First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked or drank while they were pregnant (not my mother thankfully). They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes. We were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints and slats on the side. 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 and children we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, and bald tires. 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 with real white sugar. And most of us weren't overweight. Why? Because we were always playing outside ... that's why! We would leave home in the morning and play all day long and we were back when the streetlights came on or when it was time for supper. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were Okay!
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scrap and then ride them down the hill only to forget the brakes. After running into bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem. We did not have Play Stations, Nintendos 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 spent hours playing pick-up baseball, football and basketball with our friends.
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles, or jut a bare hand and no one would call child services to report abuse. Some ate worms and mud pies made from dirt and the worms did not live in us forever. Some of us were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, 22 rifles for our 12th, rode horses, made up games with sticks, tennis balls, and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. We rode bikes and walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them. However, we did not walk across anybody's property. We respected that.
Little League had try-outs and not everybody made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that! And there were no participation trophies given out to everyone who made the team, even if they didn't play. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! And if we got in trouble in school, they supported the school and we were punished ever harder at home.
Those generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever. The past 50 to 85 years have seen 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 those born between 1925 and 1970, congratulations. You had the fortune to grow up as kids before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with a scissors, doesn't it?
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