Probably posted this before.

[budwieser]

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE

1940's, 50's, 60's, 70's


First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.


Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints.


We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.


As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.


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


Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Nandos.


Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!


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


We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs with.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks 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 old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.


We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY,
no video/dvd films,
no mobile 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.



Only girls had pierced ears!



We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever..



You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...



We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,



We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!



RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on

MERIT



Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes.





The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!



Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL!




And 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 our lives for our own good.


And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.





PS -The big type is because your eyes are not too good at your age anymore

Its all very true folks........

[CycoSymz]

Excellent

[Peter_]

I had problems reading that damn small type you used.

[joglynne]

Slight inaccuracy. I made my first catapult when I was seven. Forked stick and knicker elastic. I was a dead shot with it as well.

[Peter_]

Originally Posted by joglynne

Slight inaccuracy. I made my first catapult when I was seven. Forked stick and knicker elastic. I was a dead shot with it as well.

We were posh and bought ours from the local toyshop.

But as a teenager I bought a high powered target catapult, oops.

[Kymmy]

I shot my first gun at 8, Magnum .357 but with a reduced charge practice round in it.. Great fun in the back yard

[Paul M]

Originally Posted by joglynne

Forked stick and knicker elastic.

I suppose that was your excuse for them always falling down

[budwieser]

Originally Posted by Kymmy

I shot my first gun at 8, Magnum .357 but with a reduced charge practice round in it.. Great fun in the back yard

at eight years old? I fired my first at 27 and my first 44 mag at 28. Mind blowing........ Great fun though.

[Kymmy]

Yep, England doesn't have a big gun culture, South Africa where I was brought up has

[joglynne]

Originally Posted by Paul M

I suppose that was your excuse for them always falling down

Nah, I nicked it from my Mums drawers.

I seem to remember having difficulty sitting down for some days when she found out where I had got the elastic from.

[Maggy J]

At 6 I was sleeping outside on the veranda and I had to shake out my shoes in the morning just in case scorpions had taken roost in them..My mother was terrified all of the time in case I got bitten,stung or ate something unsanitary such as fried ants..

Which is why I was so peeved that I was NEVER allowed to eat the wild honey comb when it was offered around...

Just as well she didn't know about my pet chameleon.

Damn I had a great childhood and I bet Kymmy did as well.

[Kymmy]

Oh yeah, wouldn't swap my childhood for anyones

[ZrByte]

Kids of the 80s aren't all that different, We just didn't get corporal punishment in school and we managed to integrate some light video gaming into our mostly outdoor playing.

Originally Posted by Maggy J

or ate something unsanitary such as fried ants..


Damn I had a great childhood and I bet Kymmy did as well.

Termites did a 'flying ant' thing twice a year in Kenya, iirc - we ate them after heating over a fire using a shovel & 'winnowing' the wings in the breeze.

We somehow learned to avoid the dangerous snakes, or were just lucky while walking in the bundu - but were warned off swimming in any water due to the risk of bilharzia & were well aware of the need for mosquito nets to avoid malaria.

Back in the UK having trees to climb that didn't grow huge thorns, no snakes, rivers you could swim in & no mosquitoes was incredibly liberating, as well.

The perils of cigarettes, puberty & traffic turned out to be more dangerous in the long run, but I still treasure the memories of those few years in Africa when thinking about 'perspective'.

[yesman]

Originally Posted by budwieser

Snip

Just how I remember it.
Thanks for that