# TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED



## Longshot (Feb 9, 2004)

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 Playstations, 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 ?


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

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


If you remember his old avatar that would be Robert Langager. 



> We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays


 10th Birday???? If your mother would have been ok with it you would perhaps have had a Ruger 10/22 with a rubber stock for a teething ring.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Hey now, some of us children of the era of big hair and leg warmers still grew up that way too!


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## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

Great article!

I was born in 1979 so I guess I technically just made it. Geez I remember riding in grandpa's pickup and standing up on the seat while he drove down the highway. Couldn't have been that old since I could stand up on the seat and not hit my head on the roof. LOL


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Fallguy said:


> Great article!
> 
> I was born in 1979 so I guess I technically just made it. Geez I remember riding in grandpa's pickup and standing up on the seat while he drove down the highway. Couldn't have been that old since I could stand up on the seat and not hit my head on the roof. LOL


Haha! I used to lay in the back window of the car when I wasnt fighting with my sister.

Homemade ramps to jump our bikes over, I dont think any of us even knew what a helmet was!


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## Plainsman (Jul 30, 2003)

I don't know if anyone else remembers the old cars that had the back seat door open up front. If you opened that sucker it would rip you right out of the car. It would scoop a dog up too. 

The city kids that came out to play just never caught on to some things. Remember the hay holes upstairs in the barn? In cold weather we would put a fork full of hay over the hole so the body heat of the cows would be held downstairs and it would be a little warmer. The kids from town could just not learn to stay off those little piles of hay.

Over at my cousins place one kid fell through right onto a two year old steers head with horns. For some reason he moved to San Fransisco when he grew up. Just kidding. About the San Fransisco part anyway, but not the rest. My cousin said he didn't know which was more scared the steer with the kid on his head, or the kid with the steer nearly up the rear.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Plainsman said:


> I don't know if anyone else remembers the old cars that had the back seat door open up front. If you opened that sucker it would rip you right out of the car. It would scoop a dog up too.
> 
> The city kids that came out to play just never caught on to some things. Remember the hay holes upstairs in the barn? In cold weather we would put a fork full of hay over the hole so the body heat of the cows would be held downstairs and it would be a little warmer. The kids from town could just not learn to stay off those little piles of hay.
> 
> Over at my cousins place one kid fell through right onto a two year old steers head with horns. For some reason he moved to San Fransisco when he grew up. Just kidding. About the San Fransisco part anyway, but not the rest. My cousin said he didn't know which was more scared the steer with the kid on his head, or the kid with the steer nearly up the rear.


I know all to well what your talking about.

One of the neighbor kids family had a HUGE barn. Full of idiot blocks in the loft. In the winter, we'd make "boards" like in a hockey rink and have hockeyball. Football, only rougher.

I was going out for a long pass one time, and poof! I was downstairs.


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## dblkluk (Oct 3, 2002)

I can completly relate..

How about building "forts"?? We lived on the edge of town over looking a big coulee and we spent countless hours in the summer rounding up scraps from construction sites and building the latest and greatest "Fort." 
I remember getting grounded a couple of times for loosing a few of my dads tools.

How many kids now days even know what a hammer and saw looks like?

And metal Tonka trucks..with edges like rusty razors?

If you hurt yourself, you didn't run home and blame someone else, you simply learned not to do that anymore..

After reading this, I was trying to remember the last time I saw a group of kids playing football in someones yard or a group of kids riding there bikes down to the river to fish or whatever.

Doesnt happen it seems.

And in high school there were no cell phones..If you didnt get a hold of your friends and make a plan before they left the house for the night...you were screwed.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

dblkluk said:


> And metal Tonka trucks..with edges like rusty razors?


Oh man! They make them out of plastic now. PLASTIC! A plastic tonka truck would have lasted us approximately 4.7 seconds! I bet a hauled 100 cubic yards of dirt in mine.

Still have all mine, the truck, the dozer, the loader, grader, and the tonka service truck.


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

barebackjack said:


> dblkluk said:
> 
> 
> > And metal Tonka trucks..with edges like rusty razors?
> ...


I still have all of my outside farm toys and my dads. I was a huge farmer in my day.


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## vtrons (Feb 14, 2008)

What a great post.

I was born in 1960, raised in the country, and survived my younger years just fine.

Makes me a little melencholy thinking back...


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## TK33 (Aug 12, 2008)

Great Post, 
I am from the late 70's, and with two little ones of my own now things have changed. Some of them are good, most of the changes are not.

I live by a huge park and there are never any kids playing in it. My friends and I would have that grass worn out by memorial day, I was never a nintendo kid. People think I'm weird when I tell them that now, they also think I am a mean parent when I tell them my kids won't be nintendo junkies. My time was spent playing ball, working, and hunting/fishing.

Now they talk about raising the driving age, I was driving a semi before I had a license.

The only thing the post left out is the spanking. You can't touch your kids anymore, especially in Massachusetts. And people wonder why there is a teacher shortage.


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## hunter121390 (Nov 7, 2006)

im from the 90s and i try to live this way.



> How about building "forts"?? We lived on the edge of town over looking a big coulee and we spent countless hours in the summer rounding up scraps from construction sites and building the latest and greatest "Fort."
> I remember getting grounded a couple of times for loosing a few of my dads tools.


i loved them days. we used to build forts, tear em down or burn em down, and build em again. we never were without a fort. them some kids on the other side of the marsh were playingwith fireworks and burnt up the whole marsh including all our forts. we used to have fort wars with water balloons too.



> Homemade ramps to jump our bikes over, I dont think any of us even knew what a helmet was!


 we used to make these all the time. then the city made a skatepark thinger and we went down there.


