Times gone by

INSIDEYOURMIND

Literotica Guru
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Nov 12, 2004
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Some of us are old enough to remember, and those that aren't should be just as intirqued by a time gone by........................
My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning.

My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter and I used to eat it raw sometimes too, our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag not in ice pack coolers, but I can't remember getting ecoli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.

We all took gym, not PE... and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light re flectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now.

Flunking gym was not an option... even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.

Every year, someone taught the whole school a lesson [and provided comic relief] by running in the halls with leather soles on linoleum tile and hitting the wet spot. How much better off would we be today if we only knew we could have sued the school system.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches.

I can't understand it. Schools didn't offer 14 year olds an abortion or condoms (we wouldn't have known what either was anyway)

What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.

I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.

I must be repressing that memory as I try to rationalize through the denial of the dangers could have befallen us as we trekked off each day about a mile down the road to some guy's vacant lot, built forts out of branches and pieces of plywood, made trails, and fought over who got to be the Lone Ranger.
What was that property owner thinking, letting us play on that lot? He should have been locked up for not putting up a fence around the property, complete with a self-closing gate and an infrared intruder alarm.

Oh yeah... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got
that bee sting? I could have been killed!

We played king of the hill on piles of gravel left on vacant! construction sites and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48 cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked. Now it's a trip to the emergency room followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of
antibiotics and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we did, we got our butts spanked (physical abuse) there too and then we got our butts spanked again when we got home.

Mom invited the door to door salesman inside for coffee, kids choked down the dust from the gravel driveway while playing with Tonka trucks (Remember why Tonka trucks were made tough .. it wasn't so that they could take the rough Berber in the family room), and Dad drove a car with leaded gas.

Our music had to be left inside when we went out to play and I am sure that I nearly exhausted my imagination a couple of times when we went on two week vacations. I should probably sue the folks now for the danger they put us in when we all slept in campgrounds in the family tent.

Summers were spent behind the push lawn mower and I didn't even know that mowers came with motors until I was 13 and we got one without an automatic blade-stop or an auto-drive. How sick were my parents? Of course my parents weren't the only psychos.

I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that? We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes!

We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills, that we didn't even notice that the entire country was taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?
 
Amen to all of this! We were just talking about this the other day and wondered how we survived the tuna salad (or egg salad) sandwiches that had sat in your lunch bag for several hours unrefrigerated.

It is interesting to see how much society has changed. Recently there was a news report on how teenagers weren't getting enough sleep. If you look at the fact that some schools now start at 630am, sports happen after school for 2-3 hours, the average household now eats dinner at 730-8pm, and add a couple hours of homework to the mix - is it any wonder? We haven't done ourselves any favors with some of our "evolvements".
 
Wow, brought up some interesting memories with this thread. ;)

For bee stings, my mom would open up a cigarette, take out some tobacco, spit on it, and bandage it over the sting. In a couple of hours the stinger would be out. Amazing what you can do with a bit of tobacco.

Spankings, oh my gosh. My mom would take all of us (5 kids) and many of our friends to the grocery store with her. If anyone got out of line - whether her own kids or one of the neighbor kids - my mom would reach down and smack that butt in front of everybody. No one called the cops on her for abuse!

If one of us got in trouble at school, my mom didn't come down and yell at the teacher or principal for getting after her perfect kids. Oh no. She'd come down to the school, grab us by the arm and drag us out of there. Then we'd be in BIG trouble at home, after a spanking, of course.

Thanks for the great trip down memory lane! :)
 
IYM what a nice thread !

Being European, I can remember that some of the things you said didn't apply to our culture and some others instead still are present nowadays .

However if I think back to my childhood I can see it was pretty different from the present children's way of life.

I love progress ( specially the health related one) but I think everything must be leaked out through sense of measure and balance.

Some of the current things generally passed off as modern civilization achievements are really psychotic bollox nourished by parents' and educators'
sense of guilt towards a way of life which prefer to spoil children instead to stop and listen to them .

I am really moved when I see a bunch of wee men/ girls playing in street with improbable things they found around feeding their minds with fantasies instead than stay locked for hours with nintendo and similars.

I love computers and I tolerate nintendo ( in fact my lil boy got both and at seven years old manage them quite well) but I am happy to see he still prefers to play with little animal puppets creating his own stories or read a book .

That means to me I am doing a not so bad work with him and ...... if he doesn't behave at school I am one of those mothers who drags him out by an ear and if he doesn't give me a satisfactory explanation (well I always listen to both versions of facts ... call it a professional deformation !!) about what I heard from teachers he gots a good punishment . However I never blame teachers in front of him cause it would mean to undermine their authority .

Am I a dysfunctional parent ?

