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If you were born after 1980, this does not apply to you...so go away!
Kids of today are wrapped in cotton wool......... Read on.
If you lived as a child in the 60's or 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. Our cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cupboards, When we rode our bikes we had no helmets. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We would spend hours building 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 mobile phones. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no lawsuits 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 patty cakes, bread and butter, and drank cordial, but we were never overweight...we were always outside playing. We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games, 65 channels on pay TV, video tape films, surround sound, personal mobile 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 rung 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.
Footy and netball had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment..... Some students weren't as adept as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. 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!
Makes you wonder what this fast paced technology driven society is turning into, doesn't it?
Kids of today are wrapped in cotton wool......... Read on.
If you lived as a child in the 60's or 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. Our cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cupboards, When we rode our bikes we had no helmets. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We would spend hours building 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 mobile phones. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no lawsuits 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 patty cakes, bread and butter, and drank cordial, but we were never overweight...we were always outside playing. We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games, 65 channels on pay TV, video tape films, surround sound, personal mobile 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 rung 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.
Footy and netball had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment..... Some students weren't as adept as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. 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!
Makes you wonder what this fast paced technology driven society is turning into, doesn't it?
Rose-tinted glasses and all that, eh? Jumpers for goal posts?
It's all about balance, though innit? While I'd spend hours playing out in the street, I also lost hours of my childhood to Elite, Football Manager 2, Rainbow Islands, and other classics of the time.
And I've got to disagree to some extent that kids now are rude etc. I grew up in Croydon, and there were always rude, pikey kids. It's just that we now look at them as 'responsible adults' (guffaw).
It's all about balance, though innit? While I'd spend hours playing out in the street, I also lost hours of my childhood to Elite, Football Manager 2, Rainbow Islands, and other classics of the time.
And I've got to disagree to some extent that kids now are rude etc. I grew up in Croydon, and there were always rude, pikey kids. It's just that we now look at them as 'responsible adults' (guffaw).
Like Sheepy, I was born after 1980 (1981) but I identify with what you're saying a lot. Me and my mates used to go on day long bike rides across the fields that we're right down the road, you could go for miles along random tracks and it was great, in the same way we spent most summers playing football, not todays serious "imitate Beckham" swearing filled kids games of it, but actual fun football where just playing was all that mattered.
Now, the whole lot is gone, developed into more housing and an industrial park for tech companies and the like. The old football field is routinely raided by the local police each weekend for underage drinkers and drug users. People used to be friendlier when I was younger, nowadays kids are like mini rotwheilers to kids they don't know.
We had the standard four channels for ages on the TV, didn't get Sky until 1999 even ! Yet there never used to be any arguments over programmes, or even what to watch, now there is. My first console was a second hand Atari 2600 when I was 8, and it was actual genuine fun. People played games for fun back then, now it's a headlong rush from one new release to another. 24 hours news didn't exist, you had the BBC at 6 and 10 at night and it was enough, now we have many offering 24 hour news but I'm not always convinced we know any more than back then.
Sure, we have many material things that we're expensive or unheard of back then, but I'm not convinced this is necessarily a good thing anymore.
Christ, I sound like an OAP....
~~Belldandy~~
Now, the whole lot is gone, developed into more housing and an industrial park for tech companies and the like. The old football field is routinely raided by the local police each weekend for underage drinkers and drug users. People used to be friendlier when I was younger, nowadays kids are like mini rotwheilers to kids they don't know.
We had the standard four channels for ages on the TV, didn't get Sky until 1999 even ! Yet there never used to be any arguments over programmes, or even what to watch, now there is. My first console was a second hand Atari 2600 when I was 8, and it was actual genuine fun. People played games for fun back then, now it's a headlong rush from one new release to another. 24 hours news didn't exist, you had the BBC at 6 and 10 at night and it was enough, now we have many offering 24 hour news but I'm not always convinced we know any more than back then.
