what it was like to be a kid in the 50's 60's and 70's
 

> Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have.
> > 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.
> >
> > 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 hitchiking to town
> > as a young kid).
> >
> > We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors!
> > 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 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. No cell phones. Unthinkable.
> >
> > We played dodge ball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got
> > cu t, broke bones , broke teeth and there were no law suits 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 ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank sugar soda ,
> > but we were never overweight...we were always outside playing. We shared
> > one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from
> > this.
> >
> > We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, XBoxes, video games, 99
> > channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cellular
>phones, Personal computers, internet chat rooms,....we had friends.
> >
> > We went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's
> > home and knocked on the door or r a ng the bell or just walked in and
> > talked to them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By
> > ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world. Without a guardian. How
>did we do 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.
> >
> > 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...Horrors. Tests were not adjusted for any reason.
> >
> >
> > Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide
> > behind. 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 has 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 that have had the luck to grow up as kids,
> > before lawyers and government regulated our lives for our own good?

All of that is just so right on. Everything is different now, no one drinks water unless it is purfied by the Brita or it comes out of an expensive bottle, little kids are more concerned with tvs, gadgets, and gizmos than they are with building go carts or playing outside. It's very sad, times were so much simpler and we didn't have to (or just didn't think to) worry so much. I would kill to have grown up back then.

I could write for a week on this subject.

Don't worry, I won't.

High school and college in the 60's were both the best and worst possible times to grow up. So much controversy, so many changes, so much social and political upheaval.

I will always be grateful that I was a part of it. What a wild ride!

Although I'm not a child of the 50, 60, or 70s, I do feel what you're saying Justamom! I was a child of the 80s/90s and I think a lot of what you wrote applied to my life because of my upbringing and area.

I remember only being able to play in the backyard (which was fenced) and only being able to stay out late until the street lights came on. We were allowed to ride our bigwheels up and down the block (even around it) without mom being freaked out about someone driving by and snagging us. And we were allowed to go into the neighbor's house (the old neighbors) when they offered us cookies for being "cute" and "like their grandchildren". Now-a-days I don't think kids know who their neighbors are and certainly don't respect the elderly.

I remember parent's going to card club for the night and all the neighborhood children going to one house to be babysat. And we'd play ghosts in the graveyard, hide and seek, simon says, etc.

Grades were still A, B, C, D, F...no 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Recess was still held outside unless there was a blizzard. Yearbooks were handed out even in elementary school. Book fairs were cool!

I dunno, I could go on. I just think it's a shame that kids these days (gosh I sound old) don't know how easy they have it...or what they're missing out on!

What DeltAlum said!:D

At some point I think that there will be a backlash against video games, TV and such for kids. I already see it a lot where I'm at. Some parents are careful about how much TV their kids watch, make sure they stay outside for a certain amount of time and don't freak out when their kid scrapes a knee.

Little league I think is spoiled by a few overcompetitive parents. It's certainly not all of them. Our society has become so competitive and materialistic in recent years that you really can't blame them too much... That's just our culture.

That being said I'm not a big fan of this culture.

One of my sisters was here for the weekend and we were watching my tape of Woodstock, The Movie (that is the original 1969 Woodstock). I said "just think, those people wallowing in the mud are now the ones squirting hand sanitizer on their children every 5 seconds." :)

I heard of a study out that said that keeping chilrens' worlds so clean was actually a disservice. Kids need to be exposed to germs to help their immune systems become strong. By being overprotective now these folks may be setting their kids up for serious health problems in the future.

This rings so true - even for me, a child of the '80s. I remember riding in my mother's car, which only had lap belts, even in the front seats. I remember being allowed to play in the street, but not allowed to go around the corner. I remember being the only one in the family who could open the "childproof" lids on medicine bottles. (I used to call them "adult-proof" :) ) I remember the day my parents got cable, the day they got their microwave, the day they got their first computer. (And I remember teaching them how to use all three!) I remember being invited into a neighbor's house on Halloween, where she had caramel apples, candy corn, etc. - but I also remember being made to go trick-or-treating at 3pm when it was still broad daylight, even though I lived in a pretty safe neighborhood. :(

And I also know my children will have few of these memories. My kids will never see a car that doesn't have dual airbags. They will never know what it was like to sit on the floor in front of the TV and turn a knob to tune a channel, and they will never know what UHF is. They will not be allowed to eat Halloween candy that isn't pre-wrapped (but they will be allowed to trick-or-treat at a decent hour!).

Now I'm getting misty-eyed for the misspent days of my youth... :)

What about the bad?
 

What about the gross violations of rights??

What about women who were not given the right to education? to choose their own destinies? Didn't the phrase "rule of thumb" mean you could always beat your wife if the stick was no thicker than your thumb? If spousal abuse is so rampant now, just imagine what it was like back then.

