The America That I Grew Up In

a reply to: mamabeth

I grew up in the 60s, I remember VIetnam, riots, the threat of nuclear war with Russia, and that black people had to sit in the mezzanine in the movie theater in my town. Kids were abducted, serial killers murdered nurses and college coeds. The nice things: you could drink water out of the water hose, kids played outside from dawn to dusk, your mother actually stayed home with you (yes thats right, ONE parent could work and support a family) Cartoons were definitely better on Saturdays, We had 4 channels on TV, no computers cell phones or internet. Entertainment was TV, the radio, the occasional movie, and your friends. We read books and comic books. I remember my mom could fill a shopping cart with food for under 50 dollars.

So there was good and bad. I think the reason things seem so much worse now is because we are older and more aware of things, and we are barraged with news and information 24/7 and the news outlets tend to focus on the negative and not the positive.

originally posted by: Irishhaf
Sorry the statistics dont show children are more at risk now than they used to...

Washington Post

The FBI has several decades of data on missing persons now, and those numbers show that the number of missing person reports involving minors has been at record low levels in recent years. Overall, the number of these reports have fallen by 40 percent since 1997. This is more impressive when you consider that the overall U.S. population has risen by 30 percent over that same time period, meaning that the actual rate of missing person reports for children has fallen faster than 40 percent. But even these numbers include an awful lot of scenarios that you wouldn't typically worry about when letting your kid walk to the park. For instance, among all missing persons cases (adults and children) in 2014, roughly 96 percent were runaways -- kids or adults deliberately trying to escape a situation at home. In fact, only 0.1 percent of missing persons cases were what we'd think of as a "stereotypical kidnapping" -- where a complete stranger tries to abduct somebody and carry them off by force. These figures comport with a more detailed analysis of child-only abductions carried out by the Justice Department in 2002.

Stop watching 24 hour news channels... they are why it "seems" like kids are going missing every day... or mass shootings every day. they cover any bad news for at least 24 hours... and if its juicy news (ie ratings) 24/7 for weeks on end..

I've been saying that for years.

It only SEEMS like things are worse today because it's so publicized.

I grew up in the 70's. Home was the LAST place we wanted to be as kids. If it rained, and we had to stay in, it was the worst day ever! (even then, we would sometimes play in the rain)

I feel sorry for kids today, I really do. They're going to be some messed up adults. You think this current crop of snowflakes is bad, just wait!

a reply to: mikegrouchy

That schedule is quite literally insane. Driving young minds to conform or explode. I would have gone nuts.

a reply to: Justso

Thanks for the run down memory lane, lots of similarities there to my growing up in the same era. Each stepping stone you touched struck a nerve…

I do fear for my grandchildren.

Me too. My brothers son will be of age in a few years. Since the country is seemingly embedded in endless wars these days, I don't hold much for him to remain out of it. His parents are wealthy , he isn't learning in school well enough to develop skill sufficient to do anything but join the military as a way-out. Since his parents are these ideological minded Muricans, they will probably encourage him.

So sad what that will do to him. They don't understand where that will take him.

originally posted by: mamabeth
The America that I grew up in...
Children could walk to the park without fear of being abducted by a predator.There
were a few cases but not on the scale of today's age.Children could play in their own
backyards and chase each other with water guns.Can't do that anymore because of
the extreme paranoia over guns.
Children watched cartoons and educational series on saturday mornings.The garbage
that is being broadcasted now is not fit for man or beast.Children played board games
with other children.Now they are glued in front of a game console that wastes too much
of their time.
There were a lot of bad things happening all over the world when I was a child. but I still
had a childhood and a future a head of me.My grandchildren will have problems finding
jobs because our jobs have gone off-shore.Too many people are living on the government
handouts which can discourage their future.
So,what is wrong with me wishing that my grandchildren could grow up in the America that
I did?

*Cough*rose colored nostalgia glasses*cough* Sorry I need to take some cough drops.

a reply to: mamabeth

You can't fix the world, but you can change the part of the world where you raise your kids.

Let me suggest two things a point for beginning:

1. Move as far out into the country side as you possibly can.

2. Throw the damned cell phones into the first river you cross.

If number one is not possible, then do number two RIGHT NOW.

Many people ask me how I "get by" without one and I simply reply "very well! the same way I did twenty years ago."
Some even try to show concern and ask "What do you do if you have car trouble?" I simple show them my shows and remind them that I have relied on my feet for years and will for years to come.

