survived. TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70'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-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 infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up 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 and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, 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 learned to solve the problem. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or 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, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. 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 . . . CONGRATULATIONS! 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 .

12Footer · Jan 7, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

Thanks!

Yup, we made it.

JB · Jan 7, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

How true, scrapper. But: Some of us lost friends to whooping cough, scarlet fever, polio. . . I even lost a playmate to appendicitis. We also lost uncles, fathers and brothers to WWII. One of the reasons we didn't get fat was that we often had barely enough to eat, and we had chores enough to burn what calories we did get. Where we got the calories for all the outdoor activity is still a mystery. Air conditioning was available only at the best movie theaters, nobody ran their furnaces at night except in the coldest weather, and then only enough to keep the pipes from freezing. I saw television at the 1939 World's Fair in NYC and didn't see it again until our neighbors got one in about 1950. Etc. etc.

Holdimhook · Jan 7, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

How true, Scrapper! Even 25 years ago, if you'd told me that I would have a computer in my house and a phone in my car, I'd have said, "What do I need all that for?"

Twidget · Jan 7, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

I was telling my son the other day that we only had 3 channels when I was a kid and no remote for the TV. I made my little sister do the volume and channel changing for me, so I guess I had an early version of a remote.

Link · Jan 7, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

Oddly enough I was just thinking about this on the way home last night. Me, three of my cousins and a Aunt rode in the back of a pickup from CA to Portland Or. What fun we had! 1960 or 61 ? LOL @ Twidget

Holdimhook · Jan 7, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

I remember our first TV; a 19in. black- and- white beauty. Also, I remember when my grandparents got electricity and indoor plumbing.

Fly Rod · Jan 8, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

how times have changed over the years!!! to me that is all true!!!

Pony · Jan 8, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

Originally posted by Holdimhook: I remember our first TV; a 19in. black- and- white beauty. Also, I remember when my grandparents got electricity and indoor plumbing.

We still have the TV my dad bought when we moved into our first house........Its one of those console TV's. After awhile the sound stopped working so we put a smaller TV(for sound) on top and used the picture from the console TV. (TV now resides in the basement, along with the rotary phone, and the $1000 VCR)

Link · Jan 8, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

Hmmm even though I'm much younger than JB Arn't we all

I still agree with him on this post. I don't want to go back in time either. Because I was a child I still have very fond memories of this period, but it must have been H3ll for my parents. We moved in with my grand parents.. late 50's in No CA on a Indian reservation. Hopa to be exact. Today myself included we would call this a out building or shed but back then it was home. Three rooms, Kitchen, front room and bed room. 4 adults and 5 kids. No running water. Water came from the rain barrel off the tin roof outside the kitchen door. Taking a bath was done sitting in the wash tube next to the pot bellied stove in the front room. Don't ask me how the adults did this as I don't want to know either!

The bathroom (out house) was 200 feet away from the house by day and 2 miles away by night with buggymen everywhere!

Nope, the good ole days as I see it now weren't so good after all. But I still like riding in the back of a pickup truck. It's a Good Thing My Gal Martha!

deputydawg · Jan 8, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

Looking back like that we have a habit of taking our memories out of the trash, dusting them off and looking at the good. It was the good old days, I would like to go back to that time.....until I remember the hard times. Memories are meant to be what they are, memories. There are a few things I would like to go back to, but they are things of the past. Playing outside with friends is not a result of video games or T.V. it is a result of lazy parents who don't want to take the time to watch their children play. The 100 channel satellite dish is great when compared to growing up. A 13 inch black and white TV, no remote. Didn't matter though, we had 2 channels. We had to go outside and turn the antenna to get the other channel. Then every once in a while we had to reach behind the TV and turn that little knob to make the picture stop spinning. I remember going out all day in the winter sledding, but I also remember chopping wood every day so we could stay warm at night. I also remember eating mainly what we could grow ourselves. Gardening all summer, a 2 acre garden. Canning and freezing all fall, so we could eat all winter. Butchering hundreds of chickens on weekends in the summer then eating them all winter. I still can't eat chicken, that is all we ate for too many years. I remember not hunting for sport, but hunting for much needed food. But also remember our family outings no going to the mall but walking down to the river or walking the abandoned train tracks to pick wild grapes for preserving. I also remember being one of the few white families on the Rosebud Indian Reservation during the AIM movement of the 70's. In all situations respect and hard work were about all one needed. There are a few things I would like to return to, but in all life is good these days. By the way I grew up in the 70's and 80's. Born 1970.

CN Spots · Jan 8, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

Oh yea? Well when I was a kid we had to save our stuff on 5.5 inch floppy disks. FLOPPY DISKS! Utterly Barbaric. spots

pjc · Jan 8, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

bet ya walked five mile uphill to school, and five miles uphill back home JB. Some (me) would like to see the days when a kid could go out and shoot a .22 without a SWAT team being called out. Sure are some great advances we enjoy in the here and now. Also some great negatives like gangsta rap and so forth tellin kids to kill. Rantola over and out........have a nice night.....

scrapper · Jan 8, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

When I posted this , I wished I could go back and revisit my childhood , But seeing what some of you wrote about the bad times made me remember one myself , Back in 1955 when I was 09 years old I found purse one the postoffice front steps , picked up looked inside for I D and there was aprox:: $65.00 in it (couple weeks wages back then) took it home and called the woman whos id and phone # was inside . Told her I found her purse, gave her our address She came right down screaming wheres my purse, you got it ? Give it to me ! I handed it to her , She opened it up and counted the money right in front of me. scowled, and turned and left without even a thank you . Man all the time I was growing up I wished I could have found another purse ... Never did though Wonder if Id have done it different the next time? ,,, Probably not ,, Im a sucker that way

pjc · Jan 8, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

that is called "character" and "values" scrapper, even though the person was not grateful. ....Thanks man!

Bass Man Bruce · Jan 8, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

This thread is a trip down memory lane, the good and the bad.

toomanyboats · Jan 8, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

I remember: 8 track tape decks 5 gallons of gas was less than 1.00 Walking home from the movies at 12:00 midnight Riding in the back of the truck on the Freeway My first cell phone was the size of a Briefcase and cost 4,000 with one server 8mm movies at home Our first color consel TV First Radial tires 5 of us riding on the same motorcycle getting pulled over by a cop and him laughting at us Comadore computers Betas then VCR first VCR cost over 500.00 and on and on and on. Thanks for the blast to the Past

waterone1@aol.com · Jan 9, 2006

Re: How Much of this do you find to be true?

A few of my memories : If someone in the family was expecting an important phone call, that ment they had to sit by the phone, there were no answering machines. They also could not go outside or nextdoor as there were no cordless phones and everyone had to stay off of the phone because there was no such thing as call waiting. My dad had THE family car, my mother didn't even have her license. If my mother or I had to go anywhere while dad was at work we walked. I played in the school band, had to walk a few miles home after band practice, carrying my instrument.

How Much of this do you find to be true?

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