Email Forward Challenged!

Email Forward Challenged!

Yesterday, I received the following email forward. I’ve received emails of this type before (I’m sure you have too) and never thought much about it until I received the following two responses from my son and daughter-in-law (the parents of my 3.5 aged grandbaby)

Original Email Forward:

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

1. First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
2. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
3. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
4. 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
5. As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
6. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.
7. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
8. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.
9. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING !!
10. 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.
11. 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.
12. We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms, WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
13. We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
 14. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
15. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
16. 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!
17. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
18. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
19. These generations have 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.
20. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned  HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good. And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.
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Comment One:
"What about all the children who did not survive the 30's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70s because of the things listed below?"

My son made a very legitimate point. What about all the children born with defects because their mothers smoked, drank, took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, and mercury filled tuna from a can? How many babies/toddler had to die because we placed them in cribs, rooms, laced with lead based paint? How many children died because there were NO childproof caps on medicine bottles? (This I can relate to, the son who commented once ingested a whole bottle of baby aspirin. Thank God, I had Ipecac in the house!). Just how  many infants and children died in auto accidents without car seats/seatbelts/restraints? Methinks, the gov’t was right by passing laws to protect children.

Comment Two:
“I think its great those generations got to do all that, but it was those generations (OUR PARENTS) that decided to go buy us video games, cell phones, and even worse start suing everyone! I think who ever wrote that message should have thought about why then did they decide to change their parents parenting style, or according to them, make it WORSE for their own kids generation! So sorry I won't be passing this along....”

My Brasilian daughter-in-law puts the blame squarely where it belongs in relation to the use of TV, video games, play stations, cell phones and suing. Who is responsible? We are!!! We, as parents allowed it!!

In regard to the child molesters etc, who are they? Most come from the 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's generations. *gulp*

We “old fogies”, sometimes dream of the “olden days” and how much better we THINK they were but, I ask, were they really? Methinks NOT. I’m glad my kids stood up and said, “Mom, this email was stupid, use your brain.” However, their response also tells me we, the old fogies, raised a smarter, wiser generation, who are willing to learn and recognize the mistakes we “old fogies” made. Thank God!