And how about the flagrant racism? the lynchings and brutality of a system that wouldn't budge without force???

Oh and I would love to live in a society were diseases such as Polio could take away my life. I would love to live in a society where cancer simply had no treatment other than death. I would love to be in a society that gave me horrible illnesses because they felt asbestos and lead paint would not affect me. I would love to live in a society that promoted the benefits of smoking. I would love to live in a society where modern medicine might mean that several of my siblings would die during birth.

Perhaps it's the fact that it was safer back then? No, actually that is also false. It's the fact that we have more communication channels that people know about the dangers of letting their kids function independently. It is now that the court rooms are filled with people filing suit against the Catholic church. That more "innocent" time never existed, but what did exist was a curtain of silence that kept everyone ignorant and in the dark.

I always loved the whole American image of a mom baking an apple pie and wearing an apron. But that's not reality and I accepted it early on. My parents worked 60+ hours each and I grew up to be pretty independent as do a lot of kids from NYC.

I still have memories of free games at Shea stadium, stickball in the streets of Queens, riding my huffy bike (with baseball cards in the spokes) for a couple miles not just to buy one comic book but also for the adventure, taking the subway into Brooklyn for the world's best hot dogs and having to deal with that disgusting subway smell, going to that dirty Jones beach in the summer and coming back looking like a lobster, etc. I have no idea where that guy got the "no fighting" idea from because there were tons of fights I was involved with growing up. I remember getting made fun of for not speaking English yet and pummeling a kid for it and I remember stealing a guy's girl in my senior year of high school and getting bruised and suspended for that.

-Rudey
--These fantasy images are great but don't hold up to the test of time.

Oh My Gawd, JustaWOW, I can totally relate to all of your listing!

Sledding in a vacant lot pulling up turnips rinsing them off and eating them!

Tried a turnip last year and threw the damn thing out it tasted so bad!

Getting a butt beating for being bad!
Damn today, a parent goes to jail for child abuse!

No wonder the kids today are in the shape they are in!

Hell, they will be running the country one of these days!

Scary thought from the looks of some of them!:eek:

Rudey, very good point! The fact that we now can easily treat diseases that used to kill us is definitely a good thing. That there are stricter laws on the books about abuse...great thing. No one should have to live a life being abused. But, to turn things around a bit, isn't life about experiencing things? Even pain, blood, sweat, tears, disappointment, rejection, filth, and discomfort are things that we should experience. It's what gives the beautiful things in life more beauty. How could we ever appreciate anything if we never had to be "tested"? That's why the older generation is all over us because we are ungrateful. And in a way we are. Our lives are so much easier (yeah they are, though maybe more complicated) than were our ancestors', yet we find so much less joy in life. In reading books like Brave New World (which I highly recommend) I see a society that medically alters people before birth to determine their lot in life. I see people medicating for every possible problem so that there is never any discontent or pain. And then I see how we are today. It scares me how similar we are. We have become such a sterile unfeeling society (not just America, but overall) that we are destroying true beauty and meaning along with our pain and suffering. And we will suffer so much more if our lives have no meaning...

Re: what it was like to be a kid in the 50's 60's and 70's
 

To whomever penned this (I know it wasn't you JAM), please, before you go bashing lawyers, people who spend LOTS of time in school and work very hard at what they do, LEARN HOW TO PUNCTUATE A SENTENCE. The above sentence is not a question, hence, no need for a question mark.

:rolleyes:

Ignorance is timeless

What pains do we need to experience? You want to experience disease and death?? Well sure, go join a leper colony and you get to relish that fine health you enjoyed earlier so much more. If you feel you have too many freedoms to fully appreciate life, I highly recommend the Sudan.

And who says we find less joy in our lives? First of all that is something which is impossible to measure since you did not have the opportunity to live a half a century ago and can't do this cross-generational comparison. Second of all, speak for yourself. I enjoy my life. I enjoy waking up and knowing my computer gives me access to everything from currency markets to the nastiest porn available. I enjoy the fact that when and if I become ill, I won't have to suffer needlessly. I enjoy the fact that I can get on a plane and see foreign beauty in a desert I would be reading about 50 years ago. I enjoy knowing my friends and family in Europe can reach me anywhere at any time.

Without bad it becomes difficult to describe good, but good still exists. How did you just describe this good without living in the past to experience the bad? And, more importantly, that kind of thinking is very dangerous. You are not anyone's G-d to determine whether they need good or bad in their lives at any point. Even fifty years ago, people had the goal of bettering society to lower pain and suffering and reduce filth where possible.

Perhaps it's because I've had a different upbringing but I know that what I have is good and what I will have is even better.

-Rudey

Rudey, of course you are correct about te many negatives of that era. No one would argue most of the points you made. Every afternoon, I had to come in and rest and read a book during the polio epidemic.( Another huge example of horrific consequences was the lead paint, also the lack of seatbelts and car seats) There was good and bad as there is in any time span.

