ONLY Read this if your were born in the 40's 50's or 60's

The following is something that I'm sure that most of us born in the decades mentioned, can sure relate to...feel free to add / share your experiences and thoughts:

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on a Sunday, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Toffees, Gobstoppers and Bubble Gum.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter,milk from the cow,and drank soft drinks 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 old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii , X-boxes, no video games at all, no 999 channels on SKY , no video/dvd films, or colour TV, no mobile 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.

Only girls had pierced ears!

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time....

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet because we didn't need to keep up with the Jones's!

Not everyone made the rugby/football/cricket/netball team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting into the team was based on MERIT

Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes and throw the blackboard rubber at us if they thought we weren't concentrating.

We can string sentences together and spell and have proper conversations because of a good, solid three R's education.

Our parents would tell us to ask a stranger to help us cross the road.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of..They actually sided with the law!

Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and 'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'

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 government 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.

---

I know that I certainly miss those good ole days in which I grew up in!

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True story. Thanks for the memories.

The channels on TV turned off at 1 o clock, followed by the National Anthem.

If your Father made a motion for his belt, you ran like hell.

You ate Take Out once a month, usually KFC.

Camping out in your backyard.

You said Ma'am, Sir, Thank You, Please.

National Geographics were the source of the other sex

reply to post by Tw0Sides


Good additions thank you...

Though never got KFC here in New Zealand until I was an adult. Fish n chips was about the only takeaway meal for us!

I couldn't wear makeup until I was 15.

No dating until that same age.

There was a set bedtime on school nights.

If rules were broken, I was grounded. And it stuck.

My first money I earned was babysitting, It went into the bank.

We ran when we heard the ice cream truck coming.

If we wanted to go somewhere, we rode the bus.

A real family treat was going to the drive in.

I earned the money for my first car.

reply to post by Destinyone


The Drive ins ,

Ice cream trucks Forgot those

Yep...I remember like 13 channels tops on TV. The national anthem when they went off the air. Yep...not night long programming or infomercials.

I even had lawn dart's to play with. We would ride our bikes every Saturday to the local sub shop. Across main roads...all at 10 or 11 years old!

We'd climb trees, then jump out of them. We had big fireworks to play with.

Ahhh...the good old days!

Edit: Omg...how did I forget the ice cream trucks?!?

Excellent post... remember it like it was yesterday...

48 here... grew up in small town American in the 50s... what a great time... parents bought new autos...... built two homes for us to live in... all on a total of about $75 per week with both parents working... great our own garden, froze and canned vegtables... raised our own beef and pork... ate steak for supper until you were sick of it...

Again great post...

I'm a little rebel who was born in the 80s

But I was raised in an area that's a time warp, at least 30 years behind everybody else, so I can relate to most of the stuff on the list.

All of this applies, right up to and including getting my tail busted in school. My cousin got one of his ears pierced when we were kids because he wanted to be cool, and he got asked where his dress was so much that he just let it go after about a week.

We had rabbit ears and no Internet until I was 17 or 18. My mom kicked us outside all the time in the summer because "the sun's good for you, and I'll be driven to the bottle with y'all under my heels all the time".

Star and flag for the memories. Thanks!!

This glorification of the past sure seems popular. How many times has this text now popped up here on ATS? I bet at least 10 times.
I wonder what people accomplish, by hating on modern generations and glorifying the past by pointing out the things they thought were 'better', while ignoring the negative things (except of course "our parents hit us with belts and shoes because they had no clue about parenting")

You know, those people born in the 40's and 50's were so wonderfully raised, had such great lifes and were overall so much better than the people later....that they became the assholes that make life bad today...politicians, dictators, greedy CEOs. Wonderful people growing up in a wonderful time that shaped them to what they are today. What a wonderful world

Originally posted by ShadowAngel85
This glorification of the past sure seems popular. How many times has this text now popped up here on ATS? I bet at least 10 times.
I wonder what people accomplish, by hating on modern generations and glorifying the past by pointing out the things they thought were 'better', while ignoring the negative things (except of course "our parents hit us with belts and shoes because they had no clue about parenting")

You know, those people born in the 40's and 50's were so wonderfully raised, had such great lifes and were overall so much better than the people later....that they became the assholes that make life bad today...politicians, dictators, greedy CEOs. Wonderful people growing up in a wonderful time that shaped them to what they are today. What a wonderful world

I'm sorry your had a crappy child hood.

Mine was great.

but then came the cold war and the duck-&-cover under your school desk

then came the civil rights and protests then militants
then Kennedy was assassinated & the Military Industrial Complex & sinister Illuminati revealed
halloween apples were spiked with needles or razor blades
Charlie Manson family did their horrorfest
list about 20 other things

i wonder, just when were the good old days?
if ever !

