Were You Born at a Different Time

Lon · Post by **Lon** » Tue May 02, 2006 11:40 am

THE LARGE TYPE IS JUST IN CASE YOU WERE

30's, 40's

50's, 60's and 70's. WE SURVIVED BEING BORN TO MOTHERS WHO SMOKED AND/OR DRANK WHILE THEY CARRIED US.

THEY TOOK ASPIRIN, ATE BLUE CHEESE DRESSING, TUNA FROM A CAN AND DIDN'T GET TESTED FOR DIABETES

OUR CRIBS WERE 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 CHILDREN, 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

WE DRAKE WATER FROM A 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 TWINKIES, ***** BREAD AND REAL BUTTER AND DRANK SODA PIP WITH SUGAR IN IT, BUT WEREN'T OVERWEIGHT BECAUSE,

WE WERE ALWAYS PLAYING OUTSIDE

WE WOULD LEAVE HOME IN THE MORNING AND PLAY ALL DAY, AS LONG AS WE WERE BACK WHEN THE STREET LIGHTS CAME ON

NO ONE WAS ABLE TO REACH US ALL DAY, AND WE WERE OK

WE WOULD SPEND HOURS BUILDING OUR GOKARTS OUT OF SCRAPS AND THEN RIDE DOWN THE HILL ONLY TO FIND OUT WE FORGOT THE BRAKES. APTER RUNNING INTO THE BUSHES A FEW TIMES WE LEARNED TO SOLVE THAT PROBLEM

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

WE WERE GIVEN BB GUNS ON OUR TENTH 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 YELLED FOR THEM

THE IDEA OF A PARENT BAILING US OUT IF WE BROKE THE LAW WAS UNHEARD OF, THEY ACTUALLY SIDED WITH THE LAW

WE HAD FREEDOM, FAILURE, SUCCESS AND RESPONSIBILITY, AND WE LEARNED HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL

cars · Post by **cars** » Tue May 02, 2006 12:11 pm

PsychoticDaisy wrote: ........and very salty! :wah:

Oh guess you didn't know, you have to tone down the salty taste with a little ketchup!:wah:

BabyRider · Post by **BabyRider** » Tue May 02, 2006 12:57 pm

Yup, I remember ALL those things, Lon. And here we all are, alive, healthy, happy....things sure are different now. Sadly.

LilacDragon · Post by **LilacDragon** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:02 pm

I can remember in Jr. High when we lived in the country, I would ride my bike 5 miles (one way) to my best friend's house. I can't get me teenage daughter to walk to the end of the building to the dumpster!

Oh, and I am a girl. Girls do NOT eat worms!

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:05 pm

Yuch! Girls don't eat worms..................but everything else is so true...................

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:15 pm

my granny said she used to put whiskey in our bottle when we were teething, it helped us sleep

she was really upset when i said i thought that was wrong :rolleyes:

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:17 pm

Oh, I rubbed my one son's gums with whiskey, it helped alot.

My sleep, that is...................I don't know about his teeth...................

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:19 pm

chonsigirl wrote: Oh, I rubbed my one son's gums with whiskey, it helped alot.

My sleep, that is...................I don't know about his teeth...................

:yh_rotfl my granny would love you chons

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:22 pm

sigh, them were the good ole days.

My granny made us "sugar tea", laced with honey and lemon and whiskey and a darn crushed up asprin... and we lived.

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:27 pm

awww all this is making me think about my granny (pauses to sip whiskey)

her fav saying when people got irritated by something she said was - if the shoe fits, wear it

she would then waltz off rolling her eyes, wize ole bird

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:27 pm

Jump ropesand jacks, bikes and roller skates.....................we didn't need much more then each other to have fun.

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:28 pm

oooh oooh conkers

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:29 pm

buttercup wrote: oooh oooh conkers

those hard resin balls on strings??? If yes we called them clackers.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:30 pm

They conked you on the head, right minks?

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:30 pm

Chinese skipping ya know the fancy foot work we did jumping through the long strings of elastic bands that our peers held around their ankles then knees then waist, I loved those games.

