According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who
were kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived, because our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.

When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops and fluorescent 'spokey dokey's' on our wheels. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags - riding in the passenger seat was a treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted
the same.

We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with
sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no-one
actually died from this.

We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went
top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the
problem.

We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long
as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded.

We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No
99
channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile
phones, no
personal computers, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms.

We had friends - we went outside and found them.

We played elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really
hurt!

We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones but there were no law
suits.

We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from other
parents.

We played knock-a-door-run-away and were actually afraid of the owners
catching us.

We walked to friends' homes.

We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on
mummy

or

daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.

We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard
of...They actually sided with the law.

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and
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're one of them. Congratulations!

This is for those who have had the luck to grow as real kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.

For those of you who aren't old enough, thought you might like to
read about us.
This my friends, is surprisingly frightening......and it might put a
smile on your face:

The majority of students in universities today were born in 1986........They
are called youth.

They have never heard of We are the World, We are the children, and
the Uptown Girl they know is by Westlife not Billy Joel. They have never
heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena Cherry or Belinda Carlisle.

For them, there has always been only one Germany and one Vietnam.

AIDS has existed since they were born. CD's have existed since they
were born.

Michael Jackson has always been white.

To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they can't
imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance.

They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are films
from last year.

They can never imagine life before computers.

They'll never have pretended to be the A Team, RedHand Gang or the
Famous Five.

They'll never have applied to be on Jim'll Fix It or Why Don't You.

They can't believe a black and white television ever existed. And
they will never understand how we could leave the house without a mobile phone.

Now let's check if we're getting old...
1. You understand what was written above and you smile.
2. You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon, after a
night out.
3. Your friends are getting married/already married.
4. You are always surprised to see small children playing
comfortably with computers.
5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head.
6. You remember watching Dirty Den in EastEnders the first time
around.
7. You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the good old days,repeating again all the funny things you have experienced together.

I like it, only '83 born as well. I applied to be on Jim'll Fix It and always wanted to be on Why Don't You but wasn't old enough :(

Oh my god! That was like describing my whole childhood! Was only born in '84 aswell!

I was born during the hot summer of April 1976..

Oh yeah the childhood, swinging form trees, setting things on fire and throwing dirt on people, thoes were the days!!!

In my garden at the moment are 5 boys aged 7 to 12. This morning thy have all made themselves a sword out of scrap wood and played numerous adventure games. As I type, they are building a treehouse. They have informed me that they also intend to dig a pond today to put some frogs in.
All of these children have x boxes etc but when the sun is shining and there is dirt to be applied to clothes, they are not bothered by them. Kids are generally still kids and still enjoy the same things as 20 years ago.

Originally posted by Rich
I was born during the hot summer of April 1976..


That was the summer I was conceived so my mum informs me - too much information - don't even want to think about it :gag:

Do you remember making mud pies in the garden with your mates and proudly presenting them to the grown ups for tea? Wonder why they were soooo reluctant to taste them?:hihi:

All id like to say is the "summer of 69" has a lot to answer for!! what my parents did :gag: too much info:

Originally posted by Cake
Do you remember making mud pies in the garden with your mates and proudly presenting them to the grown ups for tea? Wonder why they were soooo reluctant to taste them?:hihi:

this was highlighted in one of the greatest films ever DROP DEAD FRED

Originally posted by jessycar
I like it, only '83 born as well

woo hoo me too

Me and my friend once spent hours digging a huge hole in her dad's nice lawn. Then we wondered what to do with the hole. So we filled it with water and made lots of mud, which we put into buckets. Then we got her dad's paintbrushes and painted his shed with the mud.

Hmm, if kids did half of these things nowadays they'd probably get an ASBO slapped on them...Makes me laugh - where I work they regularly rant about how kids aren't getting any exercise these days but then when they come in after dinner they are complaining to security about the little lads who often ride their bikes or skateboards outside.

