be a kid at your own risk

I got this email from an old classmate this morning...

To all the kids who were born back in the day.

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat. We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, 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 when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K. We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps 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 did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Int ernet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them! We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them! Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!! This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, 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!

this used to be OK to do.

damn right. I remember playing in the Creek behind the JR High. I remember the blacktop and gravel playgrouds, the rusty iron jungle gym, the giant swingset with steel chains, the rubber pad underneath made from recycled tires was the only barrier between you and death.

All that stuff was good enough for us, and all of the kids 30 years before us... now all of the sudden it has to be sand and licoln logs, then 2 years later they decide sand is unsafe because some retarded kids parents sued. then it had to be tanbark and plastic, then some other inept kid got hurt, so they changed it to space age foam rubber shit with "PLAY AT OWN RISK" signs everywhere. now kids cant leave the house without a cellphone and a helmet.

what the fuck happened? we're too god damned safe now. we're raising a nation of sissies.

to all you young parents out there. let your kid get hurt. its good for them. shit, move it Idaho if you have to, to keep your kid away from things like "**Dan Fogelberg and Pac Man Video Games". there's nothing up there but dirt and imagination. and dont sue when shit doesnt go your way. shit happens mom and dad, DEAL WITH IT like you did when you were 10.

anyway check out this link to see how retarded we've gotten.

(**name the quote and get a cooke)