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:31 pm

chonsigirl wrote: They conked you on the head, right minks?

yes usually for me they did hence my uniqueness my uniqueness my.....

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:31 pm

minks wrote: those hard resin balls on strings??? If yes we called them clackers.

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk ... nkers.html

same thing minxs?

DesignerGal · Post by **DesignerGal** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:33 pm

My Grammy fed all 4 of us sweet tea (and you know in Georgia it is sooooo sweet its called crack tea becuase its half sugar, 1/4 tea and 1/4 water) and doritos and wondered why we were so wild!

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:33 pm

awww remember when you used to play shop or bank or post office with leaves & stones as money or goods :-4

Bez · Post by **Bez** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:34 pm

What were those balls on a string that we twisted in our hands ??? didn't half hurt if they caught your knuckles....clackers of something similar.

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:36 pm

Bez wrote: What were those balls on a string that we twisted in our hands ??? didn't half hurt if they caught your knuckles....clackers of something similar.

http://www.bigredtoybox.com/cgi-bin/toy ... ckersindex

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:41 pm

buttercup wrote: http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk ... nkers.html

same thing minxs?

nope

I shall try and explain clackers

one string, 1 hard resin ball on each end of the string (usually about 2 feet in length) and you held the string in the middle (sometimes there was a little ring to hang onto) and the balls hung down and you moved your hand up and down quickly so the balls would clack together hard enough and then after you got a rythm going they clacked over your hand then under repeatedly.

Make sense???

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:42 pm

yeah yeah you got the clackers thing going that is it so ignore my description.

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:47 pm

minks wrote: yeah yeah you got the clackers thing going that is it so ignore my description.

i was showing off my skill at these 10 years ago to the kids (well they were kids then) 1 of the few things i was good at & apparently still am, like riding a bike it never leaves you :yh_rotfl

i love this thread, so good to look back :-4

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:55 pm

buttercup wrote: i was showing off my skill at these 10 years ago to the kids (well they were kids then) 1 of the few things i was good at & apparently still am, like riding a bike it never leaves you :yh_rotfl

i love this thread, so good to look back :-4

imagine what our kids think of our simple means of fun from way back then, no video games or computers.

My best friend and I loved those little troll dolls, and we constructed little multiroom houses for them inside cardboard boxes and we gathered up bits and pieces of fabric and boxes and doll furniture etc to funish these little houses. She lived 5 houses away from me and I bet us girls looked pretty cute carrying our "troll doll houses" back and forth between each others houses.... sigh.

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:02 pm

minks wrote: imagine what our kids think of our simple means of fun from way back then, no video games or computers.

My best friend and I loved those little troll dolls, and we constructed little multiroom houses for them inside cardboard boxes and we gathered up bits and pieces of fabric and boxes and doll furniture etc to funish these little houses. She lived 5 houses away from me and I bet us girls looked pretty cute carrying our "troll doll houses" back and forth between each others houses.... sigh.

awwww :-4

i used to play with my scraps behind the sofa whilst the adults watched t.v, i loved my make believe world with them, some i still remember vivadly

then my brothers would make me play battleship, tank command or mastermind

cludeo was ok

OpenMind · Post by **OpenMind** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:04 pm

minks wrote: nope

I shall try and explain clackers

one string, 1 hard resin ball on each end of the string (usually about 2 feet in length) and you held the string in the middle (sometimes there was a little ring to hang onto) and the balls hung down and you moved your hand up and down quickly so the balls would clack together hard enough and then after you got a rythm going they clacked over your hand then under repeatedly.

Make sense???

That takes me way back. but I don't think we're quite talking about the same thing. Rhymes though...:wah:

Post by **Betty Boop** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:05 pm

minks wrote: Chinese skipping ya know the fancy foot work we did jumping through the long strings of elastic bands that our peers held around their ankles then knees then waist, I loved those games.

I remember that as French Skipping!