:D :D :D

Setting fire to them round hay bail's pushing them down the farmers feild, which was on a hill, and once it rolled into his barn and up it went in flames :)

Finding Dog Pooh an placing bangers in them and running away :D

4 Brocken bones from climbing in trees :D

scrard for life on my right arm from going down one hell of a drop on my skateboard :D

only thing i got from my mam and dad was "that will teach you"

Yep them where the days :D

Playing "life" using a swing made out of rope and tied to a tree branch.

The object of the game is to use a spoon, fork or other eating utensil to stick in the ground while leaning as far back on the swing as you can.

The other players then had 3 lives to get the bugger out without touching the floor once they've taken a big swing.

Yep... born 1979 me and I remember all that well... ah I wish for one day I was a kid again!

We used to make indoor sledges out of sleeping bags or those big bread trays and go bombing down the stairs on them, smashing into the wall at the bottom. One day my friend's dad saw us, got all excited and demanded a 'go', so we got him into the sleeping bag and helped launch him from the top of the stairs. He loved it til he hit the wall at the bottom and did his back in. :D

Originally posted by Cake
According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who
were kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived, because our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.

When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops and fluorescent 'spokey dokey's' on our wheels. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags - riding in the passenger seat was a treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted
the same.

We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with
sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no-one
actually died from this.

We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went
top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the
problem.

We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long
as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded.

We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No
99
channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile
phones, no
personal computers, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms.

We had friends - we went outside and found them.

We played elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really
hurt!

We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones but there were no law
suits.

We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from other
parents.

We played knock-a-door-run-away and were actually afraid of the owners
catching us.

We walked to friends' homes.

We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on
mummy

or

daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.

We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard
of...They actually sided with the law.

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and
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're one of them. Congratulations!

This is for those who have had the luck to grow as real kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.

For those of you who aren't old enough, thought you might like to
read about us.
This my friends, is surprisingly frightening......and it might put a
smile on your face:

The majority of students in universities today were born in 1986........They
are called youth.

They have never heard of We are the World, We are the children, and
the Uptown Girl they know is by Westlife not Billy Joel. They have never
heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena Cherry or Belinda Carlisle.

For them, there has always been only one Germany and one Vietnam.

AIDS has existed since they were born. CD's have existed since they
were born.

Michael Jackson has always been white.

To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they can't
imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance.

They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are films
from last year.

They can never imagine life before computers.

They'll never have pretended to be the A Team, RedHand Gang or the
Famous Five.

They'll never have applied to be on Jim'll Fix It or Why Don't You.

They can't believe a black and white television ever existed. And
they will never understand how we could leave the house without a mobile phone.

Now let's check if we're getting old...
1. You understand what was written above and you smile.
2. You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon, after a
night out.
3. Your friends are getting married/already married.
4. You are always surprised to see small children playing
comfortably with computers.
5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head.
6. You remember watching Dirty Den in EastEnders the first time
around.
7. You meet your friends from time to time, talking about the good old days,repeating again all the funny things you have experienced together. whaaaahaaa,will you marry me ( if your a bloke can we be drinking mates? ) nowt else to add,perfect post,how can you add to it?

:D :D :D

Year Stair diving i used to call it 2 king size matres's on the stairs and ya jump down, only problem we had was that the down stair toliet door, was right at the bottom of the stairs

My dog at the time loved it to......or i think he did :D

i was born at the end of the sixties and much of what you say is identical to my upbringing. Yoiu could argue that all the leglislation been brought in since these humble times was in reaction to all the countless deaths that occur doing said activities- but going back to an earlier point i made in a post not so long back - science has ruined everything. Without exception - cars - metal - medicine - internet - agriculture have all contributed to the decline rather than the enhancement of the human condition.

Without computers or transport or medicine ii might have to work round the corner - i might have to know all my neigbours because i work with them - we might all look out for one another because we know one another.- we might all knpw one anothers kids and so watch out for them collectively - i might have to grow what i eat.... and i might be sat round with people in the pub talking about this, instead of typing alone in an enpty room..........

