Hanxter

People over 25 should be dead. To the real-life survivors,

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 40's, 50's, 60's, or even maybe the early 70's probably shouldn't have survived.

Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint.

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 pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from this.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode 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 would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on.

No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal computers, or Internet chat rooms.

We had friends! We went outside and found them.

We played dodge ball, and sometimes, the ball would really hurt.

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents?

We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it.

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 inside us forever.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home 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.

Some students weren't as smart as others, so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. Tests were not
adjusted for any reason.

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.

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. Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good...

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors.

TaiModan

and it's all true!
I can't imagine growing up any other way.

Darkblack

I can. By being safer our kids have less of a chance of injury and death.

I could go through and point out examples to each one on why it is important but I wont. Yes, somethings are a bit extreme now but kids in seatbelts, air bags, bike helmets, the amount of pollution in drinking water, lead based paint, and many other things actually are dangerous. We cannot count on parents to protect their kids from it because like you, someof them don't see anything wrong with it.

Xell101

Having a safety net for kids is stupid. Safety cord is the right idea, that way you can pull em back up instead of leting them bounce around being a bonehead ignoring your warnings then have one of those "oh shit" moments followed by a "err..." right afer the "tee-hee-hee credit card/easy money/I won't get addicted/etc." moment.

Xell101

Seems like the point wasn't about living in a less safety concious society your a survivor it is that they weren't babied and raised up by TV to be socially retarded gangstas or wussies and it worked exceptionally well, we don't need to freak out, freaking out leads to stupidity, and when practicing stupidty bad stuff happens.

Cynthetiq

I'm fine... Look! I'm running with scissors!!!

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Jaron

You can still do so, today.

Just don't have a television. I don't. And make kids think, which is something they never fucking do anymore... that's how I grew up, with my parents always challenging me to think harder, think better, think quicker.

(Then again, they also tried to raise me up as a Christian, and look at me now! :P )

Rodney

Man, I grew up in the '60s, and a lot of that stuff wasn't true even then. Grading on the curve? All over the place and I hated it, because I usually aced and upset the curve.

Yeah, fewer were overweight, but there were two kids in my neighborhood who were actual Coke-a-holics -- couldn't get enough. Summer in the burbs really sucked, even in the '60s -- nothing to do. The rich kid down the street got bailed out of every scrape he got into, until he ODed on seconal. I had fights and never got over it. Bullies were brutal. Bottom dogs in the social order got pissed on 24/7. Kids were no better then than now.

If times were better, it was because people were richer then than they are now -- yes, really. Rich in job security, assurance of old-age pensions from unions and companies, rich in cheap or free higher education and easy government scholarships (those who actually took out loans rarely had to pay them back), rich in support at home because both parents didn't have to work or commute long distances even if they did (you could usually live near where you worked).

Society has gone to hell, and we've disguised the fact with technological innovations and gimmickry. There's a lot of money around, but it's in fewer hands. A select few individuals are are richer, but society as a whole is poorer. These feel-good platitudes about how good things used to be ignore all the things that _really_ made the past better. Face it; the '50s and the '60s were a cakewalk. People were spoiled _then._ It's today's kids who have the challenge.