Sure, we have many material things that we're expensive or unheard of back then, but I'm not convinced this is necessarily a good thing anymore.
Christ, I sound like an OAP....
~~Belldandy~~
Ah yes. Life seemed so much simpler when I was an ignorant child and I yearn for those days in a futile attempt to recreate a childhood innocence that I will never have again.
I had a go-cart, and the gang I was in were all armed with pea shooters. Dennis the Menace was our idol.
And I always came home when the streetlights went on... any later and my the wrath of my parents awaited... I was very rarely late home.
Cheers, I just felt I had to get that off my chest. Society is going downhill and producing a bunch of ill-mannered, rude, illiterate louts. Single mothers carouse the streets with their fat kids and everyone seems to have a permanent scowl on their face. The government is more intent on overseas policies than addressing domestic issues which are of a far more critical nature. Civil unrest is simmering under the surface of society and I don't like it. What can I do about it? Nothing, short of emigrating where a better life probably exists for us.
Sorry to sound melancholy about it but it's really been getting to me lately.
Sorry to sound melancholy about it but it's really been getting to me lately.
I was born at the start of '86 but read it anyway
Apart from your first paragraph much of it applied to my childhood I'm afraid... we never even had a car till I was 7 never mind a seatbelt.
I did all the same things as a child like you mentioned... building go karts and 'gang huts' in the trees with old bits of wood. Got in fights... got muddy etc etc.
We only had normal channels till I was about 14 and I only had an old crap Atari for games.
Just to plead my case but I know what you mean
Apart from your first paragraph much of it applied to my childhood I'm afraid... we never even had a car till I was 7 never mind a seatbelt.
I did all the same things as a child like you mentioned... building go karts and 'gang huts' in the trees with old bits of wood. Got in fights... got muddy etc etc.
We only had normal channels till I was about 14 and I only had an old crap Atari for games.
Just to plead my case but I know what you mean
The next generation will produce little more than a useless bunch of louts intent on living off the fruits of our labour. They will not innovate, they will not invent, they will not work.
Sexually, they will be like the '60s, since all the protection they've been given means they won't even hear the word "penis" until they land on a University doorstep, by which time it will be far too late to educate them correctly.
A babyboom will result. Thousands of teens getting up the duff, and consequently blaming their children for ruining their lives. These children will not be cared for as religiously as their parents were, and will turn out all the better for it.
Good post.
Sexually, they will be like the '60s, since all the protection they've been given means they won't even hear the word "penis" until they land on a University doorstep, by which time it will be far too late to educate them correctly.
A babyboom will result. Thousands of teens getting up the duff, and consequently blaming their children for ruining their lives. These children will not be cared for as religiously as their parents were, and will turn out all the better for it.
Good post.
If you were born after 1980, this does not apply to you...so go away!
Kids of today are wrapped in cotton wool......... Read on.
If you lived as a child in the 60's or 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. Our cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cupboards, When we rode our bikes we had no helmets. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We would spend hours building 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 mobile phones. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no lawsuits 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 patty cakes, bread and butter, and drank cordial, but we were never overweight...we were always outside playing. We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games, 65 channels on pay TV, video tape films, surround sound, personal mobile 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 rung 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.
Footy and netball had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment..... Some students weren't as adept as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. 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!
Makes you wonder what this fast paced technology driven society is turning into, doesn't it?
Kids of today are wrapped in cotton wool......... Read on.
If you lived as a child in the 60's or 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. Our cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cupboards, When we rode our bikes we had no helmets. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We would spend hours building 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 mobile phones. We got cut and broke bones and broke teeth, and there were no lawsuits 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 patty cakes, bread and butter, and drank cordial, but we were never overweight...we were always outside playing. We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X-Boxes, video games, 65 channels on pay TV, video tape films, surround sound, personal mobile 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 rung 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.
Footy and netball had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't, had to learn to deal with disappointment..... Some students weren't as adept as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade. 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!
Makes you wonder what this fast paced technology driven society is turning into, doesn't it?