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:06 pm

OpenMind wrote: That takes me way back. but I don't think we're quite talking about the same thing. Rhymes though...:wah:

do I really want to know??? *peers at OM innocently*

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:06 pm

Oh, my younger sisters called it Chinese jump rope!

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:07 pm

Betty Boop wrote: I remember that as French Skipping!

i was always in awe of the girls who could do that :-4

maybe granny just gave me too much whiskey & shot my concentration :wah:

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:07 pm

:wah: Did you take turns blowing it out, Arnold?

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:08 pm

ArnoldLayne wrote: We were very poor when we were young

In the winter we would all huddle round a candle

And when it was really cold, our dad would light it

Oh for Pity sake don't you have to be someplace right now.

buttercup · Post by **buttercup** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:09 pm

minks wrote: Oh for Pity sake don't you have to be someplace right now.

i posted wish you were here for you in the music thread arnold, sorry about your namesake, it jumped

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:09 pm

:wah: He's waiting for the next candle to be lit.................................on his birthday cake!

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:11 pm

ArnoldLayne wrote: We used to buy all our clothes from the Army Surplus Store

I remember going to school dressed as a Japanese Admiral
Bonzai!:wah:

OpenMind · Post by **OpenMind** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:15 pm

Parties were always good fun when I was a kid. Whatever the occasion. There was no sitting watching TV. The TV was off. We would have all manner of games and they were fun.

One game that we would play was a variation of pass the parcel. Mum and Dad would make up a huge parcel all wrapped up in brown paper and string (remember the days before sellotape anyone?). Then they got out aknife and fork and a pile of old grown-ups clothes (I deferred from saying adult so as not to give the wrong impression!) This was usually a pair of wellington boots, a pullover, an overcoat, a pair of gloves, and a hat.

One person would go round each player in turn with a serving tray that carried a die in a cup. Each player would have to throw the die. Whoever threw a six would have to don the clothes and try to open the parcel using the knife and fork.

Before you knew it, someone else has thrown a six and was yanking the clothes off of you. What a laugh. Sure as hell took a while to get through the layers of brown paper and string to get to a well-earned box of chocolates.

OpenMind · Post by **OpenMind** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:20 pm

ArnoldLayne wrote: We were very poor when we were young

In the winter we would all huddle round a candle

And when it was really cold, our dad would light it

Yeh, and I had to get up half an hour before I went to bed to do my chores before going to school.

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:22 pm

I had to milk the cows and feed the chickens before I got my breakfast every morning............................

minks · Post by **minks** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:23 pm

OpenMind wrote: Parties were always good fun when I was a kid. Whatever the occasion. There was no sitting watching TV. The TV was off. We would have all manner of games and they were fun.

One game that we would play was a variation of pass the parcel. Mum and Dad would make up a huge parcel all wrapped up in brown paper and string (remember the days before sellotape anyone?). Then they got out aknife and fork and a pile of old grown-ups clothes (I deferred from saying adult so as not to give the wrong impression!) This was usually a pair of wellington boots, a pullover, an overcoat, a pair of gloves, and a hat.

One person would go round each player in turn with a serving tray that carried a die in a cup. Each player would have to throw the die. Whoever threw a six would have to don the clothes and try to open the parcel using the knife and fork.

Before you knew it, someone else has thrown a six and was yanking the clothes off of you. What a laugh. Sure as hell took a while to get through the layers of brown paper and string to get to a well-earned box of chocolates.

these games should be re-created for kids these days, just good fun.

OpenMind · Post by **OpenMind** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:23 pm

chonsigirl wrote: I had to milk the cows and feed the chickens before I got my breakfast every morning............................

Did the poor bunnies starve then?:(

chonsigirl · Post by **chonsigirl** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:25 pm

Bunnies never starve in my house..........................

My mother never let us have bunnies. I had a kitty as a child, a lovely Siamese cat who would walk around the neighborhood with me, on a leash. Just like my kitty today, he walks with me in teh summer months, and we go across the street to the empty playing fields where the kids are, and run around.

Bez, I got my kite, and am making it.......................