No, these examples from the e-mail I received aren't fantasy. It's pretty much how it was. Progress has two sides and often what you lose is greater than what you gain. Computers and games are great and can improve learning and communication. They also can be abused to the point where rather than a tool, they becomes a surrogate friend and infringe upon living your life to the fullest. It was just a nostalgic look at the changes many of us have seen through the years. It boggles my mind when I think what lies ahead. Where I remember air raid drills-getting under you desk (DUH-like THAT would help)- will the kids in the future be practicing putting on a respirator or running into showers?

When I see the stress adults and children live with on a daily basis, I honestly believe you can trace much of it to the changes we have seen. The devil isn't in the "technology", it's in how individuals choose to use it.

The last few years I would walk down the street and look at the "fallout shelter" signs and think to myself, "Isn't it wonderful that kids growing up today will never need to know what that means?" And then of course, September 11 happened. So much for that.

Of course there are many problems in the world and were many problems in the world in the "good old days" but it just seems like kids today are so overprotected from the little day to day things of life. My mother was considered overprotective by the day's standards and I climbed trees, played in the creek, went exploring in the forest and had legs full of black and blue marks. I doubt if the kids growing up in my old neighborhood even know there is a creek there. This society is getting more and more insular - eventually we're going to have a class in school called "how to talk to humans."

Re: What about the bad?
 

That simply isn't true. My wife's grandmother had a college degree. That would have been in the early 1900's. Her mother received her degree in the 1940's. My alma mater granted it's first degree to a woman in the early 1800's. (Founded in 1804, it gave its first degree to a black man in 1811)

I will gladly accept that women had far less opportunity for college early on -- but that was more of a financial and family matter -- not a matter of rights. By the time I went to college in the 1960's, the number of men and women were nearly equal.

Polio was very scary -- but not as scary as AIDS.

Regarding computers and children, a lot of stuff on the internet is very worrisome. And I agree with 33 girl, that some children are greatly overprotected. Sometimes a little bump and/or bruise helps kids learn what to and not to do.

The Cold War, complete with the Fallout Shelters weighed heavy on a child's mind -- but we didn't have terrorist threats and serial sniper murders. The only thing that kids worried about in tall buildings was the fear of heights. And, frankly, I was more worried about tornados than atomic bombs -- except for one day during the Cuban Missile Crisis when we also had tornado warnings. That just wasn't fair!

Of course there was Vietnam and the draft -- but that's something that would take pages to even make a dent.

So, is "today" better? Well, at this point and at my age, I'm pretty worried about the economy. It seemed pretty rosey until a couple of years ago. Now, once again, we're facing the possibility of war -- which may or may not disarm a despot of alleged wepons of mass destruction -- but will almost certainly raise the spectre of terrorism to new heights.

Is the future bright? Maybe. Probably. On the other hand, right now is the bright future we were looking for in the 50's, 60's, 70's and 80's.

Is it better? Yes and No. We have more creature comforts for sure, but there are a lot of things that we miss from the past as well. And, if you listen to the doomsayers, it will all me moot because polution and global warming will kill us all anyway.

I suppose that brings me back to "a gross violation of rights." I might argue that, at least from a Constitutional standpoint, I'm more worried about losing what we've gained now than I've ever been before. (Read that again, I'm talking about losing things people have fought for -- like civil rights) Racial and ethnic profiling, cameras on streets and in airports and government buildings feeding computers which match faces with others are not a giant step forward for the rights of the average person on the street. Perhaps Mr. Orwell was just 16 or 17 years ahead of his time with "1984."

But now, it's time to plunge on and make the very best of what we have now -- good and bad.

The same as we did "way back then."

Re: Re: What about the bad?
 

Your wife's grandmother was the rare exception. Of course, the founders of NPC and NPHC sororities were some of these rare and exceptional women. Most women did not have the opportunity or the right to attend many colleges until the 1960's and 1970's. Until about thirty years ago, many colleges simply would not admit women.

Delt Alum, you have said so much and I agree with your entire post.

Another factor is women working. Today it seems like a two family income is "required". Why is that? Is it so we can all have a nice home and fill it with "stuff"? I'm reminded of a commedy routine George Carlin performed talking about how first, we needed a house to store our stuff in and as we kept on collecting "stuff", we needed a purse to put it in, a nightstand to put it on.... Or, has our economy gotten to the point where the "Mom" has to go out and work to meet basic needs. A real catch 22 to my thinking.

Growing up, my Mom had jobs from time to time and it was to make ends meet. We were not poverty level, but by today standards, we probably would have been considered "poor".
I never knew it though. I thought, because we lived in a "huge" farm house, had horses and good neighbors, we were rich.