I just made the category. A product of the spring before the summer of love! But we did things then on a regular basis that now might be considered child abuse to allow kids to do it!

We played tackle football in the middle of the street. Built ramps in the street to jump our bikes like we were Evel Knievel!

Originally posted by ShadowAngel85
This glorification of the past sure seems popular. How many times has this text now popped up here on ATS? I bet at least 10 times.
I wonder what people accomplish, by hating on modern generations and glorifying the past by pointing out the things they thought were 'better', while ignoring the negative things (except of course "our parents hit us with belts and shoes because they had no clue about parenting")

You know, those people born in the 40's and 50's were so wonderfully raised, had such great lifes and were overall so much better than the people later....that they became the assholes that make life bad today...politicians, dictators, greedy CEOs. Wonderful people growing up in a wonderful time that shaped them to what they are today. What a wonderful world

One thing that is so great to me about the good old days...time moved slower. Enjoyment wasn't in 30 second segments.

I pray that time slows down for you...so you can learn how to relax.

reply to post by SpaceJockey1


I got a kick out of reading your post. Everything you said was absolutely true. I had to chuckle when you mentioned we used to just yell for our friends to come out and play. It almost turned into a melody... "Hey David, can you come out and play." How about when your parents would holler outside for you to come home for dinner. Mom had a good set of lungs back in the day.

My son played baseball since the age of five and became quite good at it. I used to tell him stories about how the boys would all hang their baseball gloves on the handlebars of their bikes and ride several blocks for the little league baseball games. Outside of the baseball field, their would literally be more bikes than cars! Now kids have to be driven to the baseball field or driven right up to the door of their school!
.
Child obesity is a reflection on how inactive our kids are today. I too remember getting home after school. I couldn't change out of my school clothes quick enough to get to the park to meet my friends and play basketball, pick up a baseball game or just talk about girls and school. We went home around 5:00 grabbed a quick dinner mom made and back outside until like you said, the street lights would signal it was getting late and we better get home.

What also brings back memories is "The Christmas Story" that's shown every year. As kids we, used to play in the snow for hours, making tunnels, sled riding, snowball fights etc.... The scene where his little brother is dressed in snow pants with layers of clothing and when he falls in the snow he couldn't get up. I remember that well when I was that age.

Thanks for the memories, I think a lot of us miss those simple days.

reply to post by ShadowAngel85


I think someone didn't abide by the rules of the title!

-Popcorn was made on the stove! there were no microwaves!
-MTV actually played music video's.
-As a teenager you could hang out with friends in the park, listen to music on the car stereo, play Frisbee while drinking a beer, and not get any hassle from the Boys.
-When there was a fight no one pressed charges, and it was man to man, no one pulled a gun or knife. When it was over it was over.
-We had to get off our buts to change the channel KNOB. lol
-Phones had a cord and you had to dial the # by rotary.
-After a hard rain the grass was our "slip and slide".
-When we opened a drink can we had a "pull tab" we made belts with or put them in the drink can when we opened it.
-Miller beer had a pony 8 pack with 8oz bottles.
-an 8 cut pizza was $3.25
-could walk down the street with a shot gun to go hunting at 12ys old.
-Snow Storms seemed to dump a lot more snow.
-Had giant games at night with 20 or more kids playing "Jail Break" with 1mile block boundaries.
-Highschools had smoking areas.
-We played hoop, fast pitch, and home run derby all day!
-our bikes took us EVERY WHERE!
When I tell my kids how much I loved my days as a kid and what REAL friends are they think I am nuts.
I wish my kids could have a child hood that I had. The world was a much much better place!

The knife -sharpener man would push his cart up the street ringing his bell.

The milk-man delivered fresh milk right to our door.

The doctor came to our house , when we were sick.

My Dad was a buyer of t.v. antennas for Sears & Roebuck...we had the first color t.v. on the block....only three channels...ABC, NBC, CBS


We never had air conditioning in the house, til I was in high school...1960-64....same with our cars

There were no calculators,computers, cell phones.....no dui's or oui's, but you paid dearly for a drag racing ticket.


We sure had our few tastes of alcohol in high school, but never heard anything about any drugs.

I got a pump pellet rifle at 8 and at 10 years old i had a 22lr.
I also had a long bow at 12 and soon was making my own arrows.

Many of us kids roamed the hills armed on weekends and we never got in trouble.

My grand father was a miner but was old enough that my grand mother did not want him prospecting in the hills alone so i went along and i knew by 14 how to cap and fuse dynamite and blast rock.
I can remember many time riding around in the desert with a sack of dynamite on the truck seat and the caps and fuse in the glovebox
My grand father could not move that fast so one of my jobs was to light the fuses in sequence as he walked to a safe area.