Five Reasons Eighties Kids Shouldn’t Have Survived Childhood
There’s a great piece on MSNBC this week about all the horrible things we went through as kids that OUR kids will never have to survive.
It says if you grew up in the fifties, sixties or seventies, you’re pretty darn lucky to have made it out alive. What with chomping on the lead painted bars of your cribs and the family tanning sessions in the backyard, some of us are pretty screwed.
So what was missing from the article?
The eighties kids - who make up a large portion of today’s parents too (yes, that’s me . . . and my husband) and who likewise biked helmet-free and drank copious amounts of Kool-Aid.
So instead of another tale of our own parents walking uphill bothways in a snowstorm on the way to school (or, from my father, the stories of pushing the bus out of the ditches . . . which he wasn’t actually exaggerating on), I offer up a taste of how great our kids have it and how horrible our childhoods were in comparison:
1. Peanuts. We ate ‘em mashed into peanut butter, shaped into Reese’s Pieces and scattered across Nutty Cones every summer. And it started about the time we could gum them down to nothing. So much for allergy prevention.
2. Huggies. Not the diapers - those tiny plastic barrells filled with colored sugar water which we drank all summer long. Just thinking about one the other day gave me a toothache. A sweet, sweet toothache.
3. Cell phones. We didn’t have them. Neither did our parents. And somehow we made it home from wherever we were by dinnertime, hair plastered to the backs of our neck from the sweat of peddling like mad that last mile or two to get there before Mom pulled the green beans out of the microwave.
4. Vegetables. Oh, we had them - often wishing they would be sent to those starving children in Ethiopia. But they were your old-fashioned frozen variety, covered in water and thrown in the microwave for five minutes. I’m guessing there was no organic farmer packaging them up for our dinner table.
5. Cigarette ads. They were everywhere, and if you collected your dad’s empty packages of Camels, Joe would send you a free t-shirt. Which you could then wear to school . . . and no one cared. Except the kid with the Marlboro Man hat.
What did your eighties childhood do to you?
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Tags: child safety, childhood, cigarettes, danger, eating organic, eighties, Jeanne Sager, organic, peanut allergies, safety, smoking, sugar
28 Comments
[...] you grow up in the 80s? Here are five reasons to be thankful you survived. Do you think our generation of parents go [...]
Jennifer Hudson, Silver Linings, and Special Needs Bill of Rights - Links We Love « Relevant Editorial commented on Jul 08 09 at 12:06 pmj commented on Jul 07 09 at 5:39 pmTwo words…..Ecto Cooler.
GP commented on Jul 07 09 at 5:42 pmha ha…we used to mix that with vodka and call it ecto plasm (when we were teens/20s)
chattydaddy commented on Jul 07 09 at 5:54 pmhow about clambering all over the back of the family chevy wagon, butts in the air, screaming and throwing things at one another. More fun than car seats, but flirting with disaster.
chattydaddy commented on Jul 07 09 at 5:56 pmnot to mention flying down ski slopes and on bicycles without helmets, but that was late 70s / early 80s for me.
Ali commented on Jul 07 09 at 6:13 pmOur allergist says eating peanuts at a young age actually prevents peanut allergies. Avoiding them ups the chances you will develop the allergy.
Knitty commented on Jul 07 09 at 6:52 pmAnd yet, here we are. Astounding, isn’t it?
NC Mom commented on Jul 07 09 at 7:42 pmA few of my favorites…
1) Sitting in the front middle seat of the car. A seat that doesn’t even exist anymore! I got that seat and usually my parents even put down the arm rest…so I could sit up higher!
2) Candy Cigarette…I loved the ones that blew fake smoke!
Sierra Black commented on Jul 07 09 at 11:28 pmMy pediatrician also says that avoiding peanuts (or other foods) increases your chances of having a food allergy, and that with a few exceptions (honey, cow’s milk) you should just introduce solid foods one at a time as soon as your child is ready for solids - around 6-9 months for most babies.
As for my 80s childhood: violent video games! transformers and thundercats and GI Joe! MTV! and somehow I grew up to be a preschool teacher, not a felon.
Laundry & Children commented on Jul 08 09 at 7:08 amAnd let’s not forget that almost all playground equipment was made of metal. Hello, hot metal slide on a sunny summer day! And that the equipment was usually on a concrete slab.
PlumbLucky commented on Jul 08 09 at 8:43 amSons pedi still states that due to family history of allergies, introduce those particular bad boys no earlier than one year. Everything else (save citrus, berries due to acidity, cow’s milk, honey) like you guys said - introduce carefully, one at a time, and monitor.
PlumbLucky commented on Jul 08 09 at 8:43 amAnd here I thought we were the originators of “ectoplasm”! ::giggle::
MarMar commented on Jul 08 09 at 9:57 amSomehow we survived lead paint in toys and books (and houses), and playgrounds built on concrete. Oh, and my family also had a set of lawn darts. And yet here I am!
Bunny commented on Jul 08 09 at 10:53 amOh man… the playground at my elementary school was a total nightmare, with a wood plank hanging bridge missing tons of planks, and a big metal climbing structure that seemed sky-high when I was five. Some kid in my class fell off and broke his arm. Oddly, this failed to kill him, and this playground failed to kill the rest of us. Who would believe it? Kids are shockingly tough.
