Quite recently there was a "remember this" thread...

about the first computer systems Aoers used. I got this today and thought it was quite interesting too......

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, 70's or even the early 80's, probably shouldn't have survived.


Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored 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 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 pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!


We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.


We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode 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 when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones. Unthinkable!


We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cell phones, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms. We had friends! We went outside and found them.


We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt. We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits 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 learned to get over it. We made up games with sticks and tennis balls 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 rode bikes or walked to a friend's home 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. 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, one to hid behind. 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! Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.

The horror..

This kinda-proves-my-point that the government is "over protective" nowadays..
And even a bit "over regulatory"..

All the regulations scare people into "dangerous behaviour"..

And what is dangerous... We used to do dangerous stuff back then and we all survived.
Isn't that part of nature?? Survival of the fittest..

/me is kinda lost atm.. will be back after a cup of coffee and discuss some more..

Tiger Shark

Thanks for the trip down memory lane, they were really great times. I am a survivor ... :)

Since the kids of today have probably never experienced them, they don't know what the are missing - but then again, this is exactly what our parents would have said too.

Kids shouldn't have to wear helmets when they ride their bikes. There's no more danger of falling now then there was when I was 12 years old. And yes, when I took a spill off my bike, I got bruises and cuts. When I was 10, I also fell out of a tree and fractured my arm. It's When I was even younger and I did something bad, I got my ass beaten. That meant, my mom made me find the biggest stick out in the yard to whip me with. The punishment wasn't the actual sting of the stick, but when you came back with the smallest stick, crying, knowing you did wrong, and being told to go get a bigger one.

The truth is, we're trying to protect our children from things we encountered when we were young, and in the process, they are learning experiences vital to growing up. For example, a good parent today would bail their kid out of jail if he did something wrong, but what happens when he/she is 26, you going to bail them out then too? Are you going to hold their hand, make sure they put on their helmet when they go mountain biking? You might, but chances are, you're not going to.

I learned from falling off my bike to balance wheelies better and to make better landings off the ramp. I learned that playing dress up in a long dress and heels don't make for tree climbing. And I certainly learned that if I behaved, I wouldn't have to go find any sticks to be spanked with.

And most of all, things are going to go wrong in life, terribly wrong at times. And you learn from the mistakes you make. It's when you wrap your child up in celophane and protect them from the entire world that you create the biggest problem, and you'll be dealing with the dependency that forms as a result because of it.

That's up to you.

Goddess:

Yes, all those things your spoke of are the things that built your character and made you and I and the older farts, (ooops, I mean people...... :D ), who they are today. I believe that depriving the youth of those character building experiences will leave us with a society made up of people without character. A society made up of such people is a society without character, which is one that will not survive.

heh, good read and something that I agree with.

My ex-girlfriend had a son that she was incredibly overprotective of, and this type of discussion came up very often. She was so protective that it was to the point of where he couldn't go out in the backyard without one of us with him, or if it was 30* outside he would be bundled up to the point of where he couldn't even move his arms or legs. Forget about letting him ride a bike or cross the road as those were "too dangerous" to him and she wouldn't let him do it.

I used to remind her that when we were kids we didn't worry about all of those things. I remember when I would go to my friends house and then we would hit the woods for hours at a time and wouldn't come home until dark... and no one complained about it. I remember making wooden jump ramps for our bikes and not ever wearing protective equipment because no one even knew what they were. I remember playing outside with my friends in the dark all through the neighborhood and the parents not worrying as long as we were having fun. I remember falling out of trees just to get back up and try to climb them again... and when I got to the top I would just sit there daydreaming like I was on top of a mountain. I remember MAKING games up with some paper, a rock and some duct tape (it was our own version of handball)... I remember every thing on that list and I think I turned out ok.

My ex would never let go of her son and I think that is going to be a serious problem for him later in life. When we finally split he was having problems making friends and interacting with other kids because he was never given the opportunity when he was younger because she would smother him. I can understand loving your children and worrying about them, but let them learn on their own. Let them get their own bruises and cuts. Let them get burned once in a while because that will teach them that fire is indeed hot and something that you don't play with.



El Diablo

I'm not really "old", but I still know what it all mean. None of my friends have a helmet when they ride their bike for example (ok you don't have to in the netherlands), a bit old car doesn't have airbags and we (I) barely use the seatbelts and there are many other things like that. People don't have to do all those things if they don't want to or are just to lazy.
It's like drugs here in the netherlands... It is illigal in some way, but still you are allowed to use it, in a sort of controled environment... Still the best way to learn is to do it really wrong once and never again...

big mother is watching!