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According
to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids
in the 50's, 60's, and 70's probably shouldn't have survived...
Our
baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which
was promptly chewed and licked.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors
or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans. When we rode our
bikes, we
wore no helmets, just flip flops and fluorescent 'clackers' on our
wheels.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the passenger seat was a treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle - tasted
the same.
We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy
pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were
always outside playing.
We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and
no one actually died from this.
We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went
top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
After running into stinging nettles 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 before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all
day and no-one
minded.
We did not have Playstations or X-Boxes, no video games at all.
No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no
mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet chat rooms. We
had
friends, we went outside and found them.
We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball
really hurt.
We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there
were no lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the same
thing again.
We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue -
we learned to get over it.
We walked to friend's homes.
We made up games with sticks and tennis
balls and ate live stuff, and although we were told it would happen,
we did not have very many eyes out, nor did the live stuff live
inside us
forever.
We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.
Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. 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!
Got
some funnies for Skiver's Corner? Send 'em in and win
stuff!
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