Those Were the Days
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Joined: Jun 2005
Posts: 8,169
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From: 407 Miles E of the Dragon
Those Were the Days
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 carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were 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 children, we would ride in cars with no 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 water bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, 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 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........
. . .WE HAD FRIENDS . . . 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 made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever.
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!
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!
And YOU are one of them!
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 carried us.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were 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 children, we would ride in cars with no 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 water bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, 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 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........
. . .WE HAD FRIENDS . . . 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 made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever.
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!
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!
And YOU are one of them!
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 59,382
Likes: 1,624
From: La Crescenta, CA
Born on December 25, 1944 -- a Christmas baby. To this day I characterize this event as "the ultimate ripoff."
Spent the first five years in central L.A., including numerous visits to the emergency room for things like crashing my tricycle into a concrete wall down a steep hill at high speed.
Almost got kicked out of the altar boys for setting the altar on fire while lighting candles just before high mass.
Got kicked out of the Boy Scouts for hiding behind a bush and ambushing the scoutmaster's son (a real weenie) on his bicycle with water balloons, only one merit badge shy of Eagle Scout.
Probably set a school record for total hours in high school after school detention. Almost got kicked out just days before graduation for starting a fire in a trash can in the bathroom.
Worked part time throughout school, much of it as a boxboy at Von's, where I was almost fired for losing control of a train of 47 shopping carts, which ran through a plate glass window into the store, knocking over a fat lady.
Fraternity pledge class got the fraternity suspended for stealing the religious fraternity's neon sign and hanging it from the campus clock tower, chaining a rival fraternity member to his bed, and putting him, his bed, and his VW Beetle in the campus reflecting pool.
The hood flew off my Corvair on the San Diego Freeway and sailed neatly through the passenger side windshield of a moving van behind me.
Spent the first five years in central L.A., including numerous visits to the emergency room for things like crashing my tricycle into a concrete wall down a steep hill at high speed.
Almost got kicked out of the altar boys for setting the altar on fire while lighting candles just before high mass.
Got kicked out of the Boy Scouts for hiding behind a bush and ambushing the scoutmaster's son (a real weenie) on his bicycle with water balloons, only one merit badge shy of Eagle Scout.
Probably set a school record for total hours in high school after school detention. Almost got kicked out just days before graduation for starting a fire in a trash can in the bathroom.
Worked part time throughout school, much of it as a boxboy at Von's, where I was almost fired for losing control of a train of 47 shopping carts, which ran through a plate glass window into the store, knocking over a fat lady.
Fraternity pledge class got the fraternity suspended for stealing the religious fraternity's neon sign and hanging it from the campus clock tower, chaining a rival fraternity member to his bed, and putting him, his bed, and his VW Beetle in the campus reflecting pool.
The hood flew off my Corvair on the San Diego Freeway and sailed neatly through the passenger side windshield of a moving van behind me.
Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 65,562
Likes: 4,796
From: Smalltown
On the same topic, but slightly different.
When I see all the safety stuff they market to new parents, I wonder how I survived, as well as how my son survived.
They changed ALL the rules of taking care of babies too. It now appears that both my mother and I did almost everything wrong when it came to taking care of babies.
No food for 3-4 months, just formula or mother's milk. No baby powder. Heck, that's where babies get their baby smell. Car seats? Does anyone remember car beds? Those little things that unfolded and you simply placed your infant in, in the back seat? Now that one is scary when I think about it.
Videos and educational games. Kids do NOT need that to learn. We learned our ABC's just fine without that stuff, kids don't need another reason to sit on their bottoms.
Kids are so scheduled and constantly entertained, they have no clue how to play outside by themselves or with a friend.
Dirt, water, building blocks, paper, pencils and crayons to play with, a little imagination and of course food and LOTS of love. That's all they need, oh and maybe a computer too.
When I see all the safety stuff they market to new parents, I wonder how I survived, as well as how my son survived.