Oh and i might die at a natural age instead of being kept alive by science until i can't walk and become a reclusive victim of every con man.....

hurrah for progress..... i want off this planet!!!:rant:

One of the best post's i've read on here Cake :thumbsup:

I'm an old man now, being born in 1975! :wink:

We didn't get the chance to be fat because we were never at home to eat! Up at 7am, out by 7:40am:

Scrambling round the derelict Carlton picture house,
Making our way across the entire width of City Rd cemetery like monkeys in the trees,
Backhopping,
Playing Delavio on the school roof,
Building dams in the stream on the Manor fields,
Asking the Pigeon keepers for any dead eggs, only to throw them straight back at them :rolleyes:

And if we got hungry it didn't matter because we knew where every apple and pear tree, every blackberry and rasberry bush and even who's grape vines were full :wink:

I know which age i would prefer to be a kid in!

and I never got a tummy ache from pulling up rhubarb and dipping it in sugar.

Born 1955, done most of them and I reckon about 95% of those things in cakes original post have never been outlawed by "bureaucrats and regulators" - but you'll probably find your insurance company wouldn't pay out for any accident / injury arising from said practices.sands of years

The human race has survived for thousands of years with women giving chilbirth in caves, huts, at home (like I was) etc. So you reckon we should scrap maternity wards in hospitals and give kids (and mothers) a much worse chance of survival?

I was only born in 1988 but I know who Belinda Carlisle is thankyou! :D

ah I wish for one day I was a kid again! And again, I'm only 17 and i feel the same! oh dear...

We had a friend who lived up the road from us and she had a basement that you could get into by going down into the back garden and through the door to the basement. We had our own den down there, mud pies on the oven. the bathroom out to the back, nobody ever used it of course, but that didn't matter to my sister when you're imagining and she was always the one who had to clean the mud toilet...

We did all sorts, great fun! And I sound so old so early...

Originally posted by miniminch
Oh and i might die at a natural age instead of being kept alive by science until i can't walk and become a reclusive victim of every con man.....


Now really, Mini - I'm certain the conman hasn't been born who would DARE try to con you at any age! :P

StarSparkle :)

I was born in 1949, yes THAT old. I remember playing on the old coal tips- sitting on a shovel, holding onto the handle and sliding down the tip. It was very scary, very fast and quite dangerous. We walked or ran everywhere, no fat kids on our street. I still reckon that we had a better childhood than the kids of today.

Originally posted by StarSparkle
Now really, Mini - I'm certain the conman hasn't been born who would DARE try to con you at any age! :P

StarSparkle :) i was in the chat room last night talking to msB and i swear i had ten pound less in my pocket when i came out - how is this possible?:confused: :mad:

Originally posted by miniminch
i was in the chat room last night talking to msB and i swear i had ten pound less in my pocket when i came out - how is this possible?:confused: :mad:

I'd try and work a fast one on Mini any time! :D

<----goes to pub to buy large gin and tonic with crisp new tenner..:heyhey:

Cake,

Wow! I remember all of what you spoke of and feel very old all of a sudden.

Anyone have nails for my coffin?

Originally posted by Nimrod
I was born in 1949, yes THAT old. I remember playing on the old coal tips- sitting on a shovel, holding onto the handle and sliding down the tip. It was very scary, very fast and quite dangerous. We walked or ran everywhere, no fat kids on our street. I still reckon that we had a better childhood than the kids of today.

My cousin Gordon broke his leg when, as a kid, he slid too fast down the pit heap tip on a tray, fell off, and his mate slid over him. Ouch!

Climbing trees was brilliant fun. As kids we used to dare each other to climb the tallest trees. We went swimming in the cut (canal). Home made puppet shows. Hide-and-seek in neighbour's gardens. Scrumping (until caught and scolded!). Hop-scotch. Murder in the dark. Oh and Bonny's memory of skinning rhubard and dipping it in sugar brought back happy memories. (Can you remember shelling fresh peas from the garden for Sunday dinner Bonny?).

Anyway, enough memories for now. It's late, and I'm tired, and I need my sleep. I mean, as a 58 year old (b. 1948!) it must be way past my bedtime! :roll:

That's one of the positive bits of moving to a village in Germany. You can wind back the clock a whole generation and see your kids enjoy the same childhood you did!

