First, you survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a tin, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, your baby cots were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
You had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when you rode your bikes, you had no helmets, not to mention, the risks you took hitchhiking ..
As children, you would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a van – loose – was always great fun. You drank water from the garden hosepipe and NOT from a bottle.
You shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
You ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it, but you weren’t overweight because……
As long as we returned when the streetlights came on, you would leave the house in the morning and play all day. All day, no one could get in touch with you.
You were also alright. When you finally rode down the hill after spending hours assembling your go-carts out of junk, you would discover that you had forgotten the brakes. You learned to solve the challenge after a few runs into the bushes.
Playstations, Nintendos, X-boxes, video games, cable’s 99 channels, surround sound, cell phones, texting, personal computers, the Internet, and online chat rooms were all absent from your life.
You found your friends when you went outside!
You played with worms (well, most boys did) and mud pies made of dirt, and the worms did not dwell in us forever. You fell from trees, got cut, shattered bones, and teeth, and no lawsuits were filed because of these mishaps.
Despite being assured that you would play games with sticks and tennis balls, you chose not to do so.
You walked or rode a bike to a friend’s house, rang the bell, knocked on the door, or just called out to them!
Not every person who tried out for local teams made the squad.
Individuals who didn’t had to develop the ability to cope with disappointment. Just think of that! There was no such thing as a parent helping you out if you breached the law.
Some of the greatest risk-takers, problem-solvers, and inventors in history have come from this generation!
Innovation and fresh concepts have proliferated during the last half century. You experienced autonomy, failure, achievement, and accountability, and you gained knowledge.