Really want change?

I want to share some of my favorite memories with my kids and grandkids because we had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good. There were eight kids in our family and we survived being born to a mother who drank city water and coca-cola while she was pregnant. She took aspirin, ate Salmon & Tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads. As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air conditioning, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

We all sat down and ate breakfast, lunch and dinner at the same time, we ate whatever our mom put on the table (Thank-God she was a great cook) , no one got anything special or different than anyone else and we ate everything on our plates. Riding in the back of a pick-up truck 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. Going to the Dairy Queen or A & W was a really big deal and what a treat. We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. (Well, not everyone), WHY? Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

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. If mom couldn't find us, she only had to make a phone call and find us. We left our door unlocked at night and we knew who all our neighbors were for a city block and then some. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them 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. Going to Manawa lake was like a mini-vacation, we would swim, fish, and hunt tadpoles, frog, and turtles and a picnic feast of sandwiches and chips.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, No cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! On Saturday afternoons our mom would send us to the show and give us 50 cents to buy pop, popcorn or candy. We were happy with the few toys we got for Christmas and were grateful to get what we got. We got new clothes to start school in and we wore hand-me-downs and that was just fine. We had two pairs of shoes, one for play and one for good and that was enough for us.

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. Boys were given BB guns for their birthdays, we 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. Putting up the tent in the back yard and sleeping outside was an adventure. We worked for our allowances and didn't have to be told twice to do 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! Going to the principal's office was not something we wanted our parents to find out about. Matter of fact, we were more afraid of our parents finding out things, then we were about the police or the principal. If we did something wrong, we got a spanking and my parents weren't afraid that we would call the police on them. And if the police did come to the house, it was to take away the child, not the parent. We respected our elders, no matter who they were. There was one language spoke in our schools, churches, stores and other public areas. We had many different cultures in our neighborhood, German, Italian, Swedish, Dutch, Irish, English, and they all spoke English in public, but many spoke their native language in their homes and around their friends and family and they were too ashamed to speak in public until they could master the English language. When the came to America to live, they came through Ellis Island and they were PROUD to call themselves Americans.

Our 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. These are the memories and traditions I want my children to know and have someday. Don't you wish it were the same way when you were young and naive?