Boomers!

[pdswife]

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN 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
carried us. ​

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. ​

Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were 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 children, we would ride in cars with no 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 soda 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 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 personal computers, no Internet or Internet 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 yelled for 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! ​

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! ​

And 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 our lives for our own good. ​

and while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were. ​

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!​

 

[texasgirl]

I miss those days!!! Jeez, I loved drinking the water out of the hose on those hot days! Playing in the water, filling in the inner tubes that say on the hot concrete, LOL!!!
I use to walk miles with my friends and my mom never had to worry about me. It's sad, really, how bad things have gotten!!
Thanks for the memories.

 

[pdswife]

you're welcome... and I agree 100 %!

 

[kimbaby]

how did we ever survive... LOL
that was funny but true...

 

[Raven]

Boy don't this bring back the memories!

I remember when Toys had a circle with USS stamped into them. This stood for U.S. Steel by golly!

I had a Nylint Michigan Crane who's boom folded in the middle and could act like a guillotine to any finger that happened to be in the way. It also had corners so sharp you could shave with them. I just learned to be careful that's all and I still have all 10 digits. It came with a bucket that wouldn't pick up anything unless you manually shut the jaws before cranking it up yet I dug my way half way to China with that rascle.

You can still drive past the house I spent my childhood in and the hill in the back yard looks like a volcano to this very day Bald with a big crater right in the top of it.

A Radio Flyer and a big hill was a death sentence. Those suckers don't steer too well from the wagons bed. And if someone has a Jumprope and a Bicycle... BINGO! Now you have a big red U-Haul.

We used to lay a board up against a couple of cinder blocks and jump things with our bicycles. Once I landed in a pile of gravel. I still have the scars to this day, but once the stitches came out, I was right back out there again.

Anything could be a car if you went "Vrooom Vroooom" when you pushed it.

It's sleeting / freezing rain outside right now and about as bright as midnight (although it's mid-day). Thanks for the warm and fuzzy memories.

~ Raven ~

 

[Run_Out]

It's amazing that any of us survived. I think back to the Saturdays walking down town, shopping for Levis $2.00 pr. We could go anywhere in town and have no fear, the police knew our parents so if we got out of line, it was " Do you want me to call your mother"... Great days....

Later

 

[buckytom]

when i was just 13 or 14, i used to get up at 5:30am to go play hockey before school, then i wouldn't get home until dinner time, around 6 because there was always a pick up game of football or baseball somewhere in the neighborhood. my parents never questioned or knew where i was, so long as i came home with good grades, and nothing broken. if you do that today, you may never see your kids again.

lol raven, i think we may be related. i remember my uncles teaching me to golf, so the next day, when i had to mow the lawn, i made a 5 hole golf course around our house by cutting "greens" into the lawn, and digging a hole on the middle and putting a flower pot in them. when my dad got home, he freaked out because i destroyed big circles of grass, my greens, by cutting them down to the dirt.
i didn't have to mow the lawn for a few weeks after that.

 

[Dove]

Born in 1933 in Colorado. Breathed fresh air...now in California and breathing who knows what!! But ..still breathing.
LOL

 

[Sandyj]

The endless happy possibilities of a dime clutched in a hot little fist (I may be South African, but spent 5th grade in Waterloo, Iowa (Edison Elementary 1971 - dad was an engineer from Jervis B. Webb at the John Deere plant there)). There was a Dairy Queen near our apartment that gave out scratch off tickets if you bought something - you could win something else - so bloody exciting! I never won anything except a hot dog, but still..... My mom chain smoked in the car with the windows up so that her hair (hair-sprayed stiff with Elnet hairspray) wouldn't get messed up - I stuck my nose into the upholstery to filter the air. I get a suspicious dose of bronchitis every year now, but heck, I'm okay! I read every Laura Ingalls Wilder book I could get my hands on that summer and "lived" in the book and grieved at the end of each one for the friends I'd not be "seeing" anymore. I saw the movie "To Kill a Mockinbird" on a small, black and white TV one night by chance when my mom and dad went out for dinner, leaving me home alone for the first time ("you're a big girl now"... I was 9 1/2) - I was a bit scared, but the movie was so good, it sucked me in and I forgot to be scared.
Here's to the good old days....raise your glass!

 

[Piccolina]

So true! What a great read, thank-you Maidrite!

 

[Mommy Dearest]

What a great thread this is!

I remember rollerskating (yes real rollerskating-4 wheels on each skate) up and down my block with all my friends and no one ever complained. During the summers a mini ferris wheel on a truck would drive through our neighborhood (just like the Good Humour Ice Cream Man) and we'd all get on for a ride.

The ice truck used to also come to town and we'd all squeal for a chip of ice. Not to mention (eeh gads...how did we survive this???) the mosquito truck used to drive through the streets and we'd all run after that darn truck, inhaling all those toxic fumes (what did we know?).

I remember one summer afternoon we all walked down to the town library which was a couple of miles away. We sat on the front steps and spent hours waving at the cars. I did get in trouble for that one. My mother was worried sick and when I got home very late in the afternoon, she dragged me down the street by my ponytail because she was so mad at me. It's funny now; it wasn't so funny then.

I also used to walk about a mile to the local bakery and get a free giant sugar cookie just for the asking.

Those were the days that we did our own selling of Brownie and Girl Scout cookies. No Mommy helping on this one. We went door to door, ringing bells, making sales. We had no fear; we had no need to be afraid. The best part was ringing the doorbell of the little boy you had a crush on. David Axtel. The sun rose with David Axtel. How he cried when his mommy wouldn't let him go with me to sell cookies.

Halloween was the greatest. We'd all get our pillowcases and walk for hours and hours unescorted. We'd ring every doorbell for a straight mile and it didn't matter if the house was dark; we rang anyway. We'd finally get home, goodness knows when, and pile our candy high on the table. We didn't know about bad people and razorblades. Occasionally we'd pass by old "Crazy Bob's" and know that that was one of the doors you would never ring but that was rare.

If you needed a glass of water or had to use a bathroom, you simply knocked on your nearest neighbor's door where you happened to be playing. No problem. Come on in. All are welcome.

 

[buckytom]

Occasionally we'd pass by old "Crazy Bob's" and know that that was one of the doors you would never ring but that was rare.

i've heard lots of people say that about mr. flowers, but he makes mean pancakes.

 

[pdswife]

I love reading these. Thanks for the memories guys.