[SeptemberMorn]

At the end of this email is a quote of the month by Jay Leno. If you don't read anything else, please read what he said.
Very well stated, Mr. Leno.

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-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes..
Riding in the back of a pick- up truck 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, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY?
Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

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 them 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 Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, 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 and no 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.

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

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

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:

"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

*The double underlined words are NOT mine.

i like the toughness of previous generations, but reading things like this make me wonder if the people writing these things actually observe us youngsters, or just assume that every kid these days gets participation awards and is spoiled by their parents and live in front of a screen. I know my childhood wasn't like that, and I know plenty of younger kids who play outside a lot...doing trampoline acrobatics and making up ghost stories and poking the mud looking for salamanders. It's sort of unfair to be judged like that.

[radio_flyer]

SeptemberMorn


Hey Kaika.... SeptemberMorn is not judging all of the kids of "todays" generation. There are always exceptions.. Not every young person lives behind a compter as not all people smoked pot in the 60's. Guess I could say a lot more, but puppy is humping my leg which means he needs to go outside. So off we go to the great outdoors...

((((((((Kaika)))))))))))) ((((((((((((((SeptemberMorn)))))))))))

[chaotic13]

I did read anywhere in the first post where it mentioned that that kids in other generations don't also do these things. You just haven't lived long enough to reflect on the last 50 years.

Maybe your histories will tell about the challenges of breaking free of helicopter parents and sanitary wipes.

[Brian37]

yup....I survived

[LoneEagle]

Originally Posted by SeptemberMorn

At the end of this email is a quote of the month by Jay Leno. If you don't read anything else, please read what he said.
Very well stated, Mr. Leno.

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-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes..
Riding in the back of a pick- up truck 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, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY?
Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

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 them 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 Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, 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 and no 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.

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

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

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:

"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

*The double underlined words are NOT mine.

I would be nice if kids cound roam the neighbor hoods like we did decades ago

You guys are probably right, as you can probably tell I'm pretty defensive

[SeptemberMorn]

It's certain that not every child of this present generation has had a TV or an Xbox as a baby sitter. It's not a judgement on any kid, really, it's just a general statement of the way some kids were raised in the last generation and how some kids are being raised in this generation.

Fifty years ago, I was a teenager and have always mourned the fact that I didn't have a "normal" childhood. I wasn't allowed to do any of the things most other kids did. It was mostly because my mom didn't trust anyone except her sisters and sister's kids, but they were all old enough to be my parents. Aside from that, I was born when my mom was 46. She never had a childhood either, because she was raised in a very strict boarding school for girls where looking out the window was a "sin." It was a "sin" because there was a seminary (all boys and men) across the street.

When I was growing up my parents were my mom and her mom. They wanted me to sit with them in my own rocking chair and rock away the evenings.

I just know how I raised my kids, as per the original post, and how they are raising their own kids now. Some had their own computers at age 5 and there's another one, that age 7, is already addicted to his game box. If he can't play on that, he borrows people's cell phones to play those games. Too bad it's not the technology he's addicted to. That would earn him a very good living when he grows up. I also have grandkids that don't know beans about computers. LOL

Actually, Jay Leno's statement was the strongest one and what caught my attention.

[I_miss_my_kitty]

want to know why we can't do that stuff you guys did cuse the people in those generation grew up and make t difficult for us young folks we got rapists and kidnappers, and drunk drivers, theifs, druggies, and much more scary people out there no wonder we aren't outside running and playing.

ps. i had some outdoor experiences but my mom was also paranoid and my sibs and i got that freedom when my mom was away then my dad will let us go outside and play with the neigborhood kids

[Zorah]

Born 1946, we made it
& ((((((kitty))))) love, there have always been people like that

[Hunny]

Just wanted to confess that I on very rare occasions I go to the store, buy white bread, spread real butter on it and savour every bite.

Also, I can still remember the taste the water out of the garden hose. It has a summertime flavour that I've never been able to reproduce.

And playing outside till the street lights came on, oh my...sometimes it's good to remember.