This thread reminds me of the summers of the late 80's/early 90's I spent in a woodsy town in Wisconsin, or a farming town in southern Illinois.

Then we had to go back to the big bad city.

I miss those summers.

*sigh*

Re: Re: Re: What about the bad?
 

I agree that my wife's grandmother was an exception, but her mother wasn't. And somebody needs to help me out here. With the exception of a few "elite" all male schools and the military academies, I'm not aware of any major colleges that denied women entry. Where do you suppose all of those teachers I had in school came from?

Opportunity is another thing entirely. I suspect that many families did not allow daughters to attend college because they didn't think it worthwhile. That's a whole lot different than not having the "right."

And, about thirty years ago was 1972. I graduated in 1969, and I've gotta tell you that there were nearly as many women as men -- maybe more in my class.

Edited to add, I'd be interested to hear comments from JAM and Carnation on this topic.

DeltAlum-

I'm not sure which college you attended (Is it Oberlin?), but now that I know when I have a better idea of a time frame for context. My mother graduated from college in 1973 so you're almost the same age. :)

I'm doing a search to see what colleges were all male. I did find some interesting info. Schools in the West post Civil War were more inclined to admit women than their Eastern counterparts. In fact of the 97 co-educational colleges at that time, 67 were in the West. As the West grew, land grants were offered to start state universities which began accepting women as early as 1855 at U of Iowa. BTW the 'West' meant west of the Mississippi River.

So I guess that I am approaching this topic from a Northeastern perspective. In the 1860's and 1870's, the women colleges which became known as the Seven Sisters were created as an opportunity for women to receive an education that was equal to the classical education offered to men only at the "elite" schools in the Northeast some of which comprise the Ivy League. Of course, this was a century before you went to college. Some of the Ivy Leagues remained all male until the early 1970's.

I agree that 'opportunity' might be a better word than 'right'. I grew up a child of the 1970's and 1980's. I was told that I could be anything that I wanted to be when I grew up. I also attended a school that had 99% college admission rate so college was an expectation and a necessary step.

OK, that I understand. Another thing that occurred to me is that prior to the Civil War a number of colleges were founded a military schools and excluded women for that reason. The military hasn't had a sterling record in dealing with gender issues.

I went to Ohio University, which was chartered by the "Ordinance of 1787" which formed the Northwest Territory, and the school was founded in 1804 as the first institution of higher learning in the territory. The school is at Athens. Miami of Ohio was opened shortly after that time at Oxford. Note the names of the towns. At that time, Ohio was considered "the West."

Sorry, a bit of historical digression.

In any event, by the 1940's there were quite a few "coeds" including my mother-in-law who was an ADPi at Wittenberg University in Ohio.

Delt Alum!!! When we start talking about the CIVIL WAR in order to put things in perspective, it makes me think I'd better get my will in order and line up the pall bearers!!!:eek:

Opportunity is another thing entirely. I suspect that many families did not allow daughters to attend college because they didn't think it worthwhile. My Mom was "allowed" to attend
a Catholic girls college for 2 years. Then she was pulled home because her brother was old enough to attend and as you suggested, they assumed she would get married and have kids. This was rather rare for a small, agricultural community.
In fact I was the second, after my uncle, to get my degree. Women were watching all those movies and TV programs that showed Marriage to your HS sweetheart the day after graduation. It was the standard media spin as I recall.

At U of Houston, I couldn't say what the numbers were.(Heck, I didn't even bother going to my graduation ceremony) There wasn't a shortage of women though. However, there were GROSS disparities between the individual colleges, like college of architecture vs college of education.
We do have the organization, AAUCW (American Assoc. of University Women) that I joined when I first moved here and there were over 30 members in their 40's and up. It was a boring group, so I'm sure many who could have joined took a pass.

JAM,

Interesting that I just wrote about the Civil War in another thread. I haven't given it much thought in many years.

Anyway, I know that you're MUCH younger than me, so I wouldn't worry about the pall bearers just yet. Besides, with the economy the way it is, I can't afford to die.

Besides, I have to wait until my college graduate daughter makes enough money to support Mrs. DeltAlum and me in our old age.

She considered it her right not only to go to college, but to trasnfer out of state midway through her studies. (Fortunately, she still graduated "Magna" in four years)

As someone said about their family, obviously college for both genders was a "given" in Mrs. DeltAlum's family, and thus, in ours. So, she was given those opportunities.

DeltAlum,
OHIO University. Sorry about my confusion. :) So you have at least four generations of college graduates in your family. That's impressive.

Cream,

Thanks. I hadn't really thought that much about it, except understanding that Mrs. DA's grandmother having a degree was fairly exceptional.

On her side of the family, there soon will be four generations of both male and female graduates.

Neither of my parents finished high school.

My wife's father and grandfather were school board members -- the grandfather at the state level -- so college was a given for everyone in her family.