How Did We Survive?

Those born in the 60’s will likely be able to identify with today’s musings.

As kids back then…

We were allowed to play outside ANYWHERE in the neighborhood for hours on end without supervision.  Even without a fenced in yard, we’d run in circles with our dogs with no worry of them straying.  We would walk over to our friends’ homes without a care, even if our parents didn’t know them.  If we had change in our pockets, we’d walk to the store for candy… or, stop the ice cream man if we were lucky enough to see him.

If you were having a sleepover at a friend’s house, come Sunday morning you went to whatever church they attended without prejudice.  There was no talk of “But, I’m THIS religion” or “I don’t believe the same faith as you”, and especially no “My faith is better than yours” or “You can’t go to heaven because you’re not the same religion as I am”.

We walked barefoot through puddles, ditches, and mud.  We dug in the mud and weeds to make mud pies and weed stew.  We drank from the garden hose if we got thirsty, and picked fruit from a neighbor’s tree if we got hungry.  We shared drink, food, hairbrushes, along with clothes and shoes with every friend we had.

We rode our bikes without a helmet, with rubber bands tying our pants’ legs to our ankles to keep them from getting greasy or stuck in the chain, and without shoes.  We rode these same bikes over ramps, through ditches, and all through empty parking lots.  We climbed every tree we could and played any sport with whatever we could find to use as gear.

As babies, while riding in the car we were held in our mothers’ arms or fell asleep in the floorboard at their feet.  We stood in the middle of the front seat or hung our heads out the windows.  We rode in the back of pick-up trucks while flying down a bumpy old country road.

We came home from school and did our homework BEFORE being allowed to play games, visit with friends, watch TV, talk on the phone, or play outside.  We did chores like washing dishes, mowing the yard, doing laundry, washing the car, cleaning our rooms, and taking out the trash.  Most likely, we did not receive an allowance for doing these chores… the help was expected of us, and rightly so.

We had one phone in the house and you took your turn using it.  You “dialed” the number you were calling and if someone was on the phone already, it rang busy.  There were no cell phones for parents’ to keep track of us or for us to call for a ride.  We were home when told to be.

When visiting a friend, we were expected to treat their parents with the same respect as we treated our own.  We did what they said and obeyed their rules without question… and, our parents demanded this of us.  When our friends visited us, the same was expected from them for our parents.

As parents today…

We don’t let our children out of our sight without supervision for fear of our worst nightmare coming true.  Our pets aren’t allowed outside without a leash if the yard isn’t fenced in.  Our children don’t go to anyone’s homes without us knowing the child and having spoken with the parents.  And, now it takes more than change to buy candy and gum… and,  we don’t dare let our children near strangers selling ice cream without carefully watching them.

We can’t take a chance on offending anyone so we don’t dare take a child to church unless they are a family member or with permission of parents attending the same church.

We practically sanitize everything our children touch.  We discourage “sharing” certain items so that they don’t spread germs.

Our children have a varied array of safety gear whenever riding a bike or playing sports.  They ride their bikes on sidewalks or in bike lanes only.

Our babies aren’t allowed to be taken home from the hospital without the properly approved child safety seat.  They are never allowed to ride in the back of trucks and we certainly don’t let them ride in any vehicle without being buckled in.

Some kids have way too many things to do that keep them inside like video games, movies, computers, iPods, texting, etc.  Some don’t spend nearly enough time outdoors playing and being active.  And, most children don’t help out enough with basic household chores.  Almost everything our children do requires money so we’re constantly handing it over whether “earned” or not.

We now have phones that are equipped with voicemail, call-waiting, and call-forwarding.  Our kids probably wouldn’t know what to do with a phone if it had a rotary dial.  And, now cell phones are commonplace so that we can keep track of them wherever they may be.

A lot of children are unaware of common courtesy and manners.  And, we don’t dare correct or punish another person’s child without fear of being treated as if we abused them in some way.

It is, to say the least, very different from our childhoods to that of children of today’s generation.

Were we completely careless?  Did our parents not care?  Did our parents not know any better?

Are we overprotective?  Do we place too many limits on our children?  Are we not giving them the credit they deserve for having common sense by babying them?

Or…

Was it just simply a safer place and time back then?

And, yeah… just how did we survive all that?