Congratulations Are In Order.

[Bill]

TO ALL MY FRIENDS AT TOFFEETALK WHO WERE BORN IN THE 1930's 1940's, 50's, 60's and even the 70's !

 

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, 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, .

 

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

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

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

 

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the 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 store and buy, chocolate bars, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow the frogs up with. We ate cupcakes, 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 one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.

 

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY , no video/dvd films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside to play with 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...

 

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,

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

 

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

 

RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment.. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT

 

Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes, blackdoard brushes, and bully's 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 didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it. !

SO, if you are one of them born within the time range! CONGRATULATIONS You survived all of that!

 

Where did it all go wrong ?

[Ian C]

Ah jaysus Bill I'm not that bad!

[mcirony]

Hang on Bill, I was born in 1983 and I enjoyed all those same pleasures! In fact, my favourite hobby is ranting at the RIDICULOUS society we live in today. Maybe my generation was the last of its kind?! I certainly didnt have a mobile phone until I'd been pubescent for a good few years, and my childhood was spent with mucky knees and tired legs from spending the day trapsing around knocking on friends doors.

 

All this having been said, there are a lot of people in my generation that did lead an agoraphobic technological childhood. Im just glad my parents kept me away from that. Good work!

Edited July 27, 2010 by MoyesForPM

[Steve_E]

Only girls had pierced ears!

 

Amen! (Allthough I was born in the 90s :blush02:)

[nesta2003]

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 one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.

 

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY , no video/dvd films, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside to play with 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.

 

Bilbo you are a legend!

 

Dont know where that came from & dont care coz your spot on!

 

I was born in 1981 but all this rings true as we never had a pot to piss in. I've got 2 boys now aged 12 & 6 & they cant have the freedom I had when I was there age. It's a different world! Mores the pity.

 

My main concern is makin sure they haven't experimented with every recreational drug known to man by the time their 14 like their dad did!

 

There in lies the problem in my opinion(drug's), my mum was a bit of a hippy but she never robbed kid's to feed her habit she just "loved".

[jamiemaher85]

Ha ha. Cracking post Bill

[Blue 250]

Yep me and my mates made a go-cart out of an old pram, and I managed to brake three of my top front teeth having fun on that death trap .

 

We used to jump off the garage roof into the vegetable garden, somtimes we even waited for the person who jumped in front of you to move out of the way.

 

We used to split into two teams, go under a bridge that crossed a river, a team on either side of the water, and throw stones at each other.....for fun

 

When we played football, there weren't really too many rules, a foot could never be too high, your head was always too low.

 

And yes most of us survived.

[StevO]

the olympic games were always the biggest danger in my childhood.

i strongly remember i took one of dads weights, tied a bin bag through the hole in the middle and we perfected the hammer throw on the field, shortly followed by the 200m sprint when andy took a hammer to the ribs and hit the deck.

i have never ran as fast as that in my whole life and im pretty sure i would have beaten linford christy that day.

 

no body ended up in court, it was just a game.

(court would have been better than the bollocking dad gave me)

 

i was born in 1984, my parents who were born in the 50s had the watchful eye of my grandma, born in 1909 and hard as nails, in case we needed any really old skool input.

Edited July 31, 2010 by StevO