One thing has had to change though. I insist on cycle helmets and on car child seats/seat belts. Just so much more traffic on the roads in so much of a hurry that there you simply can't take risks.

Congratulations , Cake !-----an excellent job in reminding us of a lot of good things we all did as kids [born 1941 , sad to say !] and what a lot of today's kids are missing.It goes to prove that , "progress " is not ALWAYS an improvement on the quality of life.
Someone asked should we not have modern maternity hospitals ......etc....... ? Well , of course we should if they increase human well-being .........but it doesn't mean that we have to swallow the whole of modern life , hook line and sinker. We have to choose what is good and what is harmful.
What Cake , so skilfully was saying , is that if children are free and socialise more , then it will increase the sum of human happiness more than encouraging them to stay in and to play for hours on computers ......etc.......
Accidents did happen but because we have given in to the Health Freaks , the Control Freaks and the Nannies , we are fast creating a large group of obese , isolated children . The quicker children learn that they can't always have things their own way and that one sometimes has to bow down to the group if one wants to belong andthat life does have its risks , the better.No better way to learn this than knocking round with a group of friends , away from , "Nanny" , for a few years !
Maybe if children were allowed more freedom we might produce people in the future who were not psychologically and physically sick as millions of young people appear to be in this country -------judging by how much they spend on medicines or get from the state.

cake, this is goood! ive sent to my work people, :)

The number of times we came home from Riverlin covered in that bright orange mud/slime that you see in the silted-up overgrown dams from trying to get from one side of the dam to the other without touching the ground (and sinking in the mud).

Thinking about it now it was pretty stupid, but at the time it was second only to building tarzan swings that preferably went out over a cliff edge somewhere.

Originally posted by Rich
I was born during the hot summer of April 1976..

Ooooh Rich, I remember that year.... thousands of ladybirds! I hardly ever see ladybirds anymore!

And Nick, yeah, I used to paddle/swim back from Riverlin to Hillsborough via the river, going behind all the shops on Holme lane, under the bridge at Hillborough corner, right upto behind Regents Courts flats. It makes me ill to remember it now, I can't begin to think how many rats must have swam against my legs! It's funny how mum really does know best, I just thought she was being a bore when she said I could get infections from rivers (although, to be fair, I never did...?)

children should be free to do stupid things and learn from their mistakes.
I learnt not to play on the rope swing on my own after slipping off it and knocking myself out. I've no idea how long I was unconscious as my memory is blank from some time before the fall. I remember playing on my own, swinging, then the next thing I remember is crawling up the hill on my hands and knees.

Still played on that swing again, but I was always more careful afterwards.
I think I must have been about 8 at the time.

I remember playing games with my sister when on a camping holiday. We were obsessed with horses and used to use our skipping ropes for 'reins' and pretend to ride each other round! We also used to get the plastic plates my mum used for tea and make our own 'food' on them with stones and grass and mud, then write a 'menu' for our parents.

One night we had tea in a pub and my mum had profiteroles for pudding. One of my parents fondest memories is still the proud looks on our faces when we presented them with, amongst other courses, round balls of mud in a bowl and a 'menu' written on cardboard that said - "Desert - puffalumps".

Originally posted by Cyclone
children should be free to do stupid things and learn from their mistakes.


True, thats what made me laugh about them banning conkers because someone might let a bruised hand, thats nothing you need to be able to lose an eye before it's realy dangerous.

Cake - Wednesday is my 36th birthday and having read your excellent post I feel very proud to have been brought-up and experienced practically everything you have said during the 1970s and (early) 1980s.

Never mind seat-belts! My dad used to let me sit on the central arm-rest of the car between the two front seats. (Dad always drove automatic cars so I was never in the way of the gearstick. But can you imagine the police coming across such stunts today?)

I'm presently reading a superb book by Andrew Collins called 'Where did it all go right' about growing up NORMAL in the 1970s. Anybody who enjoyed reading Cake's post will love this book.

