| Author | Message | ||
     Oconnor  |
TO THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 30'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 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. 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, 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 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 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 in us forever. 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! 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! Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?! | ||
| Gschuette  |
I must be old fashioned for my kind of young age. I think I still do everything listed. I sure have broken some bones while riding bikes all day. Good post you old timer. | ||
| Charlieboy6649  |
A majority of kids now days haven't even heard a cassette tape much less vinyl... | ||
| Newfie_buell  |
So true, Two years ago my 11yr old daughter was in her grandmothers room and there is still an old rotay dial phone in there. They will still work up this way for some reason. She picked up the phone and yelled "HOW DO I WORK THIS THING!!!!" or Another time I found an old portable Black & White Television in the basement and gave it to my son to try out. About 10 minutes later he yelled "DAD, THE COLOR IS BROKEN ON THIS TV!!!!" I am not old but can still remember all of those things. | ||
| Road_thing  |
My son, who is now approaching 27, has always been a music lover. When he was 11 or 12, I remember him asking me, "Dad, was Paul McCartney in another band before "Wings?" I'm older than dirt. rt | ||
| Bomber  |
when my then 8 year old daughter and I went to pick of the 65 fastback stang, she got in, turned round and round like a dog fixing to nap, and piped up with "I can't ride in this car! there's no seatbelts!" later that day, I almost got t-boned backing out of a parking spot -- the guy in the Lincoln shouted out "you #(*&$#$! your backup lights don't work!" didn't have a third brake light either! wow -- it's a mirical we survived, ain't it! | ||
| Lpowel02  |
what a great list! I remember every single one of those things! | ||
| Fullpower  |
when i was three years old, and traffic got real heavy, my mom would tell me to "SIT DOWN". being safe in the car meant NOT STANDING UP ON THE FRONT SEAT. | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
Fullpower thankyou. I just got a really good belly laugh... | ||
| Djkaplan  |
Yeah, things were a lot different back then, but I sure could have used one of those new-fangled bicycle helmets back in 1973. I knocked an entire digit off my IQ back then. | ||
| Slaughter  |
I just love reminiscing. We made our own "full coverage" helmets by screwing a football helmet chinguard onto them. We were working for minimum wage ($1.35 was considered outrageously high by my Father for a 14 year old) BECAUSE WE KNEW WE WERE ONLY USING ENTRY LEVEL SKILLS | ||
| Road_thing |
You mean like this?  rt (circa 1971) | ||
| Clydeglide  |
I remember when televisions had antenna's and phones had cables. TV had 3 networks and they would always be free.  | ||
| Tank_bueller  |
O.K., so I'm not so old, but I grew up with little or no safety gear and no fear. pic too big, will try again tomorrow..... getin too old for this sh.. (Message edited by tank_bueller on January 06, 2005) | ||
| Djkaplan |
"I remember when televisions had antenna's and phones had cables." I was explaining what "rabbit ears" were to a 14 year old kid. He thought it was amazing that TVs could get pictures through an antenna, but the question he asked me had me laughing for days: How much extra is that than cable? | ||
| Cataract2 |
Sigh, I'm only 22 and remember rabbit ears on tvs. | ||
| Xbduck |
I'm only 37, and I can remember the day my family got its first color T.V. I still use an antenna (with a rotor to turn it) on my t.v., but now we get the big three, FOX and 2 PBS stations. I remember the coolest hand held video game I had as a kid was the football one that just had blinking red lights, man I played that thing for hours. | ||
| Buells Rule! (Dyna in disguise)  |
Mattel/Coleco made those games, they were cool & still are. Didnt get color TV until I was 13 & we didnt have a fancy antenna with a rotor either. (Message edited by dynarider on January 07, 2005) | ||
| Buells Rule! (Dyna in disguise) |
 | ||
| Slaughter |
RT - 'Zacly! I bluffed myself into believing I could compete in enduro riding on my 441 Victor BSA while still in high school (grad 1971) | ||
| Mr_grumpy  |
Dint hav no spilling classes in those daws either, but we had cigarette cards & a clothes peg on the spokes of our bicycle wheels. Ah Nostalgia's not what it used to be in my day.  | ||
| Road_thing |
Slaughter: I can relate! I thought I could flat-track that green Triumph--notice the TT pipes and bobbed fenders? rt | ||
| Reepicheep  |
Boy did that bring back memories Dyna! I remember waiting in line at the department store to play one of those that was glued to this big display counter. | ||
| Bigdaddy  |
Dyna, I believe I still have one, condition unknown, out in my barn. It worked for years, and years, and years. Great memories of taking it on my first trans Atlantic flight to kill time. | ||
| 12bolt  |
Growing up in the boonies we didn't get water and power till I was at least 10 or 11! Played outside all day everyday. I tell my 6 year old to go outside and he's like "outside?" | ||
| Sportyeric  |
I remember when safe sex meant a padded headboard! | ||
| Drfuyutsuki |
first I know I'm not that old, only 23, but I grew up out in the boonies like 12bolt. Didnt have a phone till I was 8 or 9, I didn't like TV I played out on the dairy all day. I never got tetnous, I never got chickenpox, hell I never really got sick and remember the few times I had the flu. I played with rusty wires and fiber glass eltric fencing poles, We spent the entirty of the summer in the hills but made sure we were home by night. On a dare I walked across a maunre pond in the middle of winter. I swam in a creek and even a concrete cattle trough in my littler days. I too drank from a garden hose or even the river that was just off the dairy property. Granted yes we got a nintendo not to long after it came out and yes we had a color tv, but those couldnt keep us inside reality was so much more fun. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
I remember when safe sex meant getting out before her husband got home.  | ||
| Xbduck |
Dyna, Thanks for the photo I couldn't remember just how they looked anymore. Although the red LED's are forever burned into my brain. I also remember when we had a "party line" telephone. I never could call my friends to talk to them, the crazy old lady up the road would never get of the phone. | ||
| Court |
I remember when a Buell, that started being built on May 2nd, was completed on June 15th.  |