IS

[Calm]

there have always been people like that [/quote]

Amen to that!

I survived, too.

[thelionkinglives]

Originally Posted by SeptemberMorn

At the end of this email is a quote of the month by Jay Leno. If you don't read anything else, please read what he said.
Very well stated, Mr. Leno.

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-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes..
Riding in the back of a pick- up truck 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, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY?
Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

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 them 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 Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, 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 and no 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.

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

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

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:

"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?"

*The double underlined words are NOT mine.

This is great! I was born in 1975, so I'm kind of a "tweener" to both generations a.k.a. Generation X

1. My mom did drink when she was pregnant with me. She had never picked up a cigarette UNTIL she was pregnant with me. I was her 6th so it wasn't the stress of pregnancy

2. Lead based paint..yip..been there & still kickin'

3. We had childproof lids, but I knew how to open them. I did it to get into an asprin bottle when I had a fever...I didn't realize it was my mom's speed stash

4. Never had a helmet either, but didn't break any bones...although I have had teeth knocked out & suffered 3 concussions...but never on a bike

5. Never, had a car seat but have had my head slammed in a car door...ouch!!

6. I didn't ride in the back of a pick up truck, but did hop on trains & grab onto the bumpers of cars going down the street on a skate board

7. Shared drinks with friends & also didn't die...but have been grossed out by drinking a spider....

8. I not only drank from a waterhose but also a polluted river

9. I loved bacon by the pound, could eat 40 ounce hamburgers, chain drank mountain dew & was only a 120 lbs in high school.

10. I could ply basket ball from dusk till dawn, but we had no streetlights. Of course, I would sneak out & take my moms car & get stuck in a ditch, get grounded, sneak out the next night & steal my step dad's pontoon just to get it wedged on a bank 4 miles down stream

11. I never built a go cart, but I did sneak over to the "classier" trailor park & steal a bunch of bikes, strip them down, mix & match the parts then sell them back to the kids that I stole them from for $10 bucks as a good deed

12. I didn't have a Playstation, but I did have an Atari but must admit playstaions do rock!!

13. I never ate worms, but as I said I did drink a spider. I was once bitten by over 200 fire ants when I was a toddler....Not FUN!! but not fatal either

14. I didn't have a BB gun at 10...I was 11. I never put out an eye but I did shoot my best friend in his testicles

15. We never locked our doors either...but not because we felt safe...because if someone wanted to break in they wouldn't do as much property damage getting in.

16. The participation award thing is one I stronngly relate to as a coach. I believe in them at 4,5,6.....not at 12 & up! While I've seen the bad effects of participation awards, I've also seen out of control competeive parents that totally destroy their kids spirit & suck the fun out.

So consider this my shout out to the generation X'ers

[radio_flyer]

I was born in the 50's.. So that makes me almost 30, right?

Anyway I think we were kind of poor as I don't recall ever having a hose to drink from. But I do remember using mother's lid to her wringer washing machine to slide down hills in the winter. Made mud pies and had mud fights too.. Did not eat any worms, thank goodness. I don't think we ever had store bought bread, although I could be wrong. I do remember mother baked bread all the time. Ate lots of "coffee bread" and milk bread which is bread smothered in milk or coffee and topped with tons of white sugar....

Do recall collecting pop bottles (soda bottles) and getting 2 cents per bottle. Would use my hard earned money to either go swimming which would cost me 35 cents and a 2 mile walk from home or I would buy penny candy at the "beer garden" at the end of the road we lived on.

As for our "made up games".. Guess I was a tomboy as I was always climbing trees or searching for "jack in the pulpits" and wild violets in the woods. Covered in "cow itch" many times which made one itch it seemed like forever..Made jewelry from dandylions. Made pea shooters from this weed that was hollow, think it was milkweed, and the neighbor had a tree that had little green like peas, and whala a homemade pea shooter.

Was never home as I was outdoors playing morning till dark. Guess this was the "good ole days".. If we were poor, I did not know it. We had all the basics and a black n white TV too.. lol