Thanks for the memories. For the first time in a long time, I don't actually wish to be young any more!:clap:

im 34 and yep can remember it all, my grandad used to let me sit on the arm rest in the car too, and when we were goin to the seaside me and my cousin used to ride in the boot so we had lots of room to put our books and pencils etc..
we wouldnt dream of been cheeky to anyone cos we knew we would get a clip round the ear and even worse off our parents when they got told. and people did actually borry a *cup of sugar* off the neighbours.

ahhh i could go on forever with the memories:D

I remember my dad bringing a tractor tyre inner-tube home for us, it was the best thing ever floating over the waterfalls in Riverlin and the tyre was big enough to get about 10 of us on.

Originally posted by nick2
True, thats what made me laugh about them banning conkers because someone might let a bruised hand, thats nothing you need to be able to lose an eye before it's realy dangerous.

that was just 1 school right? not all schools.

In 30 years when people of our generation are in power, maybe they'll remember what it was like and repeal all the ridiculous red tape. Assuming that MI5 hasn't eliminated them due to being subversives by then (detected using the all present surveillance network run by shadowy government operatives).

Ohmigod! What you said was like reading about my childhood totally. Everything you said rings totally true from back then to now.

The kids these days dont know their born they really dont. I was born in '76. The toys we had then were great, well we thought they were great, kids of today probably wouldnt think so. The games we played, all you needed was your imagination.

It was great back then, sometimes I wish I could go back to my childhood, who would have thought society would turn out like this, kids as young as 12 or ever younger getting arrested for violent crimes. I was still playing with dolls at that age - no im not kidding.

So glad you've all enjoyed my post.

It makes me sad that my own two children aren't even able to play outside the front of the house these days - I'm sure they would love to experience what we have experienced.

What stories will they tell their children about their childhood???

Hang on a minute, though, kids still play with dolls! And climb trees, and play out til all hours. And there are still good kids around, not all of them are out jacking their neighbours! I remember a post not so long ago about someone's son trying to help out his neighbours (sorry I can't remember your name!)

In this media hyped age I think violent crimes do tend to be a little bit overrepresented!

I was born in 1948 and can remember all the fun we had without helmets and kneepads.once fell on my rolloer skates going down hill, and scraped all the skin off my bum.Mum just said "you should look where you're going"

Originally posted by depoix
whaaaahaaa,will you marry me ( if your a bloke can we be drinking mates? ) nowt else to add,perfect post,how can you add to it?

We could jump on and of the bus when it went slow we got off were we wanted and even between stops. Children gave up there seats for adults.

A day out was a trip to Millhouses by tram a dip in the stream instead for a change. We never bothered about sewage or dog muck in the park

We went to the Farm grounds to visit the fair came back by bus with our black feet while our mum stood us in the sink and washed our feet.

Sunday was a special day when the bath was fetched up from down the cellar and had boiling pans of water on the open fire. Because the television had a break between the afternoon and evening programs we listened to Radio Luxenburg and Dan Dare pilot of the future.

We went down the yard or up the Gennel to the outside loo. armed with a flash light and a candle to stop the cistern from freezing. we could talk to the guy next door at the same time. For those that lived in the country there were no water loos just a wooden box and occasionally a board with two holes in were you could sit side by side. Oh and yes you always went armed with the local paper in case there were no toilet paper. This was ripped into square and stuck on a nail behind the toilet door. Were they the good old days?

I think cake should get a trophy for posting of the year!

Thanks UnkleBob!!

It's good to look back on life and smile at the memories we share.

Like I've said before - I wonder what memories my kids are going to have - what model of mobile phone they had, what songs the used to download, how they weren't allowed to "play out" just in case the Paedophile(s) in the area "got them" etc. Makes me kind of sad for them. At least I have plenty of stories to make them say "oh, mum, you didn't!!"

:D

well, think of all the rubbish Polly Filler columnists you get in the mirror/sun etc, such as fiona whotsername off GMTV, twittering on about nothing, can barely put a sentence together, never mind a paragraph! if i were a paper ed i'd be asking you in for a chat. If you can write like that regularly you should think about it!

