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 coloured 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. 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 cakes, white bread and real butter and drank 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 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 ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We 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! Football teams had trials 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 TODEAL WITH IT ALL! And 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. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?! PS -The big type is because your eyes are deteriorating at your age                                                                                                                                                                                  

Very good Tangoman60!

I'd re-live my childhood anytime!! Was great fun doing all of those things!                                                                                                                                                                             

We Know cus we were there  Its the parents of these kids now i blame I know this might shock some parents but i used to walk to school and it was over 500 yards away.                                                                                                                                                                             

No wonder your bad at time keeping blues when your on here when you should be doing other things, bring back the old days when there was no internet.     No only joking, no internet no fab new life or friends, I am all for change and I don't mean your loose change either, I prefer notes, Oops sorry I mean I am all for change with technology.                                                                                                                                                                               

whats wrong with tuna from a tin? Am i missing something?                                                                                                                                                                             

Nothing Matt but its one of the many things your told not to do when you pregnant these days!!!! Surprised Im allowed to bloody eat anything at all!!!!! lol                                                                                                                                                                             

very good I have copied it and will show it to my students                                                                                                                                                                              

Congrats to tangoman for what is possibly the biggest post so far on BM   Got this by email a few day's back, but still funny.                                                                                                                                                                             

how true....... Brings back alot, like sneaking out with a cup of sugar, sitting in the rubharb patch and munch away  no worry of bugs you ended up eatin too.......                                                                                                                                                                                 

I just had lots of really nice flash backs of wicked memories of my childhood!!    Thank-you tangoman xx                                                                                                                                                                              

 oops forgot to insert a table first !!an i got it in email as well but reminds me of my carefree childhood!!                                                                                                                                                                             

jus a thought i feared my parents at the same time as respectin them!there was no tryin to be mates as with a lot of modern dads it was SON! not mate!!!sooner or later yu have to be FATHER AN DISCIPLINARIAN!NOT A MATE!!!youre a dad not a boozin buddy!!

                                                                                                                                                                             

Blue remembered hills,nice one tangoman. We were the bash street kids,snotty noses,short trousers [really],daps in december,black eyes,milk and rich tea biscuits in the morning at school,marbles,flick cards and conkers.A treat would be allowed to climb and swing on the ropes in the school gym.In fact we used to live in a shoe box int middle of road.......                                                                                                                                                                             

SHOE BOX!!??.....we used to dream about living in a shoe box!                                                                                                                                                                             

oh the joys of disappearing early in the morning with scabby knee's, bombing down Belly field slopes on my bike (with no breaks!)flying over the top of the handlebars, and yes doing it all again !!!!   the joys of going newting, falling in, not caring, infecting scabby knee's that were now open cuts from flying over the handlebars, and smelling of bog water ! Joy, rapture !   The joys of brambling, getting even more cuts (who cared !) and running down the street to the local veg shop ( you know, the one you took the bottles back to for a penny) skipping in, flogging brambles for a few pennies, then....   racing your mate down the street to tiny Annie's corner shop, and watching excitedly as her hook fingers put tonnes of penny sweets in a brown paper bag ( yes we used to get four sweets for a penny in the early seventies!)   and ending the adventure, walking down the terrace, falling down the pothole, (that always got you everytime you went down it on your bike or skipping), and sitting on the doorstep waiting for mum to get in from work, oh yes, those were the days, enjoyed this post, cheers Tango for bring back some memories ;-)                                                                                                                                                                             

Yes we did get a lot of sweets for a penny...and I am sure the Mars bars and Marathon bars (stupid name Snickers!) were a hell of a lot bigger!    I used to play football in the street, shin up trees in the wood behind our house, disappear for hours totally safe and always having a nack of telling the time for teatime!, make dens, slide on plastic bags down the hill when it snowed breaking me neck in the hedgerows!  Walked over a mile to school and back in all weathers - even coming home for lunch!   God werent we innocent?    Later on I used to clear off on bikes with my mates...oh what happy times...nowadays you darent let your children do anything or go anywhere for fear of some pervert snatching them!  My girls and I were on a beach and some couple tried to snatch the twins right in front of me in broad daylight! Literally yards away from me!  No one would have dreamed of doing that when we were little...so now I dont let them out of my sight at all...sad isnt it?                                                                                                                                                                             

last summer at Portland i watched some lads jumpin n the sea from a cliff like we used to! only what has changed is that these lads were drunk!!an that is dangerous an stupid!!!booze was unheard of when i was there age,the kids drink far to early now! theres lager cans all over the church grounds opposite me an down at the playin fields down the rd,the police stopped these lads from jumpin an quite rightly so b4 there was a tragedy[it has happened through booze an cold sea water]we werent angells when young an air rifles an pistols [diannes an guats]were common place[an gangs] the back yard shed was a hive of industry mendin bikes[fittin apehangers was a craze i remember]smokin the odd woodbine an hangin out to use a modern phrase!! if yu stepped out of line justice was dished out by anyones dad!!!no one said "no one touches my kids or i'll kill em!"oh! an there was bullyin at schools ,they took your dinner money then 'protected'you from bullyin!!if yu told your dad an i say if!he gave yu boxin lessons!! an advice like hit im first an hard!didnt work in my case an got a real thumpin!i'm a lover not a fighter!                                                                                                                                                                             

  Tango I wish you wouldn't mumble   SPEAK UP next time   I'm hard of hearing