kcm
Gold Member
In my job, when I interact with customers, part of my schpiel is the hot water feature on their water cooler is hot enough for instant tea, coffee, etc....and it's optional, because there is a switch. When they respond with, "just keep it off, cuz I have kids, don't want them to get burned"....drives me crazy.
I want to tell them, that when I was a kid, there were risks, and if you got scalded with hot water, well..it didn't happen again. You learned your lesson.
The list goes on...
Mothers smoked during pregnancy,
Pill bottles weren't childproof,
Cribs at best could contain you until a baby could stand, (and usually lead painted pretty colors)
No car seats, seat belts were just in the way,
Electric sockets didn't have those little plastic plug-in covers,
Cleaners under the sink didn't have a lock on them,
Playground equipment was white hot metal, especially the slide,
Sunblock? What's that?,
If you had a ball, every kid in town would play...if you had a stick, even better!
Scores were settled with clenched fists, when name calling wouldn't solve it,
Trying out for a ball team didn't guarantee you a spot on the team...
(and don't get me started with participation trophies)
Trees were for climbing, not hugging....and if you fell out of one, well, your Dad did too!
Bike helmets were for special kids,
Go outside and play until it got dark,
Jarts!....kinda like horseshoes, only with flying missile of death, I was great at that game as I recall....
I could go on and on....
IMO, today's kids are soft, if they knew how we rolled in the 40s -70s, they wouldn't believe it, they would like and share it though!
Let's see - all of us are STILL doing stupid things and still alive and kicking. What's gonna happen when kids of today (not allowed to draw a stick-figure gun and say "bang, bang" ends up having to grow up and put on the old cammies?? ....Do you think the new national language will be Chinese, Russian, or Arabic??