# born between 1920 - 1980?



## bev (Mar 8, 2009)

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE 
1920s, 30s , 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s!! 

 First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked 
and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses full of asbestos. 

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese & tuna from a can, and 
didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer. 

Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with 
bright coloured lead-based paints. 

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or 
cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to 
mention, the risks we took cadging lifts. 

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or 
air bags. 

A trip to the coast on a warm day was always a special 
treat. 

We drank water from the stream and NOT from a bottle. 

Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza 
shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Kebabs. 

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and only opened 
for a few hours at weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death! 

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one 
bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. 

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at 
the corner shop and buy fruit Spangles and some bangers to blow up frogs with. 

We ate buns, white bread and real butter and drank soft 
drinks with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because...... 

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!! 

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as 
long as we were back when the streetlights came on. 

No mobile phones - no one was able to reach us all day. 
And we were always O.K. 

We would spend hours building our trolleys out of scraps 
and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We 
built tree houses and dens and played in streams with matchbox cars. 

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no 
video games at all, no 99 channels on Sky, no video tape or DVD movies, 
no surround sound, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat 
rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! 

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and 
there were no Lawsuits from these accidents. 

Only girls had pierced ears! 
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms 
did not live in us forever. 

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross buns at 
Easter time.......no really! 

We had air guns and catapults for our birthdays, 

We drank milk laced with Strontium 90 from cows that had 
eaten grass covered in nuclear fallout from the atomic testing. 

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked 
on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them from the street! 

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends 
meet! 

Mum & dad didn't need Brandy, Whisky whatever when they 
came in from work! 

Footy had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those 
who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! 

Our teachers used to belt us with big sticks and leather 
straps and bullies always ruled the playground at school. 

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

Our parents got married before they had children and 
didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kylie' and 'Blade' 


This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, 
problem solvers and inventors ever! 

The past 70 years have 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 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. 

PS -The big type is because your eyes are shot at your age


Bev


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## Copepod (Mar 9, 2009)

*yes, but...*

In general, very true, kids need more freedom and activity now and a bit of dirt doesn't hurt most people (unless you're immunosuppressed or pregnant - AIDS wasn't an issue until early 1980s, and immunosuppressent treatment started not long before), but, somethings have changed for the better...
deaths from overdoses of tablets, particularly ingestion of paracetamol and household chemicals by children, have gone down dramatically since the introduction of childproof lids. Injuries from fireworks simply didn't happen in Northern Ireland until firework sales were legalised in about 1995. Babies are no longer harmed by the injestion of lead paint dust when their mothers scraped and repainted woodwork while pregnant - and lead was last removed from white paint, not coloured paints, from 1950s onwards. 
I know I spent longer than average investigating topics related to poisons during my MSc Environmental Technology (1997/98), and I know this is in the Jokes thread, but it's still worth pointing out. When I told my fellow students in the "Lead and its effect on children's IQ" group that my sister had just become pregnant, they were horrifed that the first thing I said to her was "congratulations", not "don't scrape any pre-1960s paint".


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## Einstein (Mar 13, 2009)

I think one of the critical points in all of this is the issue of risk, we weren't told not to climb trees as we might fall, to wear cycle helmets, not to do x, y or z... we took risks, had accidents, but didn't go out looking to blame someone.

It was OUR stupid fault and we learnt from it, ok, some of us didn't.

I think the issue of personal injury law has been tainted so much by what people see as the awarded damages in the USA, people don't realise it is to cover for the incapacity, not to fund a lavish lifestyle, soon someone is going to wake up to the fact that the basis of English Law is not to profit. That's the job of the legal profession .

Business is the acceptance and balance of risk, we have a generation, perhaps two generations now who are growing up, not knowing how to take risk and therefore serious consideration needs to be given to who will be the entrepeuneurs of tomorrow. Who will balance the risk with the reward?

Given the current crisis in the economic markets, clearly the balance of risk versus reward and sustainability failed and with spectacular impact on many people.

I think we need to remove the cotton wool, hold back the concern and let children be children, explore, make mistakes, get hurt (not seriously!), but most importantly learn from those mistakes and use that learning experience to guide them through the rest of their lives.

One comment I have often made is that I am so willing to learn by watching others mistakes.

Right, I am off my soapbox now!


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## Freddie99 (Mar 13, 2009)

Einstein said:


> the basis of English Law is not to profit. That's the job of the legal profession .



God but I must be getting cynical David but yes, whatever the outcome in the court room the lawyers will always win.


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## Einstein (Mar 13, 2009)

I speak as a retired barrister Tom! Corporate law, not criminal before anyone asks! 

But this 'I'll sue the pants off you...' mentality that is creeping in over here is beginning to worry me as people just don't realise the impact, thinking insurance companies are an easy hit.

There are many good cases of negligence claims against third parties and indeed, as I've assisted a couple of friends against NHS Trusts, but still it is better to negotiate professionaly than to have your day in court.

People just don't realise how hard their day in court will be and so often when a good negotiator or advocate is used the net result between negotiating and letting a judge decide isn't worth the time, stress and costs involved.

Hmmm, thought this was the jokes section!


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## bev (Mar 13, 2009)

It started as a joke!Bev


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## Einstein (Mar 13, 2009)

I know - but it does raise some serious points though Bev, which is a good way of getting serious points across.

There is a similar joke about risk taking and where will we be in 30 years time, it always gets a good debate going when someone relays it to a group. Especially a group of 'youngsters' there are some born in the 80's who wouldn't beleive what those of us born in and before the 70's did and the risks and freedom we were given.

A poor reflection on the world we live in, or society becoming more realistic in protecting the vulnerable? What is the right and/or happy balance?

Who knows.


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## HOBIE (Jul 24, 2017)

Some good points ! The good old days


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## Ditto (Jul 25, 2017)

My Mum used to batter us with the back of a wooden hair brush. We still used to fall in the ditch and come home covered in mud, it was worth the risk trying to jump over.


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## Hazel (Jul 25, 2017)

Bev - brilliant and so true, loved your thread.

We learned how to problem solve, build things, share, make friends.   We spent time in the open air, we did not need money,     We  talked to each other, there was no need to scream and shout at each other.    

Happy days


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## mikeyB (Jul 25, 2017)

Yes, there was all that. A proper childhood. I had two friends die when I was junior school, from diseases that are now rare because of immunisation. But that wasn't bad, it was just the way things were.


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