The end of a golden age for growing up started in 1990, with Clinton and the tech boom. I grew up in the 70's and 80's, with big wheels, Tonka trucks and Huffy bikes. It was a great time to be a child. We had video games but they didn't rule our lives. The 80's was one of the best decades of music. Despite the Cold War we lived a carefree existence and had wholesome upbringing. We were the last generation to know what it was like to not have computers or even a color TV.

The main factors I see that have changed... technology addiction/dependence, erosion of values and morality and the loss of traditional family roles. We have lost so much. I agree---put down the tech and TV and let it go. Unplug and reconnect with what made those eras so great... Humanity.

Hilarity ensues.

I was born in 69, grew up in the 70's,came of age in the 80's.

Yeah, we climbed trees and built forts. Some of us also came from extremely broken homes. My dad split when I was 6 to pursue a new "lifestyle." One of his lovers used to try to groom me, and raped me on at least one occasion. Mom wasn't much better. She was a dry drunk who worshipped her social circle and glorified their high school daze. She was either pleasantly oblivious or horribly abusive, and I'm not talking about the kinds of things you hear about nowadays. I'm talking about random outbursts of violence and repeated psychological abuse ("I wish you would have died instead of your sister!" was her favorite line when she wanted to really sink her teeth in.

We had weekly duck n' cover drills in school. My uncle was convinced the world was coming to an end and was a prepper and religious nut. He died with a houseful of canned food, bibles and nude pictures of various "kids." He was a church Deacon.

I ran away from home at 15 and emancipated myself. My mom is still an 8 year old when she doesn't get her way ("I am going to kill myself if you don't pick my side of X" where X is some ridiculous family soap opera or even something she "heard" about on TV.

It took me 20 years of working hard, living on my own and making art before I ever felt "normal." I stay that way by keeping my family, and their damage as far from me and mine as possible without ignoring them completely.

The glory days weren't all that. They never are, and never were. Do I want my kids or grandkids to grow up in the world I grew up in? Not a chance in hell.

Its been a long time since I posted, but I want to insert my 2 cents as it were.

I grew up in the era of the original poster.

and when I had a child I made the conscious decision, not to allow my child to become the zombified type of kid we often see today.
WE went camping, we learned about history, we traveled, we did projects, we played. And it paid off. My now 19 year old soon to be 20 child is an independent free thinking intelligent member of society. She watches the news, and the occasional movie, but other than that no TV. She uses the internet to research thoughts, and ideas, and interests, but she doesn't totally believe what she sees, she goes out and finds out for herself. If you want our children to be smart, self sufficient individuals, with a thinking mind, then its up to US to teach them to be so.

Any child can be turned away from the everyday drivel they ingest with a bit of coaxing from YOU.

Its time to stop blaming the end result of our childrens lives on the tv and media, and do something about it OURSELVES.
Thats why we are called PARENTS and GRANDPARENTS. We need to remember how to parent. And, yes it can be done regardless of your busy schedule, I did it while being a single parent, working a full time job, and going to college, all at the same time-DO IT.

You may lose a bit of sleep time, and may not be able to do all the things that you want to do, but thats part of raising a child. Something many parents have forgotten these days. It isnt all about them, its all about the child.

Teach your kids to be cautious but not terrified, intelligent, and inquisitive. You can do this. Stop whining about whats happened, and change it.
Sorry if I seemed a bit harsh, but I hear this so often, and then see Mom leave little Johnny in front of the xbox while she goes and does her own thing. And, then she gripes because he doesnt know how to function in the real world.

Its a total shame that our country has become what it has, but we let it get that way. Its time to take it back, and take back our childrens lives

...born in the '50's, lived in an idyllic small town......beautiful memories for the most part...

I was almost abducted by 2 men in a truck when I was 4.
Almost died from measles at 9.
Learned to swim in the nearby creek .....just a bit below the sewage outlet...
was 'stalked' at 12 by a casual family acquaintance who made vulgar phone calls, and would follow me home from school..
for days, watched a constant stream of troops flowing into Fl. before the Cuban missile crisis was publcized
a gay kid was beaten unconscious and bloody in a classroom at school...no charges brought on the jocks responsible...


those instances were not mentioned on tv....not reported to police.....some not even mentioned in 'polite' circles....yet they did happened....
With 24 hr news channels and a wash of social media ....we hear about things that were never mentioned so openly in the past.
Human nature is much the same as it ever was.....no better, no worse....just gets more coverage now...

a reply to: nwtrucker

We take it BACK of course step by step.

a reply to: Krazysh0t


What an arrogant and idiotic post....