TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the  50's, 60's and 70's!   
First, 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. 

Then after that trauma, our baby 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 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 soda 
pop with sugar in it, 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, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video 
games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, 
no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no 
Internet or Internet 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. 

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! 

This generation has 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. 

And YOU are one of them! CONGRATULATIONS! 

You might want to share this with others who have had the 
luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the govern- 
ment regulated our lives for our own good. 

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they 
will know how brave their parents were. Kind of makes you 
want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?