Remember..

[tommy.irene]

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL BORN IN 1930's, 1940's, 50's, 60's, 70's and Early 80's !!! First, you survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, your baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. You had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when you rode your bikes, you had no helmets, not to mention, the risks you took hitchhiking .. As children, you would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun. You drank water from the garden hosepipe and NOT from a bottle. You shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. You ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but you weren't overweight because...... YOU WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! You 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 you all day. And you were OK. You would spend hours building your go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out you forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, you learned to solve the problem . You did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........YOU HAD FRIENDS and you went outside and found them! You fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents you played with worms(well most boys did) and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. You made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although you were told it would happen, you did not poke out any eyes. You rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Local teams 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 you out if you broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! This generation has 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. You had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and you 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.

[made-for-an-angel-charms]

Thank you Tommy for the walk down memory lane....this 69 year old remembers it all with very fond memories 🙂

[xtf70]

Schools didn't close at the first sign of snow, if you took ill no-one could come to pick you up and take you home so you had to lie down in the school nurse's office; if the weather turned bad the buses stopped running and school closed earlier to give you time to make the four-mile walk home in the fog or hail...

[duck_a_lorange]

Two little girls pelting round a corner of the school building (where running is against the rules) run into each other and one breaks her wrist.

Nobody gets sued.

Nobody has to fill in reams of health and safety risk assessment bumph.

The police and social security don't get involved...

[saasher2012]

Riding horses across a field at full gallop, without hat ,body protection, saddle & barefoot . Stupid but great fun.

[bankhaunter]

First, you survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

But not necessarily as healthy as you might have been, perhaps mere survival may be regarded as not good enough.

Smoking during pregnancy is a major contributor to low birth weight which in turn is a major factor in infant mortality.

Then after that trauma, your baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. You had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets

And countless children either died or were made very ill as a result.

As children, you would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun.

And we all know how many unecessary deaths and injuries there were as a result of that, including adults in the front seat killed by the loose child in the back.

This wasn't produced just because someone was a killjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKHY69AFstE

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

In your dreams, I've seen the waiting room of a juvenile court in the 50s, 'little Johnny can do no wrong' was just as prevalent then.

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids,

For a great many it was pure luck indeed that they survived to grow up, there are very good reasons why we have regulations.

Accidental deaths in the under 16 age group have almost halved just since 1999 although that does depend on social class to some extent.

[cee-dee]

If we're to remember anything at all, remember to use good old Common Sense.

The world's (well, in the UK anyway) gone mad with namby-pamby, nanny-State rules.

Only yesterday I was talking to a chap who told me that where he works, if they have to step on anything higher than six inches, they have to have a Risk Assessment done.

[rose2008-2008]

I remember those days as a child born in the 60s. Walking to school yes in bad weather,, being locked out of the school rooms and prefabricated huts to have break outside even if it was freezing or snow.

Waking up with ice inside the windows in the house,,, and dressing in bed or downstairs as it was freezing upstairs.

Power Cuts in the winter when we got candles out. Blimey it makes me feel old now.

[*.*..lola..*.*]

That brings back so many memories..thanks, Tommy

You would spend hours building your go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out you forgot the brakes.

We lived near a really steep hill. One day I decided it would be fun to go down it on my roller skates LOL

The first time was amazing. It felt like I was going about 50 mph - the second time I fell over and slid down the rest of the way on my side.

I eventually came to a stop minus one side of my sock, one side of my knickers and most of the skin on one side of my leg...OUCH!!

It was good fun but I never did it again for some reason  

[saasher2012]

When being in a gang meant sitting in a barn telling ghost stories!

[tommy.irene]

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@saasher2012 wrote:
When being in a gang meant sitting in a barn telling ghost stories!

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In my gang i was the Doctor and the girls were nurses..ha  ha .. I remember been tested about how much water you had to put in a mop bucket to carry..they changed it to one with wheels..

[ronnybabes]

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@bankhaunter wrote:

 Tommy:  First, you survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

BH: But not necessarily as healthy as you might have been, perhaps mere survival may be regarded as not good enough.

Smoking during pregnancy is a major contributor to low birth weight which in turn is a major factor in infant mortality.

RB:

I grew up in an era where everyone smoked (Mum didn't) Dad did, as a result there were virtually no smoke free houses.

Cinemas Bars, and Restaurants were  places that smokers and non smokers  mingled. There were no concerns about passive smoking, in them days it would've been as laughable as paying for bottled water. 

As for Mother's drinking and smoking while pregnant, they just didn't know of the harm, but what they did know is not to drink a lot. Ladies did not go pubbing like today's counterparts. It seems that today the more you know, the less Common sense you have. Common sense prevailed in them days, so just as many babies survived then as in todays world if you factor out the diseases that we then had no cure, or antidote for.

Tommy: Then after that trauma, your baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. You had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets

BH: And countless children either died or were made very ill as a result.

RB:

Leaded paints were not the problem, you have to ingest an awful lot of lead, over  a very long period, to become ill, and the paint was swamped with sheets and blankets anyhow. Babies were well wrapped and swathed.

As for childproof lids, well they had something better in those days, it was called common sense. Medicine and harmful substances were kept out of reach, and the problem was solved.

Just as many babies, sadly, are made ill, or suffer a fatality from medicines being left lying around these days, as in the daysTommy refers to. 

Tommy: As children, you would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun.

BH: And we all know how many unecessary deaths and injuries there were as a result of that, including adults in the front seat killed by the loose child in the back.

