Getting Older.

[padi56]

FOR EVERYONE BORN MID EIGHTIES.


According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who
were kids in the 40s 50s 60's, 70's and very early 80's probably shouldn't
have survived, because our baby cots were covered with brightly
coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on
doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.

When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops and
fluorescent 'lollipop sticks' in our wheels for a engine noise. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags - riding in the passenger seat was a treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it
tasted the same.

We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice
with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were
always outside playing,instead of watching television and computer games.

We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can
and no-one actually died from this.

We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps of old wood and then
went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times,we soon learnt to solve the problem.

We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as
long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach
us and no one minded.

We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all.
No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound,
no mobile phones,no personal computers, no DVDs, no Internet
chat rooms.

We just had friends -or we went outside and found them.


We played cricket football and rounders, and sometimes that ball really
hurt!

We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones but there were no
law suits.

We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from other
parents.

We played knock-the-door-run-away and were actually afraid of the
owners catching us.

We walked to friends' homes.

We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on
mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the
corner.

We made up games with sticks and anything we could make into a ball.

We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was
unheard of...They actually sided with the law. This generation
has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers
and inventors, ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of
innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and
responsibility, and we learnt how to deal with it all. And
you're one of them.

Congratulations!

Pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow as real
kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our
own good. For those of you who aren't old enough, thought you
might like to read about us.

This my friends, is surprisingly frightening......and it might
put a smile on your face:

The majority of students in universities today were born in
1986........They are called youth.

They have never heard of We are the World, We are the children,
and the Uptown Girl they know is by Westlife not Billy Joel.

They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena Cherry or
Belinda Carlisle.

For them, there has always been only one Germany and one
Vietnam.
AIDS has existed since they were born. CD's have existed since
they were born.

Michael Jackson has always been white.

To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they
can't Imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance,in Saturday nigh fever.

They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are
films from last year.

They can never imagine life before computers.

They'll never have pretended to be the A. Team, Red-Hand Gang or
the Famous Five.

They'll never have applied to be on Jim'll Fix It or Why Don't
You.

They can't believe a black and white television ever existed. And
they will never understand how we could leave the house without
a mobile phone.

Now let's check if we're getting old...


1. You understand what was written above and you smile.


2. You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon,
after a night out.


3. Your friends are getting married/already married.


4. You are always surprised to see small children playing
comfortably with computers.


5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your
head.


6. You remember watching Dirty Den in EastEnders the first
time around.


7. You meet your friends from time to time, talking about
the good Old days, repeating again all the funny things you have
experienced together.


8. Having read this, you are thinking of forwarding it
to some other friends because you think they will like it too...


Yes,like me you're getting older!!

[JJ Irani]

[onkyo]

All true.

I am old.

[limbo]

[limbo]

.

[DSJ]

This is so true.

[Lion]

Thanx for your insight, all of it is true!!! Children today are obese and parents don't seem to care, what's going to happen to them when they get older.

[marshallr47]

[swatty]

not me

[Gaijin]

Excellent!

[Bisquitlips]

[Carolina]

That's great!

You know though, my kids don't watch TV during the week. It's amazing to see the ideas they come up with when that thing is turned off.

[buz-lh]

Spot on Padi. My kids were raised without TV during the week also Carolina and they both have grown up to be successful, good people. Good job on that.

[cpsomas]

Those were the good ole' days!

[Boopie]

Good post. I tell my kids that when I was a girl, I used to ride my bike all day around town, walk to the local mall and buy an ice cream cone, etc. I distinctly remember walking to school by myself in kindergarten. I actually live in a far safer and upscale area than where I grew up, but the idea of my kids walking around the neighborhood by themselves throws me into a panic. I know it shouldn't, though.

Even more shocking...when I was in 4th-5th grade, some of my classmates and I were crossing guards for the kindergarteners. Our elementary school was on a fairly busy street, but at the age of 9-10 we were out there with our crossing guard vests and "stop" signs, stepping into the street to stop cars.

Inconceivable!

[bodybump]

Ouch!!! hahahaah so true!!