TO ALL THE KIDS
WHO SURVIVED the
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
were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, 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-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 infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster
seats, 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 koolade made with
sugar, 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 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound, CD's
or Ipods, no cell! phones!, no personal computers , no Internet or 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!
These generations have 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!
If 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 so much of our lives
for our own good
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how
brave (and lucky) their parents were.
!
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!
The quote of the month is by Jay Leno:
"With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding,
severe thunderstorms tearing up the
country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and
terrorist attacks,"Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the
Pledge of Allegiance?"
For those that prefer to think that God is not watching over us....go ahead
and delete this.
For the rest of us.....pass this on.
Bleu Cheese? What's wrong with Bleu Cheese?
That was fun. thanks for reminding me how lucky to have survived I am.
Great post. I wasn't around in the 30s & 40s, but survived the 50s and the rest with all the experiences you mentioned. I think those of my generation are much better for growing up that way, and I don't understand how we have managed to produce such a bunch of spoiled, over-priveleged, over-protected, materialistic kids. My family was not poor by any means, and we had a nice home, good clothes, ample food on the table, etc., but we were not doted on, over-induldged, and we were taught respect for authority, manners, thrift, and diciplined with a good swift swat when our behaviour warranted it. I would bet it has a lot to do with the fact that my parents were children of the 1920s, the Depression years, and the WWII years, when people knew what real hardship, sacrifice, and the threat of poverty were.
As far as removing "under God" from the pledge, I am neutral on that issue. The phrase was not part of the original pledge, being added in the 1950s after lobbying by the Knights of Columbus, to distinguish the U.S. from those "godless communist countries." Removing it from the pledge would have zilch impact on the social fabric, but I think we have much more pressing issues to address.
I have always believed that when the good firm azz whupins went away,the kids became spoiled,and part of todays problem.If I ever talked to my parents the way kids do today,I wouldnt be typing this right now!
quote:
Originally posted by mdunn
I have always believed that when the good firm azz whupins went away,the kids became spoiled,and part of todays problem.If I ever talked to my parents the way kids do today,I wouldnt be typing this right now!
Me too! Backtalk by me or my brother, or "being sassy" as my mother used to call it, was returned with a mouth full of Ivory soap, or a stinging spanking on the posterior. It didn't have to happen very often at all, because we learned the lesson in short order.
quote:
Originally posted by mdunn
TO ALL THE KIDS
WHO SURVIVED the
1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!
we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took
hitchhiking.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with
sugar, but we weren't overweight because .
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
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!
Some of my favorite childhood activities from the 1960s:
Sliding down hills on flattened cardboard boxes, "dirt surfing" we called it then.
Riding bikes everywhere, with cardboard strips clothespinned to the wheel spokes to make that clapping sound. I used the shirt cardboards that came from my dad's dress shirts when they came back from the dry cleaners.
Roller skating all over the neighborhood, with those heavy metal skates you clamped onto your PF Flyers or Keds canvas shoes. Damn, where did I put that skate key?!? Oh yea, it is in the plastic dish on top of the fridge, where we always kept them.
On rainy days, making "spook houses" in my bedroom, or making Creepy Crawlers with my Thingmaker set, which I believe was the coolest kid's toy from the 1960s. Sure you got your fingers burned on the hot plate if you were not carefull, but one good blister taught you the lesson. That was probably one of the first kid's toys where the manufacturers made a key ingredient (the Plastigoop) something you would always be running out of, so you had to buy more! Or playing classic board games, or listening to Beatles albums.
I know you can't turn back the clock, but it is fun to wax nostalgic.
yea we did the same as kids in the 70s with the cardboard boxes on hills,we called it"Boxsliding".Overpasses by the Pepsi plant were great place for that.
Wheelies on Stingray bikes (or homemade clones of Stingrays). Model cars from Revel that you entered into the TG&Y model contest but never won. Walking down to Whittier Square to see a movie at the Circle then using your last 8 cents to buy Lik-m-aid, pixie sticks and red licorice.
Practicing casting with a Zebco Jr. and a plastic plug that always got wrapped around the electric lines right next to the remains of your kite. Kick the can, hide n go seek, red light/green light or mother may I on the front porch with the neighbor girls.
Yeah, life was good.
quote:
Originally posted by mdunn
yea we did the same as kids in the 70s with the cardboard boxes on hills,we called it"Boxsliding".Overpasses by the Pepsi plant were great place for that.
Our favorite place for dirt surfing or boxsliding was the hills just north of 15th street and 71st E Ave. The was a building there called "Burtek" I remember, with lots of great, bumpy hills surrounding it where we used to slide, circa 1965 or so.
