Here is a little dose reality for all of us…
If you lived as a child in the 40’s, 50’s, 60’s or 70’s, looking back, it’s hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have…
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.
Our baby cribs were covered with bright coloured 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 hitchhiking to town as a youngster! We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scrap parts 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 would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back in time for supper. No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones. Unthinkable.
We played dodge-ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no law suits 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 learnt to get over it.
We shared one lemonade or orange soda with our friends, from one bottle and no one died from this.
We did not have PlayStation, Nintendo, X-Box, 99 channels on cable, DVD movies, surround sound, Personal Cell Phones, Personal Computers, Internet chat rooms … we had friends.
We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them or played board games.
Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do it?
We made up games with sticks and cloths pins 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 tried out for school Sports Teams and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t, had to learn 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. No one to hide behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of.
Parents 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 has been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.
You are one of these.
Congratulations!
Pass this link on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good!
