How Did We Survive Childhood

Washngton Times | December 29, 2003 | Wesley Pruden

[catonsville]

Here's what my Internet correspondent reminded me of (and if you see it on the Internet, it must be so):

"According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s probably shouldn't have survived. Our mothers put us in cribs covered with bright-colored lead-based paint.

"There were no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets, and when we rode our bicycles into traffic (bike paths were unheard of), we had no helmets. If we didn't feel like pumping a bike up the hills, we could always hitch a ride with strangers. There were no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was particularly special.

"We drank water from an old garden hose, not from a bottle. One bottle of bellywash could be shared with up to four friends, drinking from the bottle, and no one died. "We gorged on cakes, pies, candy, bread and butter, and anything we could find with lots of sugar in and on it, and we were never overweight because we were always running through the 'hood.

"We never heard of 'play dates,' and left home in the morning and played all day, and the only rule was to get home before the streetlights flickered on. No one could reach us because nobody had a cell phone. "We spent hours building go-carts from lumber and nails scrounged from neighbors' garages and raced them down the hill to discover only at the bottom of the intersection that we forgot the brakes. Running into the bushes was good enough.

"We fell out of trees, played with BB guns until we got a .22 rifle on our 12th birthday, fought "war" with dirt clods, broke bones, lost teeth, stepped on nails and caught fishhooks in noses. Nobody's daddy had a lawyer. "We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms, and most eyes survived intact (the worms didn't).

"We walked into our friends' houses whenever we felt like it. We chose up sides for ballgames, and if somebody didn't make the team, he learned to deal with it. There was nobody to counsel the losers (who would have felt insulted if there had been). "The generations that suffered these deprivations made the best of it, producing the explosion of innovation and ideas that transformed the world.

"Kind of makes you want to run through the house with a pair of scissors, doesn't it?"         

[flutters]

Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was particularly special.

Perhaps, but it wasn't very special when I was used as a sandbag to get down a snow covered mountain.

[azcap]

Diving Boards, Tether Ball, Merry-Go Rounds = Endangered Species

Whatever happened to Merry-Go-Arounds? You know, the good old fashioned kind you run around and jump on til you get dizzy and or sick and fall off? Everyone I ever knew got hurt playing on the Merry-Go-Round and every one still went back for more. They were FUN. Where I live now in AZ there are no merry-go-rounds. The Merry-Go-Round at the tiny rural elementary school I attended in Indiana has long since been banished. By chance a few years back my wife and I discovered a Merry-Go-Round at an interstate rest-stop in Oklahoma. Upon seeing it in of all places a state-owned property I was shocked. I told my wife that there must not be any lawyers in Oklahoma? We now make a point to stop night or day (wake the kids up if we have to) at the rest park in Oklahoma. It is the only place in America my kids have ever seen the legendary beast called the Merry-Go-Round.

[BMiles2112]

Thanks for putting "forced" in quotes. I think you are correct that both things have encouraged mothers to find full-time work outside the home, especially the second. My wife stays home with our daughter with another in the womb, and she feels the pressure to go to work from others because of the lack respect for what she does. Jobs have become a source of fulfillment for many, replacing family. I see my job as a source of money, nothing more. Sure, I work in a field I'm interested in, and one that I'd like to think I'm fairly good at, but that's only to ease the pain of dragging my tail out of bed at 5 in the morning.

[MotleyGirl70]

If the SAHM's role in the family and society isn't given value, if it really is okay to have babies and toddlers go to daycare, then why should a mom SAH?

Majority of my friends are SAHM's with 2+ small children and I give them sooooo much credit and respect on what they do day to day. When I visit them, I'm exhausted just watching how much work it is they do with 2+ toddlers demanding full attention.

I often wonder how my own mother did it.

[stuartcr]

Experience and observation has shown me that the young families I know and observe, need two incomes. It's very difficult for someone to raise a family based on the average Americans' wage. Yes, I agree that we are better off materially, a big reason for that is because in order to be better off, we need more money. As you say, women still make less for the same job. What you call complaining, others call bringing to the forefront. I don't remember saying anything about a problem, or something needing fixing. It appears you would like to argue about something, try someone else.

[Essie]

I think that it's our perception of what is safe that has changed. I also went out and played for hours without my mother being concerned. Today we see child molesters, diseases, accidents, etc. behind every bush and tree. The world today is viewed as a dangerous place, and good parents have to be eternally vigilant in order to keep their children safe.

Part of this is the way the media tends to emphasize the negative parts of our society. Mad cow disease is a very scary disease; but from what I've read, it's extremely unlikely that anyone has gotten it from the infected cow. And part of this is the way that people use our fears to make money. We are made to feel that with the right equipment that we can live in a injury free world.

