Under 40, You won't understand (sidewalk, places, invention, children)

[findinghope]

they should change the title---because i am 31, and this sounds distinctly like my childhood.

[fuzzymystic]

And why, oh why didn't any kids have ADD or ADHD back then?

And why is it when kids do something really stupid, or mean, and the school tries to punish them, WHY are there lawyers out there ready to represent the kids and sue the school???

[SifuPhil]

Originally Posted by fuzzymystic

And why, oh why didn't any kids have ADD or ADHD back then?

Because they didn't spend hours in front of flickering monitors? Because they actually got a lot of physical exercise in fairly-fresh air? Because their parents actually raised them properly?

And why is it when kids do something really stupid, or mean, and the school tries to punish them, WHY are there lawyers out there ready to represent the kids and sue the school???

Because it's a known fact that lawyers breed in dark, damp places, awaiting only their chance to pounce upon some unsuspecting victim.

[Miss Blue]

My grandkids think people our age are sooo smart because we actually read books, have a set of encyclopedias that we know how to use, can do math without the use of a calculator, know how to address an envelope, know how to balance a check book, make out a workable budget, fill out a job application, use our imaginations to entertain ourselves and the family when the power is off..

[Tek_Freek]

I would not trade the life kids of today lead for all the money in the world. What they seem to be missing, and was normal for us, is quite simply, priceless.

I miss seeing children outside, using their imagination to play. Instead they are either in the house playing a video game, or being dragged around to every sport imaginable by their parents and getting yelled at by some coach who is a frustrated sports loser. They get to watch their dad scream at the coach, using language that would have gotten mouths washed out with soap when we were kids.

Drug use, things on television that would have curled our mothers hair, bullying carried to an extreme, and schools and teachers powerless to do anything about it. Or too frightened. No training at home about common courtesy, manners, respect.

When they do finally graduate college, what's there for them? A job? Well, maybe not. At least not one that pays over $100k the first year, which seems to be the expectation. After all, mom and dad have always given them everything they wanted, shouldn't their employer do the same? In some ways I don't blame them. With the national debt we have incurred over the last eight years their "golden years" should start somewhere around age 85.

No, I do not envy them their fate in the modern world.

[2mares]

roller skates that clamped onto your PF Flyers...

"I got a brand new pair of roller skates, you got a brand new key" . Clamped? You didnt have a key that looked like the key on a spam can?

[Rcm58]

We were the first to have a color set on our block so I didn't see much black and white other than the shows that were still filmed that way in the early 60's. I did have a black and white set in my room that was really cool, tube was mounted on top and I wouldn't mind having it back now. I remember when the Beatles released albums in Stereophonic sound. I remember single pane windows in NY where the ice would form on the inside it was that cold. We played a game called Kill the runner with the ball, it was basically foot ball except it was all the neighborhood kids against the guy with the ball...I liked it...lol, visiting teachers on the weekend at their home because they loved kids that much. No one was on food stamps, you worked if you wanted to eat. During the winter I could carry the clothes in off the line and stack them against the wall like boards...lol

[SifuPhil]

Originally Posted by 2mares

"I got a brand new pair of roller skates, you got a brand new key" . Clamped? You didnt have a key that looked like the key on a spam can?

Melanie!

They looked like this...



The front just clamped onto your sneakers, and the back had the strap and buckle. I think the key (if there was one) was only for adjusting the length of the skate - I might be wrong on that, though - it's been a while.

[fuzzymystic]

Originally Posted by SifuPhil

Oh yes, those evil death traps look familiar!

[Miss Blue]

Speaking of skates..A couple years ago I wanted to learn to skate on those inline things they use nowday, I was an ace on the "fourwheelers" so figured this would be a breeze I put on one of the grandkids pair of inlines and tried by holding on to the chainlink fence along the driveway and I still fell..again, and again, and again..I am nearly deaf and was so intent on picking myself up and learning this so I could go to Wally World and get my own inlines that I didn't hear the hysterical laughter of a couple grandkids and their moms (my girls) coming from inside the nearest window..I finally learned to stand straight up and move a couple of feet, but had to give it up, because of the shouts of "She's gettin senile and will break a hip or something"