They changed ALL the rules of taking care of babies too. It now appears that both my mother and I did almost everything wrong when it came to taking care of babies.
No food for 3-4 months, just formula or mother's milk. No baby powder. Heck, that's where babies get their baby smell. Car seats? Does anyone remember car beds? Those little things that unfolded and you simply placed your infant in, in the back seat? Now that one is scary when I think about it.
Videos and educational games. Kids do NOT need that to learn. We learned our ABC's just fine without that stuff, kids don't need another reason to sit on their bottoms.
Kids are so scheduled and constantly entertained, they have no clue how to play outside by themselves or with a friend.
Dirt, water, building blocks, paper, pencils and crayons to play with, a little imagination and of course food and LOTS of love. That's all they need, oh and maybe a computer too.
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 4,563
Likes: 0
From: Marblehead
Got me to thinking, about things long stored in the hinterlands of my brain.
- I knew I had a mother but rarely ever saw her
- breakfast was day old rye bread soaked in yesterday's coffee
- an unheated house with cooking done with peat we cut and hauled ourselves
- typical school lunch was 2 pieces of rye bread spread with lard and salt plus a marinated herring
- typical non-school lunch was scrounging vegetables, fruit and sugar beets from people's gardens
- jumping off a railroad bridge into a river with a rope around our waist, because nobody knew how to swim
- nobody owned shoes so we went barefoot or wore rubber boots
- X-mas was two oranges, a chocolate bar and a bag of shelled hazel nuts
- chasing after US Army jeeps mounted with 50 cal machine guns
- a policeman on a bicycle came through town once a week, same day and same time
- school closed in Oct and all kids dug up potatoes from dawn till dark for 1 mark (25c) a day
- one flavor of ice cream one day a year for a few pfennig and everybody knew about it
- hunting for metal and wire to sell for scrap
- riding a bike 15 miles each way to the docks and beg for bananas
- 8 grades in two rooms and only one teacher
- no church, no cemetary, no doctor/dentist, one store, three bars
- first and only car in town, a BMW Isetta
- groceries consisted of coffee, salt and vinigar
- there were no children outcasts
- if you got a cut, the shoe maker sewed it up
- everybody contributed to the poor house
- girls peed standing up
- sweeping the dirt road in front of the house
- never being envious or jealous of anybody
- everybody looked after the little ones
- a chicken for supper every Sunday, horsemeat for special occasions
- favorite games was cowboys and indians and building fires
- socks and sweaters were knit and nobody owned underwear
- the best grandparents in the world and life was good
- better stop
- I knew I had a mother but rarely ever saw her
- breakfast was day old rye bread soaked in yesterday's coffee
- an unheated house with cooking done with peat we cut and hauled ourselves
- typical school lunch was 2 pieces of rye bread spread with lard and salt plus a marinated herring
- typical non-school lunch was scrounging vegetables, fruit and sugar beets from people's gardens
- jumping off a railroad bridge into a river with a rope around our waist, because nobody knew how to swim
- nobody owned shoes so we went barefoot or wore rubber boots
- X-mas was two oranges, a chocolate bar and a bag of shelled hazel nuts
- chasing after US Army jeeps mounted with 50 cal machine guns
- a policeman on a bicycle came through town once a week, same day and same time
- school closed in Oct and all kids dug up potatoes from dawn till dark for 1 mark (25c) a day
- one flavor of ice cream one day a year for a few pfennig and everybody knew about it
- hunting for metal and wire to sell for scrap
- riding a bike 15 miles each way to the docks and beg for bananas
- 8 grades in two rooms and only one teacher
- no church, no cemetary, no doctor/dentist, one store, three bars
- first and only car in town, a BMW Isetta
- groceries consisted of coffee, salt and vinigar
- there were no children outcasts
- if you got a cut, the shoe maker sewed it up
- everybody contributed to the poor house
- girls peed standing up
- sweeping the dirt road in front of the house
- never being envious or jealous of anybody
- everybody looked after the little ones
- a chicken for supper every Sunday, horsemeat for special occasions
- favorite games was cowboys and indians and building fires
- socks and sweaters were knit and nobody owned underwear
- the best grandparents in the world and life was good
- better stop
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Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 4,563
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From: Marblehead
PaS2K: The place is Nesse, Germany, with a farm town population of about 800 souls. That would be 1 mile from Stotel ( a doctor), 1 1/2 miles from Loxstedt (a church and cemetary), and about 12 miles south of Bremerhafen. The time period is 1946 - 1957. The weather is like Seattle. The terrain is tabletop flat fields and marshes. The river is Lune. I visited last in 1978 and not a thing had changed, other than everybody had a car and the pigs and chickens no longer were in our house.