[Texas Federalist]

If you do not expose a child to the moderate dangers of childhood, he will not know how to deal with the greater dangers he will face as an adult. I will not raise my kid to go through life being afraid of the world.

The ultimate goal of life is not merely to prolong it.

[azcap]

BMiles2112 is right. Even with higher taxes if people were willing to accept the level of material wealth they did 40 years ago most women would have no need to work. Middle class then meant having 1 TV with broadcast channels (not 3 or 4 with cable and dishes.) Kids played with baseballs and jump ropes, not Playstations and PCs. You had one car, not 2, 3, or more, and the luxury feature was an AM/FM radio not a DVD TV systems and surround sound. A family of 6 lived happily in a 1200 sq ft home. There were no "brand name" clothes that cost 6 times their value. A family vacation occurred once a year when you DROVE (your station wagon not a 737) to visit someone you knew and slept for free at their house. Hotels and amusement parks were a treat. You could count on one hand the number of times you ate a meal in a restaurant each month. Meals didn't come from boxes and cans but were instead made directly from produce in an amazing process called "cooking."

Our lifestyles today are phenomenally luxurious compared to then. Destroying the family is the price we have paid for that luxury. It is also a voluntary destruction as evidenced by the millions of Americans who have chosen not to participate.

[Carolinamom]

My mother never knew where I was riding my bike or roller skating in the neighborhood but didn't worry. We roamed the woods, caught ground squirrels and tamed them, dug worms to go fishing in the creek. I never ate dirt, but I knew a girl who did. I practiced shooting my Daisy Air Rifle, went hunting w/my dad, worked in the family vegetable garden, fed my dog and the chickens and gathered their eggs. In the second grade, I was the fastest runner...beat the boys! I saved bread wrappers to send off for my G-Man ring. I climbed trees, fell out of one getting mistle toe, had a favorite limb to swing out over a ravine while yelling like Tarzan (or so we thought...LOL). I went to the town library and to the movies every week, listened to "Let's Pretend" and "The Shadow Knows" on the radio, had all the childhood diseases and survived whooping cough as well. And I was and am a girl!

[EODGUY]

Please check your FreepMail.

EODGUY

[Maria S]

Good article!

Some of the stuff that went on in our house probably would have cost my folks custody of us kids: for instance, the time Junior pulled off the 500 pound TV that was perched on the TV tray (meant to hold 5 lbs. max). Dad HAD told him to keep his hands off the black/white TV, and after that, he DID!

[MotleyGirl70]

Tether Ball,

I loved Tether Ball. We had a spot for the pole that my dad made in the driveway. I used to play with my older brother (four years older) and I always thought I could beat him when I was a little shrimp. Turns out I just ended up with bloody noses. Eventually I won a couple games when grew a few inches but I think he "let me win" those, just as a big brother would. :)

[antiRepublicrat]

Ooh, nice. I used to get rides on my mom's '48 Panhead when I was a kid.

[MotleyGirl70]

My mom always knew where I was, but she wasn't over-protective. I was the youngest of three and pretty small for my age compared to the other boys and girls so I think she was just a bit more concerned THAT WAY about me in my pre-teen years. She didn't worry so much about my older brother or sister.

[fml]

Well from one SAH to another--- cool!!

It is wrong to have others raise your children for you. Todays society is given to self involvement and the understanding that somewhere, someone with pick up the slack.

[fml]

Well from one SAH to another--- cool!!

It is wrong to have others raise your children for you. Todays society is given to self involvement and the understanding that somewhere, someone with pick up the slack.

[BMiles2112]

Experience and observation has shown me that the young families I know and observe, need two incomes.
NEEDING two incomes is a bit of a stretch. Replace "want" with "need" and I'll agree with you 100%. My parents got by fine on one income, raising a whole herd of us, and I plan to raise my family on one income. I don't see us ever needing a second income. If we do, I'll get a second job.

It's very difficult for someone to raise a family based on the average Americans' wage.
The average American's wage is higher than any other nation's on the planet, so you must think this is true for every other family on the planet.

What you call complaining, others call bringing to the forefront. I don't remember saying anything about a problem, or something needing fixing.
OK, so you're saying it's not a problem, just that they brought it up, and it was good to bring it to the forefront. Well, I'm bringing to the forefront another non-issue, and that is that I need new shoes. It's good that I brought that up.

It appears you would like to argue about something, try someone else.
Yes, I would like to argue about something, and you brought up some points I disagreed with. But fair enough, I'll go find someone else if I must. Didn't mean any offense, I just like to challenge people on issues when I can.

[stuartcr]

OK

[BMiles2112]

Excellent! A SAHM who likes Rush, (or possibly just the lyrics). I'll be seeing them this summer whenever they come around.

[GrandMoM]

BUMP