Slot cars, and slot car racing centers, Hot Wheels, etc. My older brother was really into model building in the mid 60s, especially monster models, Dracula, Wolfman, Mummy, Frankenstein, etc. I can still smell the glue and "Testors" model paints that came in those tiny glass bottles!
what about cox cars,the little smelly and loud engines.And fishing in the creeks when they actually had fish in them!We also used to go crawdad hunting,and lift rocks and usually a snake or tarantula under each one,dont see that anymore.
quote:
Originally posted by mdunn
what about cox cars,the little smelly and loud engines.And fishing in the creeks when they actually had fish in them!We also used to go crawdad hunting,and lift rocks and usually a snake or tarantula under each one,dont see that anymore.
We used to go crawdad hunting too, in the creek that ran through our neighborhood around 16th Street and 71st E Ave, by the old John Paul Jones elementary school, where I proudly attended. I think it has been largely altered and filled in now. We use to crawl through drainage pipes and come up through manholes! Its a wonder I never broke a bone or didn't come down with cholera!
yea we did the sewer crawling too.Behind Crystal City shopping center in west Tulsa where 244 is now,you could ride your bikes thru them for miles.at one point it came to a room where 6 tunnels branched off in different directions.didnt want your flashlight to get wet!or lose it.
Sewer-crawling.
Must ... restrain myself ... from telling ... insult.
[;)]
quote:
Originally posted by rwarn17588
Sewer-crawling.
Must ... restrain myself ... from telling ... insult.
[;)]
Lots of sewer crawlers around town. We followed the one starting at Roosevelt and ended up at Riverside. You were not an official "sewer rat" unless you travelled the entire distance in the dark. Usually three or more at a time. You had to memorize where the criss-crossing water & gas lines were or get a concussion. Great place to feel up the opposite sex too!
I did it. The smell wasn't so bad unless wildlife had left their scat. Inside the entrance was graffiti indicating kids had been doing the same thing back to the 20's!
lol,hard to imagine what type of girl I could find in the sewers!I think ive seen them on 11th street though!
Now the all have locked grates or sealed altogether,kids dont know what they are missing today!
quote:
Originally posted by waterboy
quote:
Originally posted by rwarn17588
Sewer-crawling.
Must ... restrain myself ... from telling ... insult.
[;)]
Lots of sewer crawlers around town. We followed the one starting at Roosevelt and ended up at Riverside. You were not an official "sewer rat" unless you travelled the entire distance in the dark. Usually three or more at a time. You had to memorize where the criss-crossing water & gas lines were or get a concussion. Great place to feel up the opposite sex too!
I did it. The smell wasn't so bad unless wildlife had left their scat. Inside the entrance was graffiti indicating kids had been doing the same thing back to the 20's!
What we did was not really "sewer crawling" but "storm drain crawling," I believe, following the local creek through underpasses and drainage pipes, looking for crawdads and such. We didn't venture far out of the immediate vicinity, thank goodness. I wouldn't relive that today, but it sure was a fun adventure at the time.
For a real adventure, we would walk to the relics of the old Ma-Hu mansion at about 27th & Memorial across from the old Oertles department store, and explore the crevices of that old house. That was probably more dangerous than crawling through the storm drains!
quote:
Originally posted by rwarn17588
Sewer-crawling.
Must ... restrain myself ... from telling ... insult.
[;)]
A more accurate description would be "storm drain crawling" as I doubt many of my contemporaries in the 1960s actually mucked through the sanitary sewer system. We spent some time exploring the storm drain systems. At any rate, I am proud to include myself as a 100% Oklahoma born and raised "white trash" drain crawler, in my youth. I have fortunately moved on to more worthwhile pursuits, but relish those childhood memories!
I grew up in Broken Arrow and was probably crawdad hunting in ditches around 1990 or 91. The societal changes have happened fast and recently. Technology, government, and lawsuits have changed this country extremely quick. I'm 24 and I totally agree that kids today couldn't do the same stuff kids did when I was a youngster.
I recently visited the street I grew up on as a kid and the most shocking difference in the last 10-15 years is how many cars people own. In 1990 there were no cars parked on the street in my old neighborhood, as the 2-car wide driveways of the homes in my B.A. neighborhood (plus garages) were more than enough to accomadate everyone's needs. Now, every house has about 4 or more cars. Every sole over 16 has their own car, not to mention the fact that so many 18+ are stuck living with thier parents now due to economic reasons. So the street I used to play on and which never had cars parked on it was now covered with cars EVERYWHERE.
I don't think kids today are that much different. My nephew is always catching lizards, snakes and bugs. He spends most of his time outside, in the summer he is in the pool or playing baseball or basketball. He loves his parents and siblings and dotes on his grandmother.
