Blessings!!

Blessings!!
Seventeen blessings that make growing older worth the effort!!...and 2 more blessings since this picture was taken!
Welcome



Wouldn't it be wonderful if your family were the envy of all your neighborhood? Not because your family had the biggest house, the fanciest car or the very best interior decorator.

The reason isn't that you are the parents of the most beautiful children, you have a "to die for spouse" and you command a 6 figure income.

The fact of the matter is, you don't own a fancy house, your car is a CarMax reject, and your interior decorator is the local Goodwill Store.

Is all of that important? No! What is important is that your family is "The Happiest Family on the Block"!

I will be sharing our secrets that worked with our 6 children, 6 sons and daughters-in-laws and 19 grandchildren! I will share secrets and ideas that we did do and wished we hadn't, things we didn't do, but wished we had, AND things we did do and are glad we got something right!! Hindsight is 20/20 you know!

The "happy family" revolves around:

Marriage

Raising children

Faith

Schooling

Discipline

Childbirth

Hobbies- cooking, sewing, crafts, decorating

Making money

Finances

Being friends with your grown up children

Being the best grandparents you can be

Etc, etc, etc

Grab a cup of coffee, sit down, relax and let's visit!

My Darling Grandaughter

My Darling Grandaughter

Saturday, May 22, 2010

To All the Kids Who Survived...

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE

1930s, '40s, '50s, '60s and '70s!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who may have smoked and/or drank
while they were pregnant, not that we recommend it.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or strep.

They had their babies on the babies schedule, not the doctor's.

Then, after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies

in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We were fed strawberries and peanut butter before we were one or two years old and lived.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets,

and, when we rode our bikes,

we had baseball caps,

not helmets, on our heads.

As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck 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, real butter, and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And we weren't overweight.

WHY?

Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

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 OKAY.

We would spend hours building

our go-carts out of scraps

and then ride them 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 Play Stations, Nintendos and X-boxes. There were

no video games, no 150 channels on cable,

no video movies or DVDs,

no surround-sound or CDs,

no cell phones,

no personal computers,

no Internet and no 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 those accidents.

We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping-pong paddles, or just a bare hand, and no one would call child services to report abuse.

We ate worms, and mud pies

made from dirt, and

the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls, and

-although we were told it would happen- we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts

and not everyone made the team.

Those who didn't had to learn

to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers,

problem solvers, and inventors ever.

The past 50 to 85 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas..

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

If YOU are one of those born between 1925-1970,

CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

While you are at it, show it to your kids, so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.


Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it

9 comments:

Brenda Susan said...

wow! When you put it like that, we ARE pretty remarkable aren't we? And very very blessed!

Rose said...

way back in the stone age we didn't have as muvh complication in life as there istoday. simplicity. have a good day.

Anonymous said...

I have to tell you...I LOVE THIS POST!!! I have 3 girls (you may already know because you visited me first!) and I am BIG on 'go outside and play'! We do eat wheat bread, drink from water bottles, have video games and wear bike helmets, but even my 12 yr. old has her favorite spot in the tree outside, my 10 yr. old has mastered her ripstick, and my 7 yr. old is practically addicted to her hula hoop. We use our hand held video games for boring waiting rooms and long car trips when I just can't play one more game of eye spy. I love your site...I've bookmarked you and I'm following...thanks for visiting. It's great to 'meet' you!

Theresa said...

Thanks for following my blog. I am following yours back. Great post. It made me chuckle.

Mom Who Cares said...

I am following you back Thank you!

I love so much about your blog- However, I do want to add that your post is very inspirational and with that said - keep in mind that you and many others did survive all those things; but look at the many graves of little children and babies who did not.

Taking risks at the expense of children’s and others lives to me is not something to celebrate - but learning how to avoid risks is to be celebrated - that is what love is to me.

But, now with the knowledge of today’s world - we are becoming over populated due to the babies that now are surviving. What do we do now :) lol

It is wonderful you and others survived those things - I believe stronger and better people were made in tougher times.

I also believe that many of those families who lost their babies due to crib death, lead poising etc... would trade their own lives to know what we know now about it - to have saved their babies.

If only we can be peaceful and less needful people; I am young and do not agree with today’s society. What happened to manners, respect, honor, loyalty to your country? Should we trade, less knowledge and more death - for more respect, hard workers, and children who play outside? It is a sad way we humans are –

I hope my words came out correctly – I am not disagreeing with you – I am sharing my sadness for our human race. When will we grow up in knowledge, compassion and true strength?

Anonymous said...

Hello, I'm here from the TAT blog hop and now a proud follower of yours. What a much needed blog you have - sharing your knowledge with 20/20 hindsight. God bless your hearts.

Hope you'll visit my blog and honor me with your follow. I'm so glad I found this blog. God Bless Your Hearts!

http://hauplight.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

Following you from Welcome Wednesday. Pls follow me back when you get the chance.
http://masalabowl.blogspot.com/2010/05/day-137.html#comments

furygirl3132 said...

Hello! I am your newest follower from Welcome Wednesday, so glad to have found your great blog! Hope you have a wonderful day!

Eloise
Mommy2TwoGirls
http://mommy2twogirls.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

I’m a new follower from Welcome Wednesday and would sincerely appreciate if you’d visit my blog. Follow if you like it: My Tot Travels
You can also find me on Twitter and Facebook
Happy Travels,
Lilli (#72 on the list)
www.mytotstravel.com

My Tot Travels...
 Learning to Parent on the Road of Life (and great tips for traveling with kids)

1 Precious Daughter, 2 precious Grandaughters

1 Precious Daughter, 2 precious Grandaughters
I am blessed!