Kids Ago
Were you a kid or did you raise kids in the 30's, 40's or
50's?
"East Side, West Side"
Were you a kid in the Thirties, Forties or Fifties or so ? Everybody makes
fun of our childhood! Comedians joke. Grandkids snicker.
Twenty-something's shudder and say "Eeeew!" But was our childhood really
all that bad?
Judge for yourself:
In 1953 The US population was less than 150 million... Yet you knew more
people then, and knew them better... And that was good.
The average annual salary was under $3,000...Yet our parents could put
some of it away for a rainy day and still live a decent life... And that
was good.
A loaf of bread cost about 15 cents... But it was safe for a five-year-old
to skate to the store and buy one... And that was good.
Prime-Time meant I Love Lucy, Ozzie and Harriet, Gunsmoke and Lassie... So
nobody ever heard of ratings or filters... And that was good.
We didn't have air-conditioning... So the windows stayed up and half a
dozen mothers ran outside when you fell off your bike... And that was
good.
Your teacher was either Miss Matthews or Mrs. Logan or Mr. Adkins... But
not Ms. Becky or Mr. Dan... And that was good.
The only hazardous material you knew about...Was a patch of grassburrs
around the light pole at the corner... And that was good.
You loved to climb into a fresh bed... Because sheets were dried on the
clothesline... And that was good.
People generally lived in the same hometown with their relatives... So
"child care" meant grandparents or aunts and uncles... And that was good.
Parents were respected and their rules were law.... Children did not talk
back..... and that was good.
TV was in black-and-white... But all outdoors was in glorious color....And
that was certainly good.
Your Dad knew how to adjust everybody's carburetor... And the Dad next
door knew how to adjust all the TV knobs... And that was very good.
Your grandma grew snap beans in the back yard...And chickens behind the
garage... And that was definitely good.
And just when you were about to do something really bad... Chances were
you'd run into your Dad's high school coach... Or the nosy old lady from
up the street... Or your little sister's piano teacher... Or somebody from
Church... ALL of whom knew your parents' phone number...And YOUR first
name... And even THAT was good! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ REMEMBER....
Send this on to someone who can still remember Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys,
Laurel &Hardy, Abbott &Costello, Sky King, Little Lulu comics, Brenda
Starr, Howdy Doody and The Peanut Gallery, The Lone Ranger, The Shadow
Knows, Nellie Belle, Roy and Dale, Trigger and Buttermilk as well as the
sound of a reel mower on Saturday morning, and summers filled with bike
rides, playing in cowboy land, playing hide and seek and kick-the-can and
Simon Says, baseball games, amateur shows at the local theater before the
Saturday matinee, bowling and visits to the pool...and eating Kool-Aid
powder with sugar, and wax lips and bubblegum cigars
Didn't that feel good, just to go back and say,
Yeah, I remember that!
And was it really that long ago?
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