Still wondering !!! :) :rose:
 
Sounds like you're a very good parent babiesmiles! It's obvious you must encourage your child in his creative endeavors or he'd be just as hooked on the nintendo as other kids. My mother's means of dealing with video game systems was to only allow them once the homework was done and come summer...they went into her closet unless the weather was so bad you couldn't go play outside.
 
caela said:
Sounds like you're a very good parent babiesmiles! It's obvious you must encourage your child in his creative endeavors or he'd be just as hooked on the nintendo as other kids. My mother's means of dealing with video game systems was to only allow them once the homework was done and come summer...they went into her closet unless the weather was so bad you couldn't go play outside.

Exactly my way to deal with the matter :) :rose:
 
BeachGurl2 said:
Ouch. That hurt. :(

I was just kidding - I remember most of this stuff, too. I just have to kid people when they start 'reminiscing'. It reminds me of old guys, sitting on a porch in their rocking chair, talking about the 'old days'.
 
I am a bad parent! My kids are hooked on video games.

*spanks self*

Back on topic, I remember long lazy summers where I didn't have to do anything but ride my ten speed bike a western flyer painted silver and named Silvia, go swimming and read comic books.

I remember picking cherry tomatoes fresh from the vine. Popping them whole in my mouth. Letting the tomato gush out all warm and slightly and sour, and how I could clearly feel the seeds texture inside my mouth.

Fury :rose:
 
FurryFury said:
I am a bad parent! My kids are hooked on video games.

*spanks self*

Back on topic, I remember long lazy summers where I didn't have to do anything but ride my ten speed bike a western flyer painted silver and named Silvia, go swimming and read comic books.

I remember picking cherry tomatoes fresh from the vine. Popping them whole in my mouth. Letting the tomato gush out all warm and slightly and sour, and how I could clearly feel the seeds texture inside my mouth.

Fury :rose:

When I was 10 we moved from Missouri to Oregon to be with my mom's family. My gradma has a fruit farm, she has two plum orchards and one pear orchard. She also had blueberrie bushes, cherry trees, blackberry bushes, apple trees, a walnut tree, strawberries . . . I was sick all summer from eating fruit. LOL It was a great summer.
 
graceanne said:
When I was 10 we moved from Missouri to Oregon to be with my mom's family. My gradma has a fruit farm, she has two plum orchards and one pear orchard. She also had blueberrie bushes, cherry trees, blackberry bushes, apple trees, a walnut tree, strawberries . . . I was sick all summer from eating fruit. LOL It was a great summer.

I would have been in hog heaven! My grandparents had blueberry bushes! I loved them and I love strawberries, cherries and sour apples and plums! I love picking and eating!

LOL!

How deliverance did that sound?

Fury
 
graceanne said:
I was just kidding - I remember most of this stuff, too. I just have to kid people when they start 'reminiscing'. It reminds me of old guys, sitting on a porch in their rocking chair, talking about the 'old days'.
I knew you were. I was teasing, too. My sarcasm coming through again. :)
 
FurryFury said:
I would have been in hog heaven! My grandparents had blueberry bushes! I loved them and I love strawberries, cherries and sour apples and plums! I love picking and eating!

LOL!

How deliverance did that sound?

Fury
My grandparents had kumquat trees in their yards. Nasty, sour little things, but they make great projectiles! My brothers and sisters and I would hide behind bales of hay and lobe them at each other! Messy wars. :D
 
BeachGurl2 said:
My grandparents had kumquat trees in their yards. Nasty, sour little things, but they make great projectiles! My brothers and sisters and I would hide behind bales of hay and lobe them at each other! Messy wars. :D

Damn gurl! I love kumquats! I love sour nasty thing! I honestly do!

Hot av by the way BeachGurl2.

Fury :rose:
 
FurryFury said:
Damn gurl! I love kumquats! I love sour nasty thing! I honestly do!

Hot av by the way BeachGurl2.

Fury :rose:
Why, thanks, hon. Yours is pretty nice, too. :kiss:
 
I hesitated to post to this thread. All of the above is correct, and I remember lots more. Shit, I was born before cookies were invented.

Oh, and I have a Tonka truck that is still in near perfect condition. I think it's something like 35 or 40 years old, by now. Not a bit of plastic on that thing. Well, I think the tires are some kind of plastic.

Talk like this makes me feel old. I need someone to beat on to get out some of my aggressions.
 
Oh I remember this stuff... plus, my dad was born in 1907. Let me just say that means that although I am a child of the 80's I am in many ways part of the Depression era as well.

I grew up cutting the mold off of cheese, and scraping the mold off of homemade jellies. I remember gardening as a main source of food. Hey, Dad was retired by the time I was born, and there were three kids who came after me... the youngest when Dad was 70. Yep, and he wouldn't hear tell of Mom working.