Oh, and I remember spending hours unsupervised pedaling around our big concrete driveway on my bike with no helmet, starting from age 6. No molestors got me, and I didn’t break my head, either. Amazing!
Sabrina commented on Jul 08 09 at 11:49 amHilarious advice ladies, especially since my peanut allergic kiddo was exposed since before she was born!!! *sighs*
pants commented on Jul 08 09 at 1:15 pm1. Riding in the “back back” of my dad’s covered pickup truck under blankets with my cousin & brother so my dad could get the benefits of a lower ferry toll. Back in the day they charged per person/child.
2. Being allowed at the age of 5 to walk to my friend’s house on a main busy street…it was 3 houses down…but still! I would never let my 5 year old child walk ALONE on a main road unsupervised. But…I survived.
3. I was allowed to ride my bike in the neighborhood completely unsupervised at the age of 8 or 9 for HOURS before the day of cellphones, and my parents wouldn’t worry at all. So many times I met new friends in the neighborhood and we would go have playdates at their houses. My parents knew nothing of this. I absolutely loved my freedom…but still, I could have gone into ANYONE’s home.
3.
PlumbLucky commented on Jul 08 09 at 2:06 pmSorry to hear about that Sabrina - I really believe that exposure or not, if they’re allergic, they’re going to be allergic, period. (Heck, I’m allergic to shellfish. I’ve had shellfish…once. To which I had a massive allergic reaction that involved the ER and epinephrine in the ER.) That may in part be why I’m following the doc’s advice so closely - not that I believe that I’m putting off an allergy, but waiting to expose it should it exist.
nate commented on Jul 08 09 at 2:15 pmMy big brother used to tie a short rope from the back of his bike to the front of my Big Wheel and then drag me all around the neighborhood. The steep downhill alley across the street was especially fun, since I’d get going faster than him by the bottom somehow and things got into Calvin and Hobbes territory for a bit. I really have no idea why I’m still here.
MarMar commented on Jul 08 09 at 2:30 pmOh, I forgot the old tire swing in my best friend’s backyard, the one that we’d stand up on together, on the very top, as it was hung vertically and then ask her older sister to push us as high as she could! And I forgot about the rope swing over the river that I’d play on when I was 17 with my high school boyfriend. I got my foot stuck in its loop once and was dangling upside down with my head underwater. And yet here I am, 16 years later, to tell the tale! Remarkable!
Ted commented on Jul 08 09 at 2:51 pmJarts anyone?
Alliekat commented on Jul 08 09 at 3:10 pmHow about not locking house or card doors. Parents left for work in the summer and we had free rain all day. OUr bikes were our cars. I would ride to the pool spend all day and then we would treck back over busy road and down steep hill to get there but no helmets. Parents never worried and we always made ithome in one piece. What about latch key kids like myself. Came home got a snack and hung out til Mom came home and microwaved our tv dinners. YUMM!!!
Mira commented on Jul 08 09 at 3:36 pmWalking into town — solo, completely unsupervised — at the age of 7 or 8, blowing my entire allowance on candy, and trekking another mile (solo) to the library before hunkering down with a good book. Every day, all summer long. The only qualification for being allowed to do this was knowing to look both ways before crossing the street. “Stranger danger” never came up.
Heather commented on Jul 08 09 at 6:06 pmThe huge slides that had the bump in the middle. Must have been close to 20 ft high. I got pushed off the top and servived with no broken bones. The wooden swings that could fit 2 kids on them. I got hit in the mouth with one. Going bike riding for hours. Riding to the stables that was 8 km away through a valley at about 11 yrs old. Playing in the valley behind my house all day everyday in the summer. We were allowed to do this from about 4 yrs old on. It had a river running through it and we often found “campsites” of homeless people down there. We never said a word to the parents about the campsites. When we went to camp were had free reign. We would go to the lift locks on the Trent Canal and run around the camp by ourselves. As long as we showed up for meals all was good.
Fritzi commented on Jul 08 09 at 7:58 pmA bunch of us rolling around like logs in the back of the station wagon as the car made turns. God that was fun! Walking across the top of the monkey bars and trying to jump the highest off the swing. Using the entire block for hide n go seek, hiding in people’s backyards and car ports and hopping fences. Playing outside until the street lights came on at night. Honestly sometimes I feel bad for kids now a days. They’re more safe but have less adventures.
manz commented on Jul 08 09 at 10:30 pmAll of the neighbor kids and I took an entire ride down to Disneyland from Northern California in the back of a pickup truck lying down in sleeping bags. Not sure how the parents thought that was a good idea.
Liz commented on Jul 11 09 at 7:45 pmYou know my favorite part of all the “and yet, here I am” comments? The fact that the kids who died aren’t here to say anything. I’m certainly not someone who advocates wrapping the kiddies in bubble wrap, but come on. Your logic is flawed.
linds commented on Jul 12 09 at 11:30 pmwow, thanks for being a downer liz.
Amy @ Thoughts of THAT Mom commented on Jul 28 09 at 9:36 pmYou forgot candy cigarettes!!
