[THE eXchanger]

If you were born in the 40s to early 70s

This is quite true, and, a little food for thought

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL MY FRIENDS WHO WERE BORN IN THE
1940's, 50's, 60's and early 70's !

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked
and/or drank while
they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos..
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products,
loads of bacon and
processed meat, tuna from a can,
and didn't get tested for diabetes or
cervical cancer.

Then after that trauma, our baby cots 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 or shoes, not to mention, the

risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.



Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds,
KFC, Subway or Nandos.

Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on the
weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE
actually died from this.

We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store
and buy Toffees, mojod, thrills gum (that tasted like soap)
Black Balls, ****** Babies licrose, Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and some bangers to blow up frogs
with.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks 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 walked 1 - 2 -3 miles to school in 5 feet of snow

we rode our bikes, 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 miles,
AND, Thought nothing of it


We would spend hours building our go-carts out of old prams and then
ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree
houses and dens and played in river beds with matchbox cars.

We tromped to the local ski hill in our boots
or, skiied there -- and, the 2 minutes down the hill
and, a 20 minute climb back up,
and, repeated the process almost three times an hour...
and, got 18 runs in, before coming home 5 hours later

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo Wii, X-boxes, no video games at
all, no 999 channels on SKY,
no video/dvd films,
no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat
rooms..........
and, less than 3 channels on black and white tv

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.

Only girls had pierced ears!

navy, army, air force people and, bikers had tatoes

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in
us forever.

You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns at Easter time...

We were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays,

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or
rang the bell, or just yelled for them!

Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

RUGBY and CRICKET had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who
didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! Getting
into the team was based on
MERIT

Our teachers used to hit us with canes-and, we got the strap
if we didn't behave

bully's always ruled the playground at school.

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
they actually sided with the law!

Our parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kiora' and
'Blade' and 'Ridge' and 'Vanilla'

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW
TO
DEAL WITH IT ALL!

And 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 our lives for
our own good.
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how
brave their parents were.

PS -The big type is because your eyes are not too good at your age
anymore

+ xxx