First we survived being born to mothers who sometimes smoke and drank alcohol, while they were pregnant. Ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets. And when we rode our bicycles, we had no helmets, not to mention the risks we took hitchhiking. As infants and children we would ride in cars without seat boosters, seat belts or airbags. Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from a garden hose, or a dipper that hanged on a nail at the springhouse, and not from a bottle. We shared one pop, soda, or soft drink with four friends and no one died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real cow butter and drank kool-aid made with sugar, 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 home before it was dark, no one was able to reach us all day: and we were ok.  We would spend hours building our Go Carts out of scrap 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 made our toys and games to play with. We had friends and we went outside and found them. We fell out of trees, got cut and 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 were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and although we were told it would happen: we did not poke out very many eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friends house and knocked on the door or rang the doorbell, or just walked in and talked with them.

Little league had tryouts and not everybody made the team, and those who didn't learned 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.

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever. We had freedom, failure, success, responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. And we did all of this before the governors and lawyers regulated our lives for our own good. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors doesn't it. And GOD was watching over us.

By Mary E Sinnott