Blogging about life in Minnesota, raising our six kids with Down syndrome while battling Breast Cancer.

Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor in the morning the devil says, "Oh shit! She's up!"

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Thursday Thievery

I totally lifted this from my friend Kathy's blog! (at least I can admit to stealing!)
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"No matter what our kids and the new generation think about us,

To Those of Us Born 1930 - 1979
To all the kids who survived the 1930's,
1940's, 1950's, 1960's and 1970's!
WE ARE AWESOME !!
OUR LIFE IS LIVING PROOF !!!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank and/or took Dr. prescribed Speed while they were pregnant with us. 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-base paints. As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had on baseball caps, not helmets. Riding in the back of a pick-up truck 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 Ding-dongs, Twinkies, white bread, real butter, 4% milk and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. WHY. . . ? Because we were always outside playing. . . that's why!

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 OKAY. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them 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 Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms. WE HAD FRIENDS!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping pong paddles, or just a bare hand and no one would call child services to report abuse. 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. 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!! The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, 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 learned how to deal with it all. If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS! You might want to share this post with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good. While you're at it, have your own kids read this post so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?"

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