How We Suvived

About ounce I year someone forwards me that email about how our generation survived childhood. About how we rode bikes without helmets, climbed trees, drank water from the hose etc. I put the whole thing in the extended entry. Of all of the silly chain/inspirational email I get from family and friends, this is the only one that I like and that I can even recall. The part about being out playing until the streetlights came on always brings a warm smile of remembrance.

Via Instapundit I find that someone has taken that email, expanded it, and turned it into a bestselling book (Actually I have no proof that the email had anything to do with the book, other than that they spring from the same spirit.)

The book is The Dangerous Book for Boys by Conn Iggulden and Hal Iggulden. Originally published in the UK, here is the Amazon description of the US edition:

The bestselling book for every boy from eight to eighty, covering essential boyhood skills such as building tree houses, learning how to fish, finding true north, and even answering the age old question of what the big deal with girls is.

In this digital age there is still a place for knots, skimming stones and stories of incredible courage. This book recaptures Sunday afternoons, stimulates curiosity, and makes for great father-son activities. The brothers Conn and Hal have put together a wonderful collection of all things that make being young or young at heart fun—building go-carts and electromagnets, identifying insects and spiders, and flying the world's best paper airplanes.

The completely revised American Edition includes:

The Greatest Paper Airplane in the World

The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

The Five Knots Every Boy Should Know

Stickball

Slingshots

Fossils

Building a Treehouse

Making a Bow and Arrow

Fishing (revised with US Fish)

Timers and Tripwires

Baseball's "Most Valuable Players"

Famous Battles-Including Lexington and Concord, The Alamo, and Gettysburg

Spies-Codes and Ciphers

Making a Go-Cart

Navajo Code Talkers' Dictionary

Girls

Cloud Formations

The States of the U.S.

Mountains of the U.S.

Navigation

The Declaration of Independence

Skimming Stones

Making a Periscope

The Ten Commandments

Common US Trees

Timeline of American History

Yes, I'm buying the book. But I have mixed feelings about it. It's really cool that this book is out there. It's really sad that it needs to be. To All The Kids Who Survived The 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing 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, bread and 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 Internet 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 made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever.

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!

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!

And you are one of them! Congratulations!

Posted by: Stephen Macklin at 04:53 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment