The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[MISSANNE]

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE
1920's,1930's 40's, 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 Play stations, 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 I am 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 government regulated our lives for our own good.


And while you are at it, forward this to your children so they will know how brave their parents were.


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

[Aerie]

My dad would put me on his lap in the car (no seatbelt) and control the steering wheel while he did the gas and brakes. I was like 7 or 8 years old.

[Serendipity]

Funny how times change and we still survive. This generation will survive somehow....seems like more of a struggle than we had, though.

[JeepGirl]

I think I qualify for all those! I was outside from daylight to dark all over the place on my bike--heck we even rode 5 miles to town to see the .50 Movies on Weds during the summer!

Oh and our son just got a BB gun for his 9th Birthday and he knows the "Rules"!

[ascicles]

I was born in the 80's so I've been created to be a Superhuman.

[Aerie]

How about trick-or-treating after dark without your parents? Did it every year. Never found a single razor blade in any of my apples. I think I might have even felt a little disapointed about it too.

[Serendipity]

I was born in the 80's so I've been created to be a Superhuman.

Manly, I hope your generation will use those superhuman abilities to solve the problems of the world and not just to beat the next video game, hehe. I have 2 superhuman sons (about your age), who don't always use their super powers in the most productive ways.

[jump4joy]

I remember all of that too. I was "handicapped" as a child for over four years, from age 8 to 12 1/2....I was in a wheelchair for over two years and crutches for two. I had a hip-bone disease called Legg-Perthes. But I was always outside doing something from dawn to dusk (and even after dark!)....watched very little TV (we only had 3 channels, and our TV was black and white!). I rode my bike, and in order to stop, I would find a patch of grass to fall onto. I climbed trees, and was a tetherball champ. I could scoot on my rear end faster than any kid, and when I was on crutches, I could hop faster on one leg than anyone.....we used to have races! I could do almost anything the other kids could do....I just had to be careful not to put weight on my fragile hip-bones. Before and after I was crippled, I was a very fast runner and would run, not walk, everywhere. In summertime, bare feet, sunburns (no sunscreen then!), and a zillion mosquito bites (no worries about West-Nile Virus back then) were a rite-of-passage. Oh, and I remember that we didn't lock our doors at night. There weren't many overweight people back then either....we were all so active and didn't eat the massive portions (or have so much cheap junk food at our diposal) that people eat today.

Joy

[ascicles]

I was born in the 80's so I've been created to be a Superhuman.

Manly, I hope your generation will use those superhuman abilities to solve the problems of the world and not just to beat the next video game, hehe. I have 2 superhuman sons (about your age), who don't always use their super powers in the most productive ways.

We'll use our powers to find another planet to destroy.

[DogMa]

Geez. I was born in '61, but I spent most of my time inside, either playing with my friends or reading. I never liked playing outside much, never liked riding my bike, none of that. And my mom was diagnosed with diabetes when I was a little kid because her whole family had it. (We also never shared soda bottles and I can't even remember ever drinking nondiet soda, although I'm sure I did when I was still in single digits). I've never hitchhiked in my life. I think I rode in the back of a pickup once as a kid and I was petrified. (And my mom could always reach me. When we did play outside, it was in the yard.)

And a BB gun? Never.

[MISSANNE]

Hey Robin,

Maybe we need to go on afield trip and get you out in the world a little bit.

[Jan]

Hmmmm,
I'm a child of the 40's and those things sure seem familiar to me. Oh and we made "snow icecream too" didn't die from that either . We played by the railraoad tracks .. no worries.. rode our bikes all day. No television at my house until I was 10 years old ... and then it was very very snowy and we only had 3 channels. We didn't have a lot of money .. but didn't know it .. Sometimes I feel a bit sorry for today's children.
jan

[DogMa]

My parents were close to 40 when they started having kids. And both grew up in New York. So I guess they were more cautious.

Plus we were in the suburbs of New York. A lot of those things (BB guns?) sound much more rural. I didn't know ANYone who had a BB gun or could go out and play on their own. Or anyone with a pickup truck (other than the gas station guy, which is the time I rode in one; they were fixing our car and gave us a ride home).

[ladyhawke]

Everyone's doors were unlocked and you would just walk in and they would be in the living room watching TV and say "Hey! How are ya!"
My best friend and I Karen Bird took the Rapid Transit (affectionately known as "The Rappy" downtown when we were 10!
Shopped at Higbee's, had lunch and came back by ourselves on the outbound Rappy, of course I had done it umpteen times with my older sisters so I knew the M.O.

Everyone left their keys in the car in the driveway or garage.

We rode our bikes all day with no helmet and went to Shaker Lakes...and Shaker Square..in all the stores...John Wade was a cool record store where you could take a record in a little recording booth and listen to it before you bought it.

When my friend's older sister went to college Kent State University, we hitchhiked there for the week-end and back...whoa never ever do that today.
My friend's father worked for the Post Office and would get free samples...he got some Montclair cigarrettes on time...need I say more?
He caught us smoking them in the garage and made us each smoke almost 1 pack each...I got so sick and never, ever smoked again.
Can you imagine that today..the'd have him up on charges..it worked, though.