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## Fallguy (Jan 23, 2004)

TK33 said:


> The only thing the post left out is the spanking. You can't touch your kids anymore, especially in Massachusetts. And people wonder why there is a teacher shortage.


LOL your right that is left out. No shortages of spankings going on in my house! I have a 4 year old and one that is almost 2. If they misbehave they get a lickin'!


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## giwoyna5 (Mar 5, 2008)

Hek ya, I was more afraid of what my old man would do to me! Way worse then anything the cops could do. 
Pretty easy on my boy tho, but he's just a good kid. Lucky I guess....


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## blhunter3 (May 5, 2007)

Jeez, I had to worry not only from my parents but my friends parents and a couple neighbors as well, when it came to spankings.


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## TK33 (Aug 12, 2008)

> have a 4 year old and one that is almost 2. If they misbehave they get a lickin'!





> Hek ya, I was more afraid of what my old man would do to me! Way worse then anything the cops could do.


I'd rather pay the fine and do community service then have the parents get involved. I once rounded the head of an oil plug and caught a boot right in the a$$, to this day I still hate crescent wrenches.

Mine are almost 4 and almost 2 and they are getting to that point where they have to test everything, spankings are fair game. I can't stand these people who let their kids get away with anything. I was at the mall the other day and this lady's kids were tearing up the store, her response was "be good and we'll get stop for ice cream". I don't get it, it was like the kids had hostages or something. It is a pathetic sight to see parents have to negotiate with their kids. I know what would have happened if I would have done that, boot in a$$ just like Red Foreman.


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## Bobm (Aug 26, 2003)

every year my dad would bring us ( 4 boys) to school the first week and meet all our teachers and tell them if we acted up to beat us and let him know and he would do it again when we got home. We believed it because we knew that he was absolutely serious.

My brothers got caught at a beer party when they were seniors in high school and spent the night in the drunk tank because they would not tell the cops who they were because they were afraid of my dad.

I was arrested one and only one time in my life and its was for open container and underage dringkingI had to go to court and my mother had to go with me because I was a minor and she was furious with me to put it mildly.

The judge was reading the charges and looked at the prescuting attourney and said " Its says his parents called the police and reported him?"

At that point my mother who was really steaming grabbed me by the ear ( now I was 6'4" around 220lbs and solid muscle in those day :lol: ) and shes shaking the living hell out my head and just about has removed my ear and loudly exclaimed " your damned right I called the police on him he was drinking and driving and we don't do that in our family! Whats more hes never driving our car ever again"

The judge was kind of taken aback at my moms outburst for a second then he looked at the prosecutor smiled and said " I think this is already being handled".

I got off with $15 court costs and a very sore ear :lol: :lol:

However, I was 17 and never ever drove my parents car again she meant what she said. Nor was I allowed to buy my own as long as I lived with my folks.

my mother has busted every known kitchen utensil and various other stuff over the heads of my brothers and I.

And lest you think I was abused far from it my dad only hit me a couple times in my life and both times I richly deserved it, but the certain fact that he would if we deserved it kept us in line.

Times have changed

re tonka trucks I got 22 stiches from my sister bopping me with one for teasing her, my brothers and I were more afraid of her than each other :lol:

funny stuff we laugh about now but a tonka truck was a weapon in those day


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## TK33 (Aug 12, 2008)

> And lest you think I was abused far from it my dad only hit me a couple times in my life and both times I richly deserved it, but the certain fact that he would if we deserved it kept us in line.


great post.

I agree with you 100%. We can't even get kids to get to work on time, and yet they complain about being broke. I believe that respect of authority comes at least in part from fear. Have to learn to respect somethings in order to be a productive adult.

I rubbed elbows with law enforcement more times than I care to mention when I was young. All misdemeanor stuff, like that country song "too much fun". One night I let Mr. Jack Daniels talk to the cops, he decided to mouth off and I got bounced off the hood of a black and white and roughed up a little. My grandfather was friends with the sheriff, he knew about it the next day, I didn't get in any trouble for it but I was the butt end of a lot of jokes for the next few months. I don't even know what would happen today if the wrong "advocate" or bleeding heart got a hold of that.


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Bobm said:


> And lest you think I was abused far from it my dad only hit me a couple times in my life and both times I richly deserved it, but the certain fact that he would if we deserved it kept us in line.


Haha. I cant even begin to think of all the times my mom whacked me. But I can count on one hand the times my dad got involved, and I remember what I did to warrant it.

I know what its like to sit on death row. I spent more than one afternoon in my room after my mom said "just wait until your father gets home".


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## vtrons (Feb 14, 2008)

barebackjack said:


> I know what its like to sit on death row. I spent more than one afternoon in my room after my mom said "just wait until your father gets home".


Laugh out loud funny. I've been there ,too. 
Oh what great memmories we suppress!


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## Bustem36 (Feb 5, 2008)

You might be able to add kids born in the 80s. Basically everything stated there is an exact replay of my life growing up and Im only 23.

Haven't read every post but how about fights without guns? And actually working and having jobs and alitle bit of responsibility. I see 10 year olds with cell phones and headphones on all the time. What the heck does a 10yr old need a cell phone for.


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## hunter121390 (Nov 7, 2006)

> And actually working and having jobs and alitle bit of responsibility. I see 10 year olds with cell phones and headphones on all the time. What the heck does a 10yr old need a cell phone for.


no crap right. ive been working since i was 12. in the summer i would have atleast 2 jobs. now im still working, at 2 jobs, and i put in a lot of hours, plus i go to school full time. i barely have time to hang out with my friends orscrew off or much less sleep. ive had quite a few nights lately where i get outta school at 245, and work 4pm-9am the next morning, and then go to school, and do it again the next night.


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## hunter121390 (Nov 7, 2006)

o and i didnt have a cell phone until i was 16 and i pay for that too.


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