Some of my favorite childhood activities from the 1960s:
... making Creepy Crawlers with my Thingmaker set, which I believe was the coolest kid's toy from the 1960s. Sure you got your fingers burned on the hot plate if you were not carefull, but one good blister taught you the lesson. That was probably one of the first kid's toys where the manufacturers made a key ingredient (the Plastigoop) something you would always be running out of, so you had to buy more!...
[/quote]
^
I had something similar. Instead of plasticgoop, it was candygoop. The hot metal plate had creepy crawler shapes. Squeeze in the candygoop, cook it up, burn your fingers & yum.. candy bugs!
quote:
Originally posted by okieinla
Some of my favorite childhood activities from the 1960s:
... making Creepy Crawlers with my Thingmaker set, which I believe was the coolest kid's toy from the 1960s. Sure you got your fingers burned on the hot plate if you were not carefull, but one good blister taught you the lesson. That was probably one of the first kid's toys where the manufacturers made a key ingredient (the Plastigoop) something you would always be running out of, so you had to buy more!...
^
I had something similar. Instead of plasticgoop, it was candygoop. The hot metal plate had creepy crawler shapes. Squeeze in the candygoop, cook it up, burn your fingers & yum.. candy bugs!
[/quote]
I had that one too, the "Incredible Edibles" set. Instead of Plastigoop, the edible version was called Gobbledegoop. (These were Mattel products I believe, similar sets by different toymakers may have been called different names.)
The Gobbledegoop came in foil pouches with flavors like grape, cherry, mint, and root beer. You made gummy-type candy bugs & things. They really tasted quite nasty, but we thought it was cool at the time.
I certainly didn't lack for Thingmaker sets. In addition to Creepy Crawler & Incredible Edibles, I also had Creeple People, where you made heads, arm & feet with Plastigoop, and stuck them onto a pencil to made odd little creatures. Another wonderful Mattel product.
If you search Ebay today, you can find these Thingmaker sets from the 1960s, and ones with original unopened packaging and unopened bottles of goop sell for $100s of dollars.
I wonder how good the unopened goop would still taste???
I liked the rocks you put into a fishbowl and they grew like stalagtites!
quote:
Originally posted by mdunn
I wonder how good the unopened goop would still taste???
I liked the rocks you put into a fishbowl and they grew like stalagtites!
The collectors of these 1960s toys that drive prices sky-high only want unopened, mint condition, original unopened packaging, so the condition of the goop is really immaterial to them.
The edible "Gobbledegoop" was nasty stuff when new; maybe 40 years of aging would improve it! I somehow doubt it. And to think as a kid I would even suck that stuff out of the foil pouch and eat it raw! I remember the cherry tasted rather like cough syrup. I wonder if it had codeine in it?
I had some of those "Magic Rocks" too. And Sea Monkeys! And a chemistry set. And tons of GI Joe stuff and Hot Wheels that if I still had today, I could nicely pad my retirement funds with.
remember this???
(http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/9928/memorieskj3.jpg)
BACK IN MY DAY.
By Uncle Goopy.
You kids are a bunch of sissies.
Back in my day
we didn't have hurricanes.
We just had storms called "What the hell was that?".
Our houses didn't blow apart.
They were held together by mold, mildew, and asbestos.
And we LOVED it!
We never wore helmets when we rode our bicycles,
and our bikes were seven feet high,
and made out of lead.
We fell directly on our heads
and were damn proud of it!
You young folks have to wear a helmet when you eat peanuts.
We didn't have sex back then.
We had neckin'.
If we did have sex, they'd have told me.
We never heard of neurotics.
We had crazy people,
and they were called "relatives".
My father had his elbows pierced
so he could wear cufflinks with a short sleeved shirt.
He had a mole on his nose that made him self-conscious,
so he had it tattooed to look like a fly.
My Aunt Maude could jump three feet straight up in the air, without
bending her knees.
You don't see talent like that these days.
So, eat a peanut,
sniff some mold,
take off your kneepads,
and wear a lead watch.
You'll LOVE it!
I hope I can get this childproof cap off my Viagra.
Love,
Uncle Goopy.
Do you remember when...?
It took five minutes for the TV warm up before you could watch it?
Nearly everyone's Mum was at home when the kids got home from school?
Nobody owned a purebred dog?
You'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny?
All your male teachers wore ties and female teachers had their hair done every day and wore high heels?
You got your windshield cleaned, oil checked, and petrol pumped, without asking, all for free, every time?
Cereals had free toys hidden inside the box?
It was considered a great privilege to be taken out to dinner at a real restaurant with your parents?
They threatened to keep kids back a year if they failed. And they did?
No one ever asked where the car keys were because they were always in the car, in the ignition and the doors were never locked?
Leaving the house unlocked and doors wide open, whether you had gone out shopping, visiting or going to bed?
