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Jan 11, 06
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for those born before 1986
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 lawsuits. We had full on fistfights but no prosecution followed from other parents. We played chap-the-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! Pass this on to others 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. 8. Having read this mail, you are thinking of forwarding it to some other friends because you think they will like it too... Yes, you're getting old!! 
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Jan 11, 06
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damn Im old, I had a commodore 64 and had to load tapes to play games...
Spying on girls from tree houses was always a blast :)
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Jan 11, 06
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ya we got the nes when i was 7.
But at that age we were always making up our own games and playing them outside or inside. Heh, we invented a shit load of crazy little games, i cant even remember half of em. Oh and we rocked the action figures (ninja turtles, ghostbusters, transformers).
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Jan 11, 06
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I wonder why you picked the year 1986? That happens to be the year I was born and most of this does apply to me... Except that I had a computer when I was... 6 I think... I had Nintendo when I was fairly young (mario brothers and sonic the hedgehog are STILL my fav games! :))... I have never heard of those people listed :(. Ah well, maybe I wasn't a very good child of my generation... but it still does make you think though of all those kids out there and what they are missing because "the world isn't safe anymore"... ya whatever, people are just a thousand times more paranoid due to easily accesible news which only shows the RARE occurence of something bad happening to someone somewhere... anyways, great post, really made me think :)
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Jan 11, 06
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I believe people are missing the point here. Everybody is talking about the games they were playing at 7, well I was playing pong at 5, oh well.
Ever since Mtv and home video games came out kids stopped playing outside. Here in Canada I believe it has something to do with the weather as well there isnt a passion for sports, like for example soccer the way it is in South America. I remember being outside by 9 in the morning and we would play till it got dark. Afterwards we'd play hide and seek till our parents made us go home. Parents didn't have to worry because kids back then were street smart and there wasn't any mental illneses, pills or excuses to be a kid.
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Jan 11, 06
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Oh shit remember track and field on NES that was the shit. I remember when i got duck hunt, it was at this kiosk in some american mall. I thought it was some crazy space age shit.
Remember all the He-man and Transformers action figures? Ghostbusters Goo. I remember i played the Transformers Movie Beta release until my BETA machine blew up. It was a very sad day. I remember the neighbourhood boys would try and one up each other by bringing out a bigger and sharper object they had in their garage and waving it around. Reaaaaaal safe. Nothing like playing with axes at 5.
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Jan 11, 06
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Haha.. good read Jay. All of those things definitely apply to my childhood. I remember rockin the good ol Atari and Caleco-Vision (sp?) but it was never an all consuming thing for me. 1, 2 and 3 are so very true for me. lol
I live on a street where there are quite a few little kids, yet I never see them outdoors as much as I know I was as a child. Honestly, I am very glad I was born when I was. The 80's were great! :p
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Jan 11, 06
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Quote:
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Jan 11, 06
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Awsome!
I never realised how good we had it as kids making up our own games. liveing out side and being draged in for dinner etc. I find it so hard dealing with parents these days when I send them home with a kid coverd in dirt, bruses or got in a fight. Personaly I think its good that kids experince these things to a certain degree. Intrestingly enough I noticed a huge differnce between a low budget daycare and a high budget daycare. The kids in the daycare who had the best and newest toys were always board and wining. Where as the kids who had barly any toys where able to spend the entire day playing with card board boxs! ps: legos are still the number one toy!
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Jan 11, 06
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i was born in 86 but never had any of the technology shit my friends had. i read books and played tag and shit. i still dont even have cable.
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Jan 11, 06
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This reads like two internet circulations that have been slapped together. The first half actually has a point to make, although it makes it in an overbearing and heavy-handed manner. The second half is just straight nostalgia.
Looks like almost everyone who replied either didn't feel bothered to expand on the point made by the first half, or just missed it entirely.
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Jan 11, 06
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What first half?
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