Stamps: Damaging fragile minds and putting children in danger.

[LuckyMcSwervy 0]

mattjw916

two words...

mimeograph ink

the best part of "test day"

The nuns used to yell at us when we'd all pick up the papers and inhale deeply. LOVE that smell. Can you still get that anywhere???

Always be kinder than you feel.

[DrDom 0]

LuckyMcSwervy

***two words...

mimeograph ink

the best part of "test day"

The nuns used to yell at us when we'd all pick up the papers and inhale deeply. LOVE that smell. Can you still get that anywhere???

Seems you can find damn near anything on amazon.com

You are not the contents of your wallet.

[riggerrob 643]

Sissies!

[turtlespeed 221]

oldwomanc6

*********So glad I grew up in the 70s and 80s!!

+1

Everything in your attachment was true for me. And then some!



Heck, I played with molten lead and sent Tonkas down the sidewalk with cherry bombs on board.

Mercury was fun too.

*clap*



Speak for yourself.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[grue 1]

Something I wrote years ago… fortunately other people repasted it to forums besides the one I posted it on, so I could find it by remembering a few passages

I was born in the year 1981. When I played as a kid, we played outside. We climbed trees and jumped out of them. We used swingsets built in woodchips that'd give you slivers if you fell, and we played on monkey bars over concrete. When you see Billy fall off and break his arm, that'll give you an incentive not to **** up.



We walked to school, even though it was a couple of miles, because when you're a kid, a couple of miles is pretty much next door. Once you're at school, recess was war, and if nobody bled, everybody lost.



We had tugs of war (sure as hell not a TUG OF PEACE), and the ultimate reward was to watch the enemy (not other. ENEMY.) team fall on their faces and shed tears of failure.



We played Red Rover, and god dammit, you hit that line like an old man driving into a farmer's market, or every other kid would know you were sandbagging and you'd be ridiculed. We played a game called Smear The Queer, where whoever was "it" was to be tackled by everyone else, and you know what? Being "it" was fun because you got to attempt to outrun and outsmart the unwashed masses. It was a physically rough activity, and frankly we expected it to be, and anything less would be pointless.



We played dodgeball, and I mean real dodgeball. There were no little foam balls that have a terminal velocity of about 4mph and could be caught by a half-blind one armed leper from Calcutta. No, we had rubber balls that stung like a mother****er if you got hit, and if you managed to tag little Susie upside the head in just the right way, you'd get the ultimate reward: The Echo of Justice, where the ball reverberates audibly as her head snaps backwards and a line of saliva sails through the air like a grappling hook cast by a ninja. That's right, HER HEAD. Girls weren't safe just because they had a vagina, and head shots were the goal, not something to be punished.



Not everyone can be a winner, and those who failed didn't cry in the corner and have their parents sue the school. They learned that giving anything less than everything is unfair to you, and to your team, and you have to BUST YOUR ASS TO SUCCEED. We carried bookbags the size of our entire bodies, and it made us tougher.



After school, we rode bikes without helmets around the neighbourhood and camped in the front yard. We'd play until dark with no parents putting leashes on us and watching our every move. At dark, we'd come in... to get flashlights, then we'd hustle back outside. Shovels would be absconded with for devious purposes, and garden hoses aided and abetted our nefarious plans.



We'd get up at 6am on a Saturday to watch Voltron and Transformers, and backyard emulations of Optimus Prime vs Megatron were sure to follow. You scrape a knee, you wipe it off and get back to playing, laughing the whole time. We had Nerf Bow and Arrow and learned how to make it shoot harder. We used slip 'n' slides and got grass stains and every so often someone would really biff it and break an arm or something, but know what? That's cool, because you got a cast, and even the girl you pretended to hate but really had a crush on would sign it.



We played video games sometimes, but only as a respite from the physical exhaustion of playing outside, or something to do at sleepover parties. The concept of sitting in front of a computer and playing a video game for 30 hours was something we had heard of, but didn't see the appeal. We did watch Nick at Nite though, and loved the innocent hilarity of it.



During summer, we'd spend all day at the pool without sunblock, eat Dairy Queen, and run amok until we were so tired that we just wanted to go to bed and do it all over again.



Then there are the children of today.



Play inside where parents can see you, lest you be stolen by boogeymen in white vans. Don't climb that tree, you'll fall and break your neck. Don't swing so hard on that swingset, you don't know how well it's made. The monkey bars aren't even there anymore.



Mommy will give you a ride to school, and wait for her to sign you out from school when the day is over. Recess better be spent inside, so we can make happy little drawings. Maybe if you're good, you can have a Tug Of Peace, but remember, everyone is a winner!