Rope Swings over rivers!!!! You don't see them in parks anymore!! a stick tied to a piece of blue string and looped over a tree just screams lawsuit these days!!

The original post describes my childhood to a T!! I lived in a cul-de-sac in a quiet little country village in the Peak District called Hayfield, where 33 out of the 35 houses had kids that went to the primary school round the corner! I hardly spent any time in front of the TV - I much preferred playing in the woods behind my house (but wo-betide anybody who got caught jumping the wall by either parents or, even worse, the land-owner!! THAT was fear like I've never experienced since!)

All this and I was born in 1986 :P But like I said it was a tiny village and slightly caught in a timewarp so I probably had a similar childhood to someone who was born 10 years before me, but into civilisation!!!

I agree but we are all looked like from another planet whe we mention things like that to the kids and the grandchildren. Yes we are old f**ts and not worth listening to. Just wait for a few years down the road.

Originally posted by Cake
So glad you've all enjoyed my post.



I certainly enjoyed reading this thread. It is sooooo nostalgic. did anyone go "polybaggin" down grass banks, or swing so high then see who could jump the furthest distance off it? Our doors were always unlocked so neighbours could "pop" in at anytime for a natter. If I left my bike out at night, it was always there the next morning.

My brother and I would have to take turns at sitting on the central arm rest in the car. When we had a van we both had to sit in the back of it on the floor on an old blanket. We used to dread every time dad turned a corner because we knew that we would either crash into the side of the van or some of his tools or junk would fall on us. :rant:

Originally posted by Cake
So glad you've all enjoyed my post.

It makes me sad that my own two children aren't even able to play outside the front of the house these days - I'm sure they would love to experience what we have experienced.

What stories will they tell their children about their childhood???

Enjoyed your first post immensely Cake and i've enjoyed this thread every day since! It's amazing how much you forget from when you are a child and this thread has brought my childhood back to the front of my mind in a big way :smile:

What you said above is so sad but so true. I have a 7 year old daughter and it kills me every day that i daren't let her go out and play, and explore, and make all the memories that we have all been talking about :( We try to compensate but there's not much point.
She will never know what it's like to go missing for 14 hours. To explore every piece of woodland for miles around. To make a den and fall asleep in it listening to the birds.

If she is half as happy as i was when i was growing up, it'll not be that bad ;)

According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who
were kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived, because our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.

Check


When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops and fluorescent 'spokey dokey's' on our wheels. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags - riding in the passenger seat was a treat.

Check

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle and it tasted
the same.

Check, after using hose to soak siblings

We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with
sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.

Check

We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no-one
actually died from this.

Check being careful to check for backwash, spitback etc

We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went
top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the
problem.

Check and have the scars to prove it

We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long
as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded.

Check

We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No
99
channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile
phones, no
personal computers, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms.

Check- commadore 64 that i learnt basic on and a mastersystem that never worked

We had friends - we went outside and found them.

Check

We played elastics and rounders, and sometimes that ball really
hurt!

Check, yes, it did

We fell out of trees, got cut, and broke bones but there were no law
suits.

Check yep, haning from a tree by your trousers screaming for dad to come and unhook you

We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from other
parents.
Check - ever noticed how kickboxing looks a lot like 7 year old fights

We played knock-a-door-run-away and were actually afraid of the owners
catching us.

Check

We walked to friends' homes.

Check

We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on
mummy

or

daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner.

Check

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.

Check

We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.

Check, also with coke can stuck in wheel

The freedom to roam safely is something that I'll forever cherish, as I was allowed to play out and explore the region where I lived in the 1970s.

Living in Ranmoor, I remember the first time I caught the number 60 to the terminus (up at Barncliffe Road). I felt as if I was travelling to some other world, remember the bus turning into Hallamshire Road. I felt miles away from home; it was a five minute journey.

