The Art of Survival

Congratulations to all of us kids who were born in the 1940's, 50s, 60s and 70s!

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 tin, and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, our cots and toys were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paints and we still survived!

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 hitch-hiking and swinging on those dodgy "Tarzan" rope and tyre swings out over the river.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a van - loose - was always great fun. We drank water direct 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 as a result!

We ate cakes, white bread and real butter and drank pop with sugar in it but we weren't overweight because...we were always playing outside! We would leave home in the morning and play all day - as long as we were back home when the streetlights came on. No one could reach us all day but we were OK.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps of wood and old pram wheels from the tip and then ride downhill at speed - only to discover we forgot the include brakes! But after running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We didn't have Playstations, Nitendos, X-boxes, or video games. There were no 999 channels on cable, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, text messaging or internet chat rooms. What we did have were real friends and gangs and played outdoors.

We fell out of trees, cut our knees, broke both bones and teeth but there were never any lawsuits following these accidents. We played with worms and mud pies made from dirt - and we didn't catch a life-treatening disease because of it.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and even though we were told it could happen "if we weren't careful" - we never poked anyone's eyes out. We picked teams and not everyone made it into the "best" team. Those kids who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment - imagine that! We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell - or we just yelled for them.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of - they actually sided with the local bobby!

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.

With thanks to Rod Brans and Michael Cripps for this post.