Found this on one of my many bored surfs round the net made me smile !! Wot bout U!</p><div><font face="Verdana"> </font> <center /><p align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="2">According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 50's, 60's, and 70's probably shouldn't have survived, because...</font></p><center /><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" width="100%" border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">Our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip flops and fluorescent 'clackers' on our wheels.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the front passenger seat was a treat.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle - it all tasted the same.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">We ate dripping sandwiches, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy pop with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle or can and no one actually died from this.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us all day and no one minded.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">We did not have Playstations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet chat rooms. We had friends - we went outside and found them.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">We played elastics and street rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits. They were accidents. We learnt not to do the same thing again.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">We had fights, punched each other hard and got black and blue - we learned to get over it. (AND MOVE ON)</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">We walked to friend's homes.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate live stuff, and although we were told it would happen, we did not have very many eyes out, nor did the live stuff live inside us forever.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">Our actions were our own. Consequences were expected.</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law. Imagine that!</font></p></font></td></tr><tr><td valign="baseline" width="42"></td><td valign="top" width="100%"><font face="Verdana"><p align="left"><font face="Verdana" size="2">This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and 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 to deal with it all.</font></p></font></td></tr></tbody></table><font face="Verdana"><p align="center"><font face="Verdana" size="2">And you're one of them. Congratulations! Pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as real kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good. (If you aren't old enough, thought you might like to read about us).</font></p><center><p align="left"> </p></center></font></div>