In the summer of 1977, my two brothers and a couple of neighbours and I set off on a walk. We ventured up Gladstone Road, down Coldwell Lane and onto the A57. This felt like we were really pushing our luck. I was 8 years old but wise. I'd packed a banana in my school satchel - it was eaten before we'd even got to Coldwell Lane!

Opposite where the dump was near Rivelin (a dump site on the right as you headed towards the dams; it was always smoking or on fire) we crossed the road in order to commence the climb up to Hallam. The river was too wide for me. My brother, some six years senior and at 14 an adult (!) literally threw me across the river. I was covered in wet mud but being a hot day (weren't they always?) it soon dried off.

We climbed up to the bus terminus on Redmires Road. The site of the familiar cream and blue bus gave me a feeling of being back home, or nearly.

We trundled back towards Ranmoor, out of breath but full of smiles and as ever, always managing to get back in time before it went dark. We wore no watches, we had an internal clock that never failed us.

At the age of 43, I realise that people half my age are utterly clueless regarding cultural references I have always taken for granted. Nelson to them is Nelson Mandela, and Wellington merely a sort of boot. Because they have generally experienced childhoods which revolved more closely around the home, involving greater constraints upon freedom of movement etc, I find that many 'twenty-somethings' simply do not demonstrate the degree of maturity of judgement, independence and experience one would have expected from my own generation.

This is partly down to the 'constrained' childhood, in relation to the ones described by Cake, Ousetunes, Boroughgal etc. I also think that , in view of the fact that many young people are 'priced out' of the property market and consequently remain living at the family home longer than my generation did, younger generations do not develop autonomy anywhere near as quickly. Many seem to be stuck in a permanent 'teenage' mentality, and are very reliant upon parents. Encountering a bleary-eyed, quite obviously exhausted student recently, I casually enquired if he had been 'painting the town red', [or perhaps had met a beautiful new companion]. His reply appalled me. He had been 'up until two in the morning playing computer games' with a fellow flat-mate. How terribly, unutterably dull!

Of course, I generalise. There are, doubtless, millions of mature, independant people half my age out there, who do have a sense of adventure, and have many responsibilities. Many will have good knowledge of the cultural references I take for granted too. They seem to be in a minority though.

Originally posted by timo

This is partly down to the 'constrained' childhood, in relation to the ones described by Cake, Ousetunes, Boroughgal etc. I also think that , in view of the fact that many young people are 'priced out' of the property market and consequently remain living at the family home longer than my generation did, younger generations do not develop autonomy anywhere near as quickly. Many seem to be stuck in a permanent 'teenage' mentality, and are very reliant upon parents. Encountering a bleary-eyed, quite obviously exhausted student recently, I casually enquired if he had been 'painting the town red', [or perhaps had met a beautiful new companion]. His reply appalled me. He had been 'up until two in the morning playing computer games' with a fellow flat-mate. How terribly, unutterably dull!


Makes you realise that "Absolutely Fabulous" is actually based on a sort of 'reality'. Mother and friend are still trying to live the wild, exciting lives they lived as teenagers/20 somethings. ok, they can be pretty embarrassing, but at least they're still young at heart, and determined to carry on enjoying their lives. While daughter is already acting middle-aged - dull and boring, wearing the most appalling cardigans, and just old before her time.

I couldn't wait to leave home for uni, and once I'd lived away, simply couldn't imagine living at home again.

Is modern rebellion all about being conservative, and shocking your parents that way?!

StarSparkle :confused:

Good points, Starsparkle. The thing is, the generation I gently poke fun at have been subject to relentless propaganda telling them that they must all go to University [my bread and butter!], be sensible and save, etc. Trends in popular culture, with some exceptions, have generally been comparatively 'conservative' too. They have grown up in a conformist, secular society, in which neo-liberal policies have played a big part in bringing about a service economy. They have grown up in a relatively stable, very prosperous country unlike the slough of despond I recall around 1979 in 'the Winter of Discontent'. I remember Dennis Healey announcing that [in economic terms], 'the nation stands on a precipice'. That was not even the main news!

