Growing Up in the 50's or the 60's

If you grew up in the 50's or the 60's it's hard to believe that we lived this long. As kids, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention hitchhiking everywhere as a young kid.)

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. 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. We played dodgeball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it. We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight, we were always outside playing. We shared one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died.

We didn't have Playstations, Nintendos, X Boxes, cell phones, computers, Facebook, or Twitter...we had friends. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do it? Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with it. Some students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were held back to repeat the same grade.

Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide behind. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility. If you were a kid in the 50's or 60's congratulations! We had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.