Sunday, February 08, 2009

Cotton Wool Culture

My father sent me an email this week (see below) that poked fun at not just modern parenting, but today's litigious society. When I came across this story on the BBC, I couldn't resist a post.
Have a look at this picture (from the BBC website). What would you do? Would you stop the boy from sawing? Or would you let him carry on, knowing that he'd learn his lesson and probably only bang his knee?




I'd let him fall.



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 were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs 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 infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, 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 bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. 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! 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 OK. 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, Nintendos, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chatrooms....... WE HAD FRIENDS and 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 ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. 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 poke out very many eyes. 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! 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. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of them CONGRATULATIONS! 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. While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

4 comments:

Saint Brian the Godless said...

I was one of those people! NO seat belts, mom would just throw out her right arm in front of me when she stopped short. And I lived! Looking back at it, it seems impossible that I even made it!

Kids need the play thing back. But I don't see how it will ever happen. My stepson has been tethered to his xbox since he was ten... I'm sure he probably has trouble thinking of the name of those flying things with feathers that go by in the sky now and again.

Great blog, by the way!

Oh, noticed you following mine. Thank you. You should know that my "followers" widget is broken, so none of my followers gets any notification when I put up a new post. Sorry. I wish I could figure out who to talk to about fixing it.

Very nice to "meet" you!

Saint Brian the Godless said...

Incidentally, I notice in your bio that you're a pagan. I'd LOVE to hear your story sometime. How you came to that, what your particular beliefs and thoughts about it are now, etc... Do you by any chance already have it posted here somewhere? Or stop by and tell me at my place on the Big Brain blog that I've set aside for that purpose if you get the chance...
I love to talk to pagans! We always have so much in common....

Mylissa said...

Thanks for your comments Brian and very nice to meet you too. I have successfully followed you by simply adding your url!

As for how I became pagan, look out for a post about that coming soon - hopefully somtime this week if I get the chance to sit and write.

Please keep reading!

Unknown said...

Love yer blog - I think I tried to follow it. Don't give up on dr-awsom.blogspot, there are connection difficulties. I must look and see if I was rude to you in the 'angry relious' discussion. As soon as a way can be found to be rude Dr Awsome will post it ( so no-one will read it) Your young man sounds a real pain in the bottie, throw him out and consider a pensioner for a lodger - you will have more time to write.