TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's 40's, 50's!!!

[SIZE= "3"]TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's 40's, 50's!!![/SIZE]

We were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs 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 infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, 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, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, 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 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, ! no personal computer! s, no Internet or 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. And 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?!

The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:

"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, "Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance? "

 

Hi irdreed,

My generation is a little later - 50's early 60's.

But that's certainly how I grew up Loved every minute of it.

On a Mink ranch no less - yes there were things like that in NJ

As I'm watching my grand daughter grow, a different life. She's transported by car constantly and socializes differntly and knows more than we did at that stage.

How that'll unfold is both interesting to watch and creates some worry, but life moves on, for better or for worse.

From my grand mother of course I got the "you kids have it easy" speechs. And that's the other difference from today, relatives were close by. That was a mixed blessing at times

Regards - Charles

 

To Fellow member irdreed

WOW !! Great post. It brings back memories come back BiG TIME !!

I was born in 32. In '40 I spent MANY weeks in various hosptials with a fractured skull, broken arms and other miner things after getting hit when getting off of the schoolbus just because someone ( car driver ) did not pay attention to what was around him. He was not a stranger to the area either since he lived just a few house from us.

Back in those days when Dad said " DO IT " He meant it and would not take NO for an answer.

We had chores to do and if they were not done WE DID NOT GET Supper(Dinner) If stuff like that is tried today some call it Child Abuse.

Thanks again for the memories.

BillyBob

PS.
We Did not have these PCs to helps us either. We had to do it ourselves.

BB

 

Absolutely. I can't believe that kids today tell their parents if a teacher desciplines them. If I'd told my dad, he'd hit the roof at me for being naughty. He certainly would not criticise the teacher.

 

Complaining to Dad could mean DOUBLE truouble.
One of my Sons had problems in HIGH SCHOOL. He got punished. He complained to me but I said "SORRY. You know you were wrong so shut up and take the punishment. "
He then went to Grandpa. A 100% COMPLETE waste of time.

BillyBob

 

Born in the mid 40's so I truly appreciated most of what was written. I heartily agree with the fact that we were all outside playing all day long and that play helped to develop social skills for many of us. I sometimes wonder at the school shootings we see today. I wonder (I'm not adamant about it... just wonder) if perhaps there is far too much removal from reality for many youngsters today as they surround themselves with virtual, make-believe worlds of violence and fantasy.

During my early years we still had bread delivery, milk delivery and ice delivery and all by horse-drawn carts. That changed about year five or so but I certainly remember begging chips of ice from the ice-man. The horse pies froze on the road during colder months and we would shoot them with our hockey sticks. Speaking of hockey, I remember skating on the frozen pond until the stars came out and then rolling on the floor at home while my toes thawed.

Good memories.

 

Also back in those days people worked TOGETHER. Farmers would do bit of planing at planting time so the my Dad who had the Machinery for harvesting and filling Silos etc. could get to each one without much trouble, He would start at one farm with others coming with their Horses, Wagons a nd help to help and then go to the next.
I spent quite a few years after getting out of School working on farms. And believe me IF WE WERE NOT There at certain times ( ie:feeding/milking) we WOULD HEAR about it.
And dairy farming is NOT an 8 hour a day job. It is close to 24hrs/day. IT IS 7days/week. 365 days/year.
When I had to give up farming and take an 5 day/week-8 hour/day job it took me awhile to get used to so much free time

BillyBob

 

50's for me

I was a kid in NM we had a water well, outhouse, pot bellied stove for heat, and a wood cookstove. I carried a knife when I was 6. we had fun making our own toy's out of nuthin. we striped bark off of branches to see who could make the longest one "longer won the fight" walked 2 miles to school yes in the snow. it was a good life. kid's think i'm nut's when i talk good about my old day's in - Taos NM.

 

Dytrog, you awakened another memory...that of heating the house in winter. There was no such thing as a thermostat, at least not for us. After a few years of burning wood, we advanced to coal. My job was to empty the ashes in the garden. I can still hear Dad up in the night, stoking the stove. The big stove in the kitchen heated most of the house. I would put my wet mittens and scarf in the warming oven and when I was sick, Mum would put me near the stove while she got supper ready. It took a team effort to keep the house warm about which today's kids know nothing.

