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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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