I am from the generation that grew up in the Fifties;  no matter what our children and many of the current generation may think about our generation; we lived life as it should be!  We had children in the 60's & 70's...  We did not worry about rules and regulations, because we used common sense with judgment to direct our lives...   Here is living proof; read on! 

 ***  To all the kids who lived through the 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's & 70's....

 First, many of we survived being born to many mothers who may have smoked and / or drank during  pregnancy...  But we are all proof as we made it or everyone would have died off before you got this...

 Then We took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, ate canned Tuna, and did not get tested for diabetes...  We pretty much wore what ever cloths our Mother's bought us, ate what ever was put on the table for supper...  It was a time when young people had respect for those older or in positions authority and learned to try to get along with others we met..

We would play outside often from dawn to dusk,  we had neighborhood friends, not gangs...  We played active games like Red Rover, Mother May I, Dodge ball, Simon Says, Tag, and of course ball games...   We would run , without special shoes and swim without life jackets, then we would go exploring in the fields and woods near by, some times down by the sea shore, or at a lake... Here we developed our ability to recognize both the beauty and the dangers of nature...  We developed social skills that allowed us act properly with our peers and respect our elders...

We rode bikes with out helmets, and climbed trees, fell down bruised knees, and at times got cuts, but learned how to react in each situation... Then some times maybe even rode in the open back of a pick up on warm summer days...  Seldom if ever did we go running off to a hospital;  as they were real emergency rooms then not a place to go get a Midol or bandage for a scrape...  Mom was the first aid person in the neighborhood...  

We drank water out of a garden hose, and shared a bottle of soda with a couple of friends...  At times slept out side on warm nites; with just an old blanket for ground cover, maybe  got some insect bites, but hey that was just part of life... Life was to be lived, not something to regulate...  HUH!

We knew where the guns were in the house, even took 22 rifles to school for after shooting competition... At times went hunting or down by the river learning how to safely use and shoot firearms...  But one thing we knew, was that we did not take the guns out without proper permission, as a firearm is a tool to be used properly when needed... Then the movies and TV started to show the rampant use of guns, and shooting with magic guns, which never jammed, and had endless ammunition!  Now Video games show mass killing as part of life...  Oh!  Where did we lose our perspective?

We built our own carts out of scrap lumber and used wagon wheels, then would go speeding down the hill, often running into bushes or a ditch, learning all the way...  We would meet in a neighbor's yard, or just knock and visit, maybe playing Monopoly or Clue for hours, some times coming back the next day to finish the game... Time was slower then no IM or text message to worry about... We would tell a friend when next we met at school or on the street...  Why are so many of the younger people so up tight and standing on a razor edge;  jumping at every ring of the cell fon or mention of some happening?

 Yes, We may had eaten dirt, and maybe a few worms, caught Tadpoles, or look for different type leaves in the fall...  Life was about going to a ball game every so often, or maybe a cowboy movie; where the good guys always won and bad stuff was not shown to be good!  It was a time when people seemed to understand there was more to life than just stuff advertised on TV...