Lying on your back in the grass with your friends and saying things like, "That cloud looks like a ." and playing footy with no adults to help kids with the rules of the game?
Stuff from the shop came without safety caps and hermetic seals because no one had yet tried to poison a perfect stranger?
And with all our progress, don't you just wish, just once, you could slip back in time and savor the slower pace, and share it with the children of today?
When being sent to the Principals office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited the student at home?
Basically we were in fear for our lives, but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings, drugs, gangs, etc.
Our parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat!
But we survived because their love was greater than the threat.
Do you also remember a time when...
Decisions were made by going "eeny-meeny-miney-moe"?
Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest?
It wasn't odd to have two or three "Best Friends"?
Saturday morning cartoons weren't 30-minute commercials for action figures?
Spinning around, getting dizzy, and falling down was cause for giggles?
The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team?
Playing cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle?
Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable aspirin?
Water balloons were the ultimate weapon?
If you can remember most or all of these, then you have lived!!!!!!!
All these adventures sound familiar, 'cause WE LIVED IT!
I lived at 13th and Baltimore Avenue, and some other things we did as elementary school age kids during the early 1960's in Tulsa were:
Walking ten or twelve blocks to downtown to roam through Kress' or Skagg's toy sections, seeing all those neat toys we knew we would probably never have.
As kids, we walked everywhere, but that was not unusual because we walked seven blocks everyday to and from Riverview Elementary School at 12th and Frisco.
Reading old comic books in "Ross M. Barnes Rare Coins & Books" store at 902 S. Cheyenne. Mr. Barnes was real nice and would let us sit and read for hours at no charge. I loved smelling his cigars.
When a big group of us would get together, we would walk to First Street and roust the hobos that were sleeping in the empty box cars under the viaducks. We discovererd them sleeping there when we were looking for pidgeons to capture and take home.
Our beighborhood gang went to a lot of movies downtown. One of the older kids turned twelve and was going to have to pay a whole dollar to get in, but we would wait until the usher went back up front and we would let our 12-year-old friend in from the alley through the back exit door. We usually got away with it, but sometimes got caught. The "Tulsa" Theater was usualy the easiest to get away with it.
The "Tulsa" Theater was our favorite... usually we got to see five movies for 35-cents. I can still remember going in at Noon and coming out after ten o'clock at night. It seemed strange to go in while it was bright daylight and come out to darkness and the neon lights. Then we would walk about ten blocks back home, passing a lot of loud, smoky and beer-smelling bars along the way! But we never had to worry about being molested or kidnapped.
When we collected enough pop bottles, and cashed them in for 2-cents apiece, we would sometimes walk to the Continental Skating Rink on 11th Street, just across from the old Warehouse Market. This was a step up from the old metal skates we had for the sidewalks.
During the Summers, when we got hot, we would go into the Safeway supermarket around 20th Street and Boston to cool off in their produce area. We would wait until the water sprays came on then stick our heads and arms up across the fruits and veggies to get a cool refreshing soaking. Sometimes we would have to make it quick before the store manager ran us out.
When Safeway was unavailable, we would venture into Huckett's Bowling Alley on Main Street between 12th and 13th Streets to cool off. Usually, they wanted us to buy a soda from their snack bar to stay inside, so we would pool our pennies and buy one to share around.
we tried Jerry's Restaurant once or twice, but we got ran off becasue some of the kids in our group was taking the waitress tips off the table.
A big thrill for us was to go down to the Ford dealership at 13th and Boston during one of their promotional sales, when they would have the big spotlight scanning the sky. We would stand around and talk with the spotlight operator while we watched the light sweep across the sky. Great, inexpensive fun for kids.
I miss the alleys. We would walk up and down the alleys digging in the dumpsters and finding all kinds of interesting stuff for kids. My sister's favorite was the drug store dumpster, where she would find all kinds of neat, colorful bottles. I liked finding the old mail envelopes, as the stamps fascinated me enough for me to begin collecting stamps, which I still do to this day.
I tried Cub Scouts for a year, in 3rd grade. Phillip Merry's mom was our Den Mother, and we would meet at her house on Main Street between 14th and 15th Streets. The problem was that the Superman TV show would come on while we were meeting and she would have to keep turning the TV set off so we would pay attention to her. I preferred Superman over Cub Scouts, so I eventually quit after a year.
I would love to find somebody with pictures of the old neighborhood, specifically Baltimore avenue from 12th Street to 15th Street.
quote:
Originally posted by mdunn
remember this???
(http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/9928/memorieskj3.jpg)
Wow, a Packard Hawk. Don't see those very often these days (or even in 1958 as only 588 were built.) Nice cars, even though they were nothing more than a Studebaker with a blown engine and a funny looking front end.