The Good old Days

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The good old days............

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived, because...

Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.

When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip flops and fluorescent 'clackers' on our wheels.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the passenger seat was a treat.

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

We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

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

We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.

After running into stinging nettles 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 before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one minded.

We did not have Playstations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet chat rooms. We had friends - we went
outside and found them.

We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt.

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the same thing again.

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

We walked to friend's homes.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate live stuff, and although we were told it would happen, we did not have very many eyes out,nor did the live stuff live inside us forever.

We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.

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. Imagine that!

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.


We grew up as real kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The essence of an Irish Childhood

>
> I'm talking about Hide and Seek in the park; The shop
> down the road, Hopscotch, Donkey, skipping,
> handstands, stuck in the mud, football with an old
> can,Dandy, Beano, Twinkle and Roly Poly. Hula Hoops,
> Jumping the stream, Building a swing from a tyre and
> a piece of rope tied to a tree, (If you live in Dublin
> the lampost), building tree-houses, climbing up onto
> roofs. Tennis on the street, the smell of the sun and
> fresh cut grass. Hubba Bubba bubble gum and 2p Flogs,
> macaroon bars and woppas, 3p refreshers and wham bars,
> superhero chewing gum, golf ball chewing gums and
> liquorice whips, desperate dan and roy of the rovers,
> sherbit dips and mr. freezes, marathon bars and
> everlasting gobstoppers. An ice cream cone on a warm
> summer night from the van that plays a tune, chocolate
> or vanilla or strawberry or maybe neopolitan
>
> Wait......Watching Saturday Morning cartoons...short
> commercials, Battle of the Planets, Road Runner,
> He-Man, Swapshop, and Why Don't You?, Transformers,
> How do you do?, Bosco, Forty-coats, the littlest hobo
> and lassie,
> chucklevision, The Muppet Show, MacGyver, Scarecrow
> and Mrs King, little house on the prairie and Highway
> to heaven, Or staying up for Knight Rider and Magnum
> PI.
>
> When around the corner seemed far away and going into
> town seemed like going somewhere. A million midget
> bites, sticky fingers and mud all over you, knee-pads
> on your jeans, Cops and Robbers, Rounders,tip the Can,
> Climbing trees, spin the bottle, Building igloos out
> of snow banks Walking to school, no matter what the
> weather, Running till you were out of breath Laughing
> so hard that your stomach hurt, Jumping on the bed.
> Pillow fights, Spinning around, getting dizzy and
> falling down was cause for giggles Being tired from
> playing... Remember that?
>
> The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a
> team.
> Water balloons were the ultimate weapon
> Football cards in the spokes transformed any bike into
> a motorcycle.
>
> I'm not finished just yet...
>
> Eating raw jelly, orange squash ice pops
>
> Remember when...There were two types of sneakers girls
> and boys and Dunlop Green Flash and the only time you
> wore them at school, was for "P.E.", gola football
> boots
>
> It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends,
> when nobody owned a purebred dog,
> When 25p was decent pocket money when you'd reach into
> a muddy gutter for a penny when nearly everyone's mum
> was at home when the kids got there when it was
> considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner
> at a real restaurant with your parents; When any
> parent could discipline any kid or use him to carry
> groceries and nobody, not even the kid, thought a
> thing of it. When being sent to the head's office was
> nothing compared to the fate that awaited a
> misbehaving student at home. Basically, we were in
> fear for our lives but it wasn't because of muggings,
> drugs, gangs, etc. Our parents and grandparents were
> a much bigger threat! and some of us are still afraid
> of them!!!
>
> Remember when....
> Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-mo."
> Mistakes were corrected by simply exclaiming,"do
> over!"
> "Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest
> Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in
> "Monopoly"
> the game of life and connect four, atari 2600's and
> commadore 64's,
> The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex
> was germs
> It was unbelievable that Red rover wasn't an Olympic
> event...
> Having a weapon in school, meant being caught with a
> biro barrel pea shooter or an elastic band.
> Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better,
> Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable vitamins,
> Ice cream was considered a basic food group.
> Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true..
> Abilities were discovered because of a "double dare"
> Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the
> fiercest protectors
>
> If you can remember most or all of these, then you
> have LIVED!!!!
 
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