Thursday 18 January 2007

On the subject of kids

Sven forwarded the following email to me about how kids used to live in the olden days (my era). You may well have seen it before but there's a lot of truth in there.

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CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE KIDS WHO WERE BORN IN 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, tuna from a can, 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 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 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 text messaging, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........

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 played with 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 put 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 yelled for 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! CONGRATULATIONS!

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It may be American in origin but the same applied here. When I was a nipper you would see hoards of kids outside on Christmas day playing with their new bikes, skates etc. I didn't see anyone this year. I certainly used to spend most of my childhood out of doors - probably annoying the neighbours ringing doorbells and running, setting fire to hedges etc.............

On second thoughts perhaps it's a good thing that kids have loads to do in their own houses where there are only parents and siblings to annoy. Heaven forbid that they were all outside annoying me!

Tuesday 16 January 2007

Hoodys at the Cinema

We went to the cinema on Saturday night to see a Night at the Museum. There were plenty of big names in the film but all seemed to be yesterday stars (Robin Williams, Dick Van Dyke, Micky Rooney - how old is he now?) so I was dubious as to whether it would live up to expectations. We chose our favourite seats at the back of the cinema (for the leg room, not anything else) and settled down to enjoy the film.

Before too long a group of 4 lads strode up the stairs towards us. The one wearing the white hoody was carrying a dustbin sized bucket of popcorn and a bucket of fizzy beverage - I had a feeling of impending doom. The hoody sat just one seat away from me and began fiddling with his refreshments and they all talked loudly though the mini film that was designed to encourage mobile phone switch off and minimum disruption. Talking continued through the main film credits but, miracle, they stopped when the film started.

However the munching of popcorn and sucking of drink continued. I marvelled at how anyone could contemplate getting through so much stuff. About half way through the film the hoody must have started getting bored because he could not stop fiddling with his drink. He blew bubbles in it, sucked noisily to get the dregs out from the remaining ice cubes and most irritating of all he moved the straw in and out of the plasic top making squeaking noises. I developed almost overwhelming desire to pick up the bucket of popcorn and invert it over his head but resisted through fear of getting stabbed!

Just then a little girl started scrunching up her plastic sweetie bag and making noises - no attempt by her parents to stop it. I just hope they had been annoyed by the squeaking straw trick.

Towards the end of the film, hoody started flicking what remained of his popcorn at his mates.

Why oh why do people have to eat a mountain of food in cinemas. Let's get back to the good old days of a B movie, an interval with a small ice cream and then the main feature.

Oh and the film was rubbish as well - which is probably why I was so aware of the noises - and Audrey kept waking me up when I dropped off.