I saw this somewhere and got a kick out of it...brought back a few memories. Hope you get a chuckle.... TO THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 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, 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 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. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?! (Did that, too.)
I even had a BB GUN !!! And no,I didn't shoot my eye out.Had my first legal shotgun at 12,with hunting license.
Ah, yes, my ol' man would always reminisce bout' the good ol' days. Man, I really wish I lived through them. No polictical correctness, no worries, the idea of LEARNING from mistakes opposed to avoiding them. Yep, that sure sounds better than this god-forsaken society.
I got the strap twice. My teacher also grabbed me by my bangs, and repeatedly slapped me across the face. I walked to school alone in Grade one. My parents favorite come back was, "fight your own battles."
I never got the strap but I witnessed many teachers using physical tactics to 'correct' unruly students, like the time in grade 4 when a teacher grabbed a student out of his desk by his shirt collar and literally threw him out in the hallway for being disruptive. We played with our friends after school or on weekends without having to schedule a playdate. We relied on our imaginations for our entertainment.
My friend and I used to lay on our backs in the haymow and shoot up at the pigeons in the rafters with our bb guns. We were probably in the 4th or 5th grade. I helped butcher chickens when I was a kid...that was real blood and gore. No need for violent video games, lol. We only got 4 TV channels, but I was too busy outside making up my own adventures.
Well, I didn't murder animals with air weapons -though I'm sure it was fun - but did most of the rest. It just goes to show, nostalgia isn't what it used to be.......think about it.
We used to play "heaven n Hell" in the trees over the pig stye. Heaven was the trees an hell the stye. We played catchers by jumping from branch to branch. Oh, every now and then someone would fall on a cowpie or cow, but what the heck. Course once my brother fell on the barbwire fence and got caught. Had a barb stuck right between his two arteries or veins or whatever on the underside of his wrist. We couldn't lift him off so we hada go find an adult. I hada walk a mile one direction on a four lane highway in the 6th grade to get my clarenet cause I forgot it back home, then walk back. My teacher figured it'd teach me a lesson. I could tell stories for hours about this stuff. How bout the time in Cub Scouts when one dude wanted to be the first to bat cause it was his bat so the Grunt gave it to him over the head, blood everywhere..we figured he deserved it that way. There was a big to do for a day or so then everyone was friends again.
sad thing about kids today....they don't know how to "pretend", give them some sticks and rocks and stuff like that, they don't know what to do with it. It's sad... CArly
I like the "Eye" thing. "A Christmas Story" reference I think? Mine looked just like a 45 pistol, and not only shot BB's, but Pellets, and Darts as well. Yup! WE turned out just fine. EXCEPT! That was the same year, I bought my Disco Roller Skates and Platform Shoes!!
Do we really like being teased, and reminded of what we weren't allowed to do 99% of the time. We all remember the glories of natural spontaneous child play, and the wonder and excitement of exploring the natural world beyond asphalt. We remember it because it was our constant daydream while we were doing the chores, or worse, stuck all day in school. We remember the alarm-clock at 7am like a cold shower. We remember the door of the school bus shutting behind us. We remember the hard stern desks in ridged rows to the walled edges of our rectangular class-room. We remember the only door out of there led right past the teacher's desk. We remember autumn, seen on the big screen of our expansive class-room windows, dragging its slow windy way day after day. We remember starring out those windows when spring finally came into our valley, the warmth of young life everywhere, and the call of adventure whispering.... "TEACHER,,,michael is starring out the window again!!"
