Under 65...

[Mr70]

We survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing,tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

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

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

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, 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 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 did not have Playstations, Nintendos, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or 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.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

Playing Army with all the kids in the area,and building forts.

And if you got in trouble in school,you were more worried about what your father would do to you when he got home.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell,or just walked in and talked to them.

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

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we did, we got our butt spanked there and then we got butt spanked again when we got home.

If you fell down at a neighbors house,you were picked up,brushed off an told all was OK.No one would file a lawsuit with you later on to own that very same house.

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

Our Moms used to defrost hamburger on the counter and some of us used to eat it raw.Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag,not in ice-pack coolers,but I can't remember getting e.coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool,no beach closures then.

We all took gym,not PE .. and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.

Flunking gym was not an option . even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself?

The past 60 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.These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever in the history of mankind..

If you grew up with these or anyothers,feel free to add on..