I tell you though... of modern conveniences... I really love running water. I grew up off the grid for a portion of my life and that has really colored my perceptions. :)

Anyway... thanks for the trip down memory lane.
 
BeachGurl2 said:
I knew you were. I was teasing, too. My sarcasm coming through again. :)


Well, I thought you might be, but better safe than sorry.
 
i remember noisy metal wheels on roller skates .. and how they could be ruined if forgotten outside on a rainy day.
 
About 2 months ago, at the dinner table, we had this type of conversation with our 5, 8, and 12 year old daughters.

It is amazing how the things they now consider indispensible, are things we grew up without. I suggest it for a family conversation, we laughed, and it was obvious that we saw things from each others perspective.

The following continues the thought.................


We were born before television, before polio shots, frozen foods, Xerox, plastic. contact lenses, Frisbees and the PILL.

We were born before credit cards, split atoms, laser beams and ball point pens; before pantyhose, dishwashers, clothes dryers, electric blankets, air conditioners in our homes, drip-dry clothes and before man walked on the moon.

We got married first and then lived together. How quaint can you be?

In our time, closets were for clothes, not for "coming out of." Bunnies were small rabbits and rabbits were not Volkswagons. Designer jeans were scheming girls named Jean or Jeanne. and having a meaningful relationship meant getting along well with our cousins.
We thought that fast food was what you ate during Lent, and Outer Space was the back of the Paramount Theater.

We were before house husbands, gay rights, computer dating, dual careers and commuter marriages. We were before daycare centers, group therapy and nursing homes. We never heard of FM radio, tape decks, electric typewriters. artificial hearts, word processors, yogurt. and guys wearing earrings. For us time sharing means togetherness - not computers or condominiums : a "chip" meant a piece of wood, hardware meant hardware and software wasn't even a word

In 1940, "made in Japan" meant junk and the term "making out" referred to how you did on your exam. Pizzas, "McDonald's" and instant coffee were unheard of.

We hit the scene when there were 5 and 10 cent stores, where you bought things for five and ten cents. Nau's or Bray & Jordan sold ice cream cones for a nickel or a dime. For one nickel you could ride a bus, make a phone call, buy Pepsi or enough stamps to mail one letter and two postcards. You could buy a new Chevy Coupe for $600.00, but who could afford one ; a pity too, because gas was 11 cents a gallon

In our day smoking was fashionable. GRASS was mowed, COKE was a cold drink, and POT was something you cooked in. ROCK MUSIC was a Grandma's lullaby and AIDS were helpers in the Principal's office.

We were certainly not before the differences between the sexes was discovered, but we were surely before the sex change; we made due with what we had. And we were the last generation that was so dumb as to think that you needed a husband to have a baby

No wonder we were so confused and there is such a generation gap today

BUT WE SURVIVED)!!! What better reason to celebrate ?
 
INSIDEYOURMIND said:
We were born before television[1], frozen foods[2], Xerox[3], plastic[4].

We were born before ball point pens[5], drip-dry clothes[6].

Outer Space was the back of the Paramount Theater[7].

We were before nursing homes[8]. We never heard of tape decks[9], electric typewriters[10], word processors[11], yogurt[12], and guys wearing earrings[13].

hardware meant hardware[14]


ROCK MUSIC was a Grandma's lullaby[15]

[1]Television (Baird) was invented in 1926. First TV Station (NBC) in America came around in 1939.

[2]Frozen Foods (Swanson) came around in the mid 40's. I'm going to have to assume you're refering to yourself being older than 55 here.

[3]Xerox machines came around in the 40's.

[4]Synthetic Tires (Firestone) were invented in the 40's. There was other applications for plastic before then.

[5]Ballpoint Pens (Biro) were invented in the 20's.

[6]Drip-dry clothes pretty much refers to any clothes that drip dries - i.e. pretty much every cloth out there.

[7]Your reference here is simply due to naivete. Similar statemets can be drawn today by young kids today. However, the great paranoia of Outer Space and Aliens began in 1939.

[8]Nursing Homes/Retirement Homes are the same thing. They have been around since Napoleonic times.

[9]Tape Decks were invented in the 30s.

[10]Electric Typewriters have been around since the 40's and possibly earlier. I know my grandfather had an electrical typewriter from 1946 for his company he started after coming out of WWII.

[11]Word processors refers to a profession back then, in the same vein as a stenographer.

[12]Yogurt has been around a lot longer than you, I'm quite sure about this.

[13]Sailors and members of the Navy often had piercings in the WWII era.

[14]hardware still refers to hardware. A circular statement this is.

[15]The notion of Rock music was beginning to form around in the forties with a shifting in the style of big band and bebop. It did not solidify itself into an established style (rock & roll) until the mid 1950's (around 1953-1954)
 
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