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From: Philly (Narberth)
RC- We have some German connections, but it's back in the 1700's. The Kreiders apparently hailed from the small town of Ittlingen (Ettlingen), which is in the area west of Heidleberg....SW corner of Germany. I have extensive genealogical research....done by an aunt (since deceased). I think that Nesse is much further north....near the North Sea?
We have friends in Schwabisch Halle and another family in a tiny town just north of Weimar over on the east side. We hope to visit these folks again later in 2006/ early 2007 when our son will be working in Germany for a year. At the same time, we hope to visit the tiny town of Ittlingen and see if there are any remaining evidence of forebears...whether alive or 6' under
We have friends in Schwabisch Halle and another family in a tiny town just north of Weimar over on the east side. We hope to visit these folks again later in 2006/ early 2007 when our son will be working in Germany for a year. At the same time, we hope to visit the tiny town of Ittlingen and see if there are any remaining evidence of forebears...whether alive or 6' under
Registered User
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 4,563
Likes: 0
From: Marblehead
I stopped doing geneological research when I found out that my grandmother's grandmother was French and a great-great uncle was hanged for stealing a horse.
My grandmother and one of her sisters were the only two family members who survived the Russians when they hit Koenigsberg, East Prussia, which now is Kaliningrad, Russia. They got seperated and my grandmother's sister got stuck behind the fences in Jena, East Germany.
Yup, it is way up north.
Enjoy your trip.
My grandmother and one of her sisters were the only two family members who survived the Russians when they hit Koenigsberg, East Prussia, which now is Kaliningrad, Russia. They got seperated and my grandmother's sister got stuck behind the fences in Jena, East Germany.
Yup, it is way up north.
Enjoy your trip.
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 12,980
Likes: 793
From: Clifton, VA
I am 1/4 German on my grand mothers side. 1/2 Polish (father's side) and the other 1/4 Irish on my Grand father's side.
Although, I have yet to make it to Ireland in the County Cork (where my Great Great Grand Father was from) I have been to Germany and Poland. I have to say that out of the European countries that I have been too, Germany is by far my favorite. The people are very friendly, and I guess that there is part of me that just really loves the 15% or so left of the Autobahn with no speed limits!
I have to admit even though my intent is not to scare my co-workers, I find a foolish pleasure in hearing them squeal like a three year old girl when the speedometer hits 200 KPH (180 KPH with one of them). I always make the time to drop them off at the hotel and take a drive. The A1 is one of my favorites as it is in a rural section with long runs between exits. An S420 is good for 240 KPH (149 MPH) with the pedal to the metal.
Although, I have yet to make it to Ireland in the County Cork (where my Great Great Grand Father was from) I have been to Germany and Poland. I have to say that out of the European countries that I have been too, Germany is by far my favorite. The people are very friendly, and I guess that there is part of me that just really loves the 15% or so left of the Autobahn with no speed limits!
I have to admit even though my intent is not to scare my co-workers, I find a foolish pleasure in hearing them squeal like a three year old girl when the speedometer hits 200 KPH (180 KPH with one of them). I always make the time to drop them off at the hotel and take a drive. The A1 is one of my favorites as it is in a rural section with long runs between exits. An S420 is good for 240 KPH (149 MPH) with the pedal to the metal.