For those born before 1986

Ph3n0m

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 oneminded. 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 knock-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 the 90's.

They can never imagine life before computers.

They'll never have pretended to be the A Team, Red Hand 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 East Enders 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.

monkeyfudge

I think this was posted before in 'All things retro...'

It starts out strong but then just becomes totally patronising towards younger people.

Ph3n0m

monkeyfudge wrote:

I think this was posted before in 'All things retro...'

It starts out strong but then just becomes totally patronising towards younger people.

and? the older generation have a right to be bitter towards the younger generation

cichlid child

Brilliant. i am sooooo old.But i am happy after reading that thanks.

dynasty crew

I was born in 1985 - and man the kids these days don't realise how easy they have it!!!!!!

Mantel

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.

Well at least that explains some of the cartoons from the decade that was the 80's.

ambro25

One of the more refreshingly satisfying posts I've read in a long time... '75 here

TimeSlot

and I was born in 1963. I can relate to all of this!

Flashling

Emmm, born in 1990, pretty much all of the end things DON"T APPLY. Who hasn't seen saturday night fever/doesn't know who the a-team were? And what kid had a phone before 2000? (I got mine 2003) And life before computers? Windows came out in 1995. that was 9 years after your old peoples cut off point. But apart from THAT lol, rofl, etc.
(Sorry, there have been so many posts here damning teenagers, it gets really insulting. To me anyway, not speaking for everybody) (Sorry to be killing the humour of the post)(Sorry for all the "Sorrys" in the brackets)

Gegerty

Flashling wrote:

...And life before computers? Windows came out in 1995. that was 9 years after your old peoples...

LOL! Windows came out in 1983. You don't remember punch cards then I take it?

ambro25

Gegerty wrote:

LOL! Windows came out in 1983. You don't remember punch cards then I take it?

All you young'uns repeat after me: a-n-a-l-o-g-u-e...

... and no, it's nothing to do with pr0n

Checklist:
1. You understand what was written above and you smile. Yup

2. You need to sleep more, usually until the afternoon, after a night out. Nope... but then a baby will do this to you - see, you're not old enough yet Ph3n0m

3. Your friends are getting married/already married. Yup

4. You are always surprised to see small children playing comfortably with computers. Nope, am kinda techy myself so actually quite glad to see this (my 1-yr old has her own touchscreen lappie)

5. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head.Yup, but more so because they increasingly lack any oral/grammatical skills because of it - and English is not my native language

6. You remember watching Dirty Den in East Enders the first time around.conditional Yup - no doubt I would have if I'd been Irish/English

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.Yup

8. Having read this mail, you are thinking of forwarding it to some other friends because you think they will like it too...Yup

WizZard

Now I feel old

It's very true though...

StupidLikeAFox

dynasty crew wrote:

I was born in 1985 - and man the kids these days don't realise how easy they have it!!!!!!

Says the man at the grand old age of 20.....

De Mad Yoke

Ph3n0m wrote:

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 oneminded. 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 knock-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 the 90's.

They can never imagine life before computers.

They'll never have pretended to be the A Team, Red Hand 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.

.

Amen!
We'll call em the MTV generation.

De Mad Yoke

yeah and they don't go for random humour like this:
www.cheese.com
Take that!

Mossy Monk

what a great thread

Steoob

i was born in 1989 and thats the m,ost terrifying thing ive ever heard... i mean i know pretty much all those things coz i like to socialise with older people as much as possible but i hate the way the world is now everything is taken too seriously with all the fu(king laws and bans why cant peopl and the government just chill out...

theyre ruining my life coz theyre affecting how i grow up and i'll grow up as some fu(king drone who sits ramrod straight and wonders what its like to have an opinion in the wolrd

Slutmonkey57b

Blah blah Kids these days.

The previous generation can write out a similar list, mostly revolving around how kids of the 70's onwards have no manners or education.

And hey, kids these days might not be able to run round all day and night with nobody looking for them, but at least they're less likely to be raped and beaten at school.

BigEejit

One of the things thats missing there is corporal punishment .... At school you didnt act the maggot because you knew you'd get the belt or cane across your arse .... but like all things a few twats went over what was acceptable and forced that law to be changed

Bring back corporal punishment I say !! :eek: maybe not, but how do you get Johnny Scumbag to respect anything? writing lines?

and yes, I can relate to all the OP's post ... my mother says her problem was not keeping us out of the house .... it was getting us back in (except of course at dinner time when we would arrive in like a horde of locusts and clear the place of anything remotely food like) ... and she never worried where we were, she knew we wouldnt get up to anything illegal....