To a great extent, they are the products of their age. That is preferable, in my view, to the ludicrous anarchism of the sixties in which all tradition was mocked in the spirit of the age. However, to an extent, we have a rather dull, conformist society at the moment in which political apathy, selfishness, consumerism and 'dumbing down' seem to reign. It is bound to spawn a few slack-jawed, incurious dull dogs. Rather them than some of the squalid little communists and foppish Bohemians of the sixties and seventies.

What a coincedence this is!
A good friend of mine has just sent me the following via email. I think this is the perfect thread for it.
Thanks Jazz :thumbsup:

Just for a minute, forget everything stressful and read this all the way to the bottom........

Close your eyes and go back in time...
Before the Internet or the Apple Mac.
Before semi-automatics, joyriders and crack....
Before SEGA or Super Nintendo...
Way back........

I'm talking about Hide and Seek in the park.
The corner shop.
Hopscotch.
Butterscotch.
Skipping.
Handstands.
Football with an old can.
Fingerbob.
Beano, Dandy, Buster, Twinkle and Dennis the menace.
Roly Poly.
Hula Hoops,
The smell of the sun and fresh cut grass.
Bazooka Joe bubble gum.
An ice cream cone on a warm summer night from the van that plays a tune
Chocolate or vanilla or strawberry or maybe Neapolitan or perhaps a screwball
Watching Saturday morning cartoons....short commercials, The Double Deckers, Road Runner, He-Man, Zeebedee Tiswas or Swapshop?, and 'Why Don't You'?
or staying up for Doctor Who.
When around the corner seemed far away and going into town seemed
like going somewhere.
Earwigs, wasps, stinging nettles and bee stings.
Sticky fingers.
Cops and Robbers, Cowboys and Indians, and Zorro.
Climbing trees.
Walking to school, no matter what the weather.
Running till you were out of breath and getting a stitch, laughing
so hard that your stomach hurt. Jumping on the bed. Pillow fights.
Spinning around, getting dizzy and falling down was cause for
giggles. Being tired from playing....remember that?

The worst embarrassment was being picked last for a team. Water balloons were the ultimate weapon. playing cards in the spokes transformed any bike into a motorcycle. Choppers and Grifters

I'm not finished just yet.....
Eating raw jelly. Orange squash ice pops.
Remember when...
There were two types of trainers - girls and boys, and Dunlop Green Flash - and the only time you wore them at school was for P.E. You
knew everyone in your street - and so did your parents. It wasn't odd to have two or three "best" friends.
You didn't sleep a wink on Christmas eve.
When nobody owned a pure-bred dog.
When 25p was decent pocket money
When you'd reach into a muddy gutter for a penny.
When nearly everyone's mum was at home when the kids Got there.
When it was considered a great privilege to be taken out To dinner at a real restaurant with your parents.
When any parent could discipline any kid, or feed him or use him to carry groceries and nobody, not even the kid, thought a thing of it.
When being sent to the head's office was nothing compared to the fate that awaited a misbehaving student at home..

Basically, we were in fear for our lives but it wasn't because of drive-by shootings,
drugs, gangs etc.
parents and grandparents were a much bigger threat! - and some of us are still afraid of them!!

Remember when....
Decisions were made by going " Ip Dip Dog Sh*t "
"Race issue" meant arguing about who ran the fastest.
Money issues were handled by whoever was the banker in "Monopoly".

The worst thing you could catch from the opposite sex was germs. And
the worst thing in your day was having to sit next To one. It was
unbelievable that 'British Bulldog 123' wasn't An Olympic event.
Having a weapon in school, meant being caught with a catapult.

Nobody was prettier than Mum.
Scrapes and bruises were kissed and made better.
Taking drugs meant orange-flavoured chewable aspirin.
Ice cream was considered a basic food group
Getting a foot of snow was a dream come true
Older siblings were the worst tormentors, but also the fiercest protectors

If you can remember most or all of these, then you have LIVED.
Pass this on to anyone who may need a break from their "grown up" life...

Originally posted by Cake

Now let's check if we're getting old...
1. You understand what was written above and you smile.
.

Well i understand what your saying and i'm not over 18...