Red Rover? Certainly not, you could dislocate a shoulder! Dodgeball? Well maybe, but we'll have to use a foam ball and you have to aim for the right thigh. SMEAR THE WHAT? YOUNG MAN, YOU ARE GETTING DETENTION!



Ok, at least the school day is over, so you can go ride bikes with Frankie, but don't forget the bodyguard. Remember to wear your helmet and Michelin Man suit! I'm glad you all got As, it's good to see that everyone is the super winner! Did you remember to put a new sticker on your rolling backpack? Good boy!



Back already? It's only been 15 minutes! Ok, I didn't know you're tired. Yes, you can play video games. No, you cannot play soccer, hockey, baseball, football, jai alai, or lawn darts. I don't care if Timmy's mom lets him, you're going to be in this room under my (not actually that watchful) eye until you're a total social outcast because all you can do is play World Of Warcraft.



Ok, I suppose you can go to the park. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU BROKE YOUR ARM! I AM GOING TO SUE!



Aren't you glad it's summer? Yes, we can go to the pool, but only for 2 hours, and you have to wear so much sunblock you look like Casper the Friendly Ghost.



Today's children are being raised in environments that are unrealistic. When they get out from under their parents' wings, they are going to find a world where not everyone can win, where people do get hurt, and where you won't always have someone ready to sue when you don't like how things went.



Without risk, there cannot be reward, and without reward (be it intrinsic or extrinsic), there is no motivation. Children need to be challenged, so they WANT to succeed. When you shovel the path of all obstacles and let them cruise, the only thing they learn is mediocrity in all aspects.



Let the kids have a ****ing childhood, and stop trying to make things perfect. It doesn't work, it doesn't help, and it's utterly insane.



Cliffs: Read it, know it, apply it.

cavete terrae.

[billvon 3,008]

>So glad I grew up in the 70s and 80s!!

I was a teenager in the 80's and my parents were saying exactly the same things that that link says. When they were kids in the 50's people weren't so paranoid, you didn't have to worry about child abductions and mass murders, you could trust people, the streets were safe, kids really knew the value of X, everyone played outside instead of watching TV all day, kids didn't misbehave as much since they knew they could get spanked etc etc.

Nothing changes.

[turtlespeed 221]

This is all what I predicted when I first heard that they were no longer allowed to keep score at a kids baseball game because it was too traumatic for the kids.

I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

[oldwomanc6 54]

Best post of the week!

lisa
WSCR 594
FB 1023
CBDB 9

[champu 1]

grue

I was born in the year 1981.

luxury.

[LuckyMcSwervy 0]

turtlespeed

This is all what I predicted when I first heard that they were no longer allowed to keep score at a kids baseball game because it was too traumatic for the kids.

WHAT?! Are you serious?? I don't have children and don't attend any kids sporting events. Not keep score?? OMG... kill me now.

I'm 45 years old and after hearing some of this stuff the kids now don't do, well, it makes me sad for them on how they're missing out on the fun stuff of a childhood where you learned to respect authority, learned to take risks, learned to take constructive criticism and didn't live life looking over your shoulder.

My Dad was a cop and growing up I always thought he was stricter than other parents, but it was in a good way. It kept me out of trouble, or at least getting caught. But back then you feared the wooden spoon, leather belt or whatever and you didn't use the "If you hit me I'm going to call DYFS (division of youth and family services)" line on your parents. I miss the good old days.

And I wish the sidewalks would still roll up on a Sunday. I loved the "forced" down time.

Always be kinder than you feel.

[LuckyMcSwervy 0]

grue

Something I wrote years ago… fortunately other people repasted it to forums besides the one I posted it on, so I could find it by remembering a few passages

I was born in the year 1981. When I played as a kid, we played outside. We climbed trees and jumped out of them. We used swingsets built in woodchips that'd give you slivers if you fell, and we played on monkey bars over concrete. When you see Billy fall off and break his arm, that'll give you an incentive not to **** up.



We walked to school, even though it was a couple of miles, because when you're a kid, a couple of miles is pretty much next door. Once you're at school, recess was war, and if nobody bled, everybody lost.



We had tugs of war (sure as hell not a TUG OF PEACE), and the ultimate reward was to watch the enemy (not other. ENEMY.) team fall on their faces and shed tears of failure.