Did anyone hear play baseball with a jackknife? You opened the blade to a 90 degree angle, stuck the blade tip into a wooden bench and then with your finger under the handle you flipped upward to cause the knife to twirl a loop or two before sticking into the bench. If it fell over, it was an out. If it landed and you could put one finger between the handle and the bench it was a single. Two fingers was a double and so forth up to four fingers or more which was a home run. We'd play this while our team was at bat. Great fun. No need for a Game Boy.

 

Simon sez, ditch-em. hide and seek. hill climbing, snake hunting, frog's too. LOL now i'm sitting at a comp. like everyone else.

 

I wish I could go back to the '50s and '60s. I truly enjoyed those years. The best memories were the fresh scratch made baked goods coming straight from the oven. The aroma was out of this world. Now many just thaw and heat baked goods containing who knows what.

 

One thing I remember about living in Taos! it took two day's to cook beans. the damned altitude. and then they were tough !! When we went to Ark. for the summer my grandma cooked bean's I allmost didn't know what they were. best beans i ever ate "at the time "

 

Dytrog - Heh heh about the bean cooking. I live in East Texas but my daughter lives in the Lubbock area and the bean cooking hit a nerve. She has great difficulty, I find it easy. Born '32 here so I know of what most speak about. Spent all of WWII with no running water, no electricity, no natural gas, just wood my Dad would chop/saw from the forest and water from the next place down the road's water well. Bucketed well water from the "other place ", kerosene lamps (later upgraded to Coleman lanterns - First class!), fireplace for heat and wood cookstove and ice box. This was in Alabama . The conditions were kind of tough but I remember it as a good time of life. I don't think my parents had it so easy though. They didn't complain as I remember it.

 

Our house was adobe. had a well, water bucket & dipper in kitchen, outhouse. had to be carefull not to get your butt stuck to seat in winter LOL. we did have electric light

 

Hi irdreed, charlesvar, BillyBob, Steve R Jones, ReggieB, James, Dytrog, Whiskeyman, bobmc32, talk about nostalgia. I'm from '36 era and yes we had similar memories our parents having been through the Depression years, we were constantly reminded of waste not want not. But I would be the first to admit that looking back on all that we survived, we have probably made it easier on our kids and did have some controls up until the PC Brigade (Politically Correct) came along. Now kids have rights and we in New Zealand have just had a no smacking Bill put forward in Parliament which has stirred up our generation no end. Yes, children today are having an easier time than we did, but at what expense. When they become parents I fear for how anyone will take notice of Authority and Social and Civic requirements to survive in this world. You certainly dropped a hornets nest irdreed when you posted this nostalgia gig. I like to look upon surviving today and look forward to the future, but put the past in the History bank to remember and try not to dwell on it. I get a laugh trying to think of how my grandparents would be amazed at the technology we now take for granted. End of homily. Neil.

 

Kid from the 50's

Familys were familys. Grandma taught mom how to cook,mom taught the daughters and oh what interesting smells filled the house.

Families were bigger than(7 sisters &2 brothers+me made 10) and all my aunts and uncles had 4,5,7,8, kids. Made for lots of cousins over to the house for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everyone use to eat at the dinner table not in front of the t.v..Take what you want but eat what you take.

The older kids did babysitting,lawnmowing, paper routes,car washing and contributed half of what they made to the cookie jar.

Times sure have changed

 

Indeed, times have changed and not entirely for the better.

 

changing times

Your right, with 7 sisters you can bet my pops knew who they were dating and they did come to the door to call for them. there was none of this honking out front. As well as pops knowing them the Brothers all found out about them.

Neighborhoods were neighborhoods, everybody knew everybody and whose kids were whose, there was more than once that either myself or one of my siblings would pull something, and thinking we were slick for getting away with it finding out when we got home that 'THE OLD MAN" wanted to talk to us.Never a good thing

As for manners, it was yes mam,no sir,please and thank you and if one of us ever addressed an older female relative by her familar name without putting a Miss in front of it, you can bet my Granny would pick up her broken taped up yardstick and proceed to give us a lesson in manners.

California tried to pass an anti-spanking ordianance.(It Failed) Some times whupping achived miraculous results.

 

I was born in 43 and we had the first tv on our street everyone would come and watch the test pattern