This wasn't produced just because someone was a killjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKHY69AFstE

RB:

Well, I for one don't know how many unnecessary deaths were caused by riding lose in the back of a van, or lorry, I cannot recall any. As for the loose child in the back; Seat belts just were not around then, progress comes slowly,  seatbelts became a necessity because of the increased speed performance of cars, and the increase of the number of cars on our roads. Compare the type, speed, and the performance of the car then, to the souped up cars and their performance now, and then factor in how few cars there were on the road compared to today.

It also has to be said that in some cases, wearing a seatbelt contributed to deaths, and had they not been wearing one, they would have, in all probability survived. 

However, I absolutely agree that wearing a seatbelt on the whole, today, is the best option. 

Tommy: The idea of a parent bailing you out if you broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

BH: In your dreams, I've seen the waiting room of a juvenile court in the 50s, 'little Johnny can do no wrong' was just as prevalent then.

RB:

There was absolute shame, and the Parents of these  juveniles had to live with it.

So.... In my dreams too then.  In the main, it simply was the case as Tommy stated. end of.

Tommy: You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids,

BH: For a great many it was pure luck indeed that they survived to grow up, there are very good reasons why we have regulations.

Accidental deaths in the under 16 age group have almost halved just since 1999 although that does depend on social class to some extent.

RB:

I'd say it depends on a lot more then social class. Accidental deaths may have halved, (you say that, and I haven't managed to get any data to support or deny it) but look at the lifestyle of the under 16's now to the lifestyle 50 odd years ago. Today's kids get driven to, and from everywhere, todays kids spend all their time on game stations, mobile apps, computers, and television. Competitive Sport has been watered down to show no shame in losing. British Bulldog was the norm in the then school playgrounds, even conker games are banned. We now have a nation of softies, one thing is certain in all statistics. That yesterdays teens (Tommy's that is) were leaner fitter, and healthier then today's overweight

e-numbered hyper counterparts. The only injury the majority of todays teens have to put up with is "sore thumb" syndrome. 

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[tommy.irene]

Yesterday people can show people how to get on with life.. when the storms came we used a car battery to give us light..I used a bulb out of the back of the car.. we had coal fires to cook on ,,if needed.. we didnt build houses on wet plains.. we cleaned out the drains to stop flooding and most important we worked to put food on the table..

[saasher2012]

Ah Tommy, I've heard all about you Irish boys & your blarney !

[tommy.irene]

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@saasher2012 wrote:
Ah Tommy, I've heard all about you Irish boys & your blarney !

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You know you really love me..  At 1pm our time tomorrow it will be the New Year In OZ..

[saasher2012]

There you go again with your Irish charm!

[tommy.irene]

[saasher2012]

I just love Irish logic !

[the-ginger-ninja]

Climbing trees, falling out and ending up in A&E

Oh wait Dad still does that 😞  in his 70s 

Loves those phone calls that start with 'Don't panic but.'

[bookhunter2007]

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@ronnybabes wrote:

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RB:

I grew up in an era where everyone smoked (Mum didn't) Dad did, as a result there were virtually no smoke free houses.

Cinemas Bars, and Restaurants were  places that smokers and non smokers  mingled. There were no concerns about passive smoking, in them days it would've been as laughable as paying for bottled water. 

As for Mother's drinking and smoking while pregnant, they just didn't know of the harm, but what they did know is not to drink a lot. Ladies did not go pubbing like today's counterparts. It seems that today the more you know, the less Common sense you have. Common sense prevailed in them days, so just as many babies survived then as in todays world if you factor out the diseases that we then had no cure, or antidote for.

RB:

Leaded paints were not the problem, you have to ingest an awful lot of lead, over  a very long period, to become ill, and the paint was swamped with sheets and blankets anyhow. Babies were well wrapped and swathed.

As for childproof lids, well they had something better in those days, it was called common sense. Medicine and harmful substances were kept out of reach, and the problem was solved.

Just as many babies, sadly, are made ill, or suffer a fatality from medicines being left lying around these days, as in the daysTommy refers to. 

RB:

Well, I for one don't know how many unnecessary deaths were caused by riding lose in the back of a van, or lorry, I cannot recall any. As for the loose child in the back; Seat belts just were not around then, progress comes slowly,  seatbelts became a necessity because of the increased speed performance of cars, and the increase of the number of cars on our roads. Compare the type, speed, and the performance of the car then, to the souped up cars and their performance now, and then factor in how few cars there were on the road compared to today.

It also has to be said that in some cases, wearing a seatbelt contributed to deaths, and had they not been wearing one, they would have, in all probability survived. 

However, I absolutely agree that wearing a seatbelt on the whole, today, is the best option. 

RB:

There was absolute shame, and the Parents of these  juveniles had to live with it.

So.... In my dreams too then.  In the main, it simply was the case as Tommy stated. end of.

RB:

I'd say it depends on a lot more then social class. Accidental deaths may have halved, (you say that, and I haven't managed to get any data to support or deny it) but look at the lifestyle of the under 16's now to the lifestyle 50 odd years ago. Today's kids get driven to, and from everywhere, todays kids spend all their time on game stations, mobile apps, computers, and television. Competitive Sport has been watered down to show no shame in losing. British Bulldog was the norm in the then school playgrounds, even conker games are banned. We now have a nation of softies, one thing is certain in all statistics. That yesterdays teens (Tommy's that is) were leaner fitter, and healthier then today's overweight

e-numbered hyper counterparts. The only injury the majority of todays teens have to put up with is "sore thumb" syndrome. 

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1jEMmYwOzI