We played Red Rover, and god dammit, you hit that line like an old man driving into a farmer's market, or every other kid would know you were sandbagging and you'd be ridiculed. We played a game called Smear The Queer, where whoever was "it" was to be tackled by everyone else, and you know what? Being "it" was fun because you got to attempt to outrun and outsmart the unwashed masses. It was a physically rough activity, and frankly we expected it to be, and anything less would be pointless.



We played dodgeball, and I mean real dodgeball. There were no little foam balls that have a terminal velocity of about 4mph and could be caught by a half-blind one armed leper from Calcutta. No, we had rubber balls that stung like a mother****er if you got hit, and if you managed to tag little Susie upside the head in just the right way, you'd get the ultimate reward: The Echo of Justice, where the ball reverberates audibly as her head snaps backwards and a line of saliva sails through the air like a grappling hook cast by a ninja. That's right, HER HEAD. Girls weren't safe just because they had a vagina, and head shots were the goal, not something to be punished.



Not everyone can be a winner, and those who failed didn't cry in the corner and have their parents sue the school. They learned that giving anything less than everything is unfair to you, and to your team, and you have to BUST YOUR ASS TO SUCCEED. We carried bookbags the size of our entire bodies, and it made us tougher.



After school, we rode bikes without helmets around the neighbourhood and camped in the front yard. We'd play until dark with no parents putting leashes on us and watching our every move. At dark, we'd come in... to get flashlights, then we'd hustle back outside. Shovels would be absconded with for devious purposes, and garden hoses aided and abetted our nefarious plans.



We'd get up at 6am on a Saturday to watch Voltron and Transformers, and backyard emulations of Optimus Prime vs Megatron were sure to follow. You scrape a knee, you wipe it off and get back to playing, laughing the whole time. We had Nerf Bow and Arrow and learned how to make it shoot harder. We used slip 'n' slides and got grass stains and every so often someone would really biff it and break an arm or something, but know what? That's cool, because you got a cast, and even the girl you pretended to hate but really had a crush on would sign it.



We played video games sometimes, but only as a respite from the physical exhaustion of playing outside, or something to do at sleepover parties. The concept of sitting in front of a computer and playing a video game for 30 hours was something we had heard of, but didn't see the appeal. We did watch Nick at Nite though, and loved the innocent hilarity of it.



During summer, we'd spend all day at the pool without sunblock, eat Dairy Queen, and run amok until we were so tired that we just wanted to go to bed and do it all over again.



Then there are the children of today.



Play inside where parents can see you, lest you be stolen by boogeymen in white vans. Don't climb that tree, you'll fall and break your neck. Don't swing so hard on that swingset, you don't know how well it's made. The monkey bars aren't even there anymore.



Mommy will give you a ride to school, and wait for her to sign you out from school when the day is over. Recess better be spent inside, so we can make happy little drawings. Maybe if you're good, you can have a Tug Of Peace, but remember, everyone is a winner!



Red Rover? Certainly not, you could dislocate a shoulder! Dodgeball? Well maybe, but we'll have to use a foam ball and you have to aim for the right thigh. SMEAR THE WHAT? YOUNG MAN, YOU ARE GETTING DETENTION!



Ok, at least the school day is over, so you can go ride bikes with Frankie, but don't forget the bodyguard. Remember to wear your helmet and Michelin Man suit! I'm glad you all got As, it's good to see that everyone is the super winner! Did you remember to put a new sticker on your rolling backpack? Good boy!



Back already? It's only been 15 minutes! Ok, I didn't know you're tired. Yes, you can play video games. No, you cannot play soccer, hockey, baseball, football, jai alai, or lawn darts. I don't care if Timmy's mom lets him, you're going to be in this room under my (not actually that watchful) eye until you're a total social outcast because all you can do is play World Of Warcraft.



Ok, I suppose you can go to the park. WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU BROKE YOUR ARM! I AM GOING TO SUE!



Aren't you glad it's summer? Yes, we can go to the pool, but only for 2 hours, and you have to wear so much sunblock you look like Casper the Friendly Ghost.



Today's children are being raised in environments that are unrealistic. When they get out from under their parents' wings, they are going to find a world where not everyone can win, where people do get hurt, and where you won't always have someone ready to sue when you don't like how things went.



Without risk, there cannot be reward, and without reward (be it intrinsic or extrinsic), there is no motivation. Children need to be challenged, so they WANT to succeed. When you shovel the path of all obstacles and let them cruise, the only thing they learn is mediocrity in all aspects.



Let the kids have a ****ing childhood, and stop trying to make things perfect. It doesn't work, it doesn't help, and it's utterly insane.



Cliffs: Read it, know it, apply it.

I loved reading this. Thanks for sharing!!

Always be kinder than you feel.