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

[justamom]

> 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?

[Tri-D_Phi]

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.

[DeltAlum]

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!

[Hootie]

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!

[carnation]

What DeltAlum said!

[Kevin]

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.

[33girl]

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."

[Kevin]

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.

[aephi alum]

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...

[Rudey]

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.

[Tom Earp]

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!

[swissmiss04]

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...

[juniorgrrl]

Originally posted by justamom
[B> >
> > 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? [/B]

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.



Ignorance is timeless

[Rudey]

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

Originally posted by swissmiss04
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...

[justamom]

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.