Kids from the ‘40s -- How did we survive?

 

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank alcohol while they carried us. 

 

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn’t get tested for diabetes.

 

Then, after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with brightly 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, 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 (Stainless!) bottle.

 

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. 

 

We ate cupcakes, bread and 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 OK.

 

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, Nintendos, X-boxes, no video games, 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 when outside and found them! 

 

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. 

 

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and did not put out any eyes. 

 

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door 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!

 

We didn’t have the government, lawyers, and insurance companies regulating our lives “for our own good”. 

 

Somehow, we learned to deal with freedom, failure, success, and responsibility.

 

AND-- the past 50 years has seen and explosion of progress, new ideas and inventions!

 

Congratulations!  YOU WERE PART OF IT!