Back in Our Day, We Actually Went Outside to Play – Are Our Kids Overprotected?
As I was looking over a website called outsidethebeltway.com, I came across a blog titled "Are We Overprotecting Our Kids?" dated August 19, 2011 and found myself immersed in the same thought process as the blogger who was in the same age range as myself.
Because I strongly agreed with what the blogger was writing about, I thought I'd let you in on some of the highlights.
Doug Ross is the bloggers name and he starts it off by writing, "I lament the loss of freedom that has come from a culture that overprotects its children. I sometimes wonder how we survived our childhood considering..."
- Smoking During Pregnancy - Credit Getty Images
Smoking During Pregnancy - Credit Getty Images 1"Our mother's smoked and/or drank during pregnancy."
- 2
As infants we rode in the car without seat belts or booster seats."
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"We rode in the back of pick-up trucks and no one was arrested or cited."
- Kids Playing with the Garden Hose - Credit Getty Images
Kids Playing with the Garden Hose - Credit Getty Images 4"We drank water from a garden hose, not a plastic bottle."
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"We shared a bottle of Coke with three friends and no one died."
- Kids Playing Outside - Credit Getty Images
Kids Playing Outside - Credit Getty Images 6"We ate cupcakes with food coloring, white bread, real butter, and bacon and even drank Kool-Aid with with tablespoons of real sugar, and yet we weren't overweight because we played outside all day."
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"There were no childproof lids on medicine or locks on kitchen cabinets."
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"We would leave in the morning and play outside all day as long as we were back home by dusk. And no one was able to reach us all day, and we were: OK."
- Mud Day in Michigan - Credit Getty Images
Mud Day in Michigan - Credit Getty Images 9"We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no law suits resulting from these accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt and the worms did not live inside of us forever."
- Japan Loses Little League World Series - Credit Getty Images
Japan Loses Little League World Series - Credit Getty Images 10"Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn how to deal with the disappointment."
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"We were given BB guns and knives for our birthdays, Made up games with sticks and tennis balls, played lawn darts and though we were told it would happen, no one lost an eye."
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"We had friends and went outside and found them without cell phones or text messages."
- Sledding in the 50's - Credit Getty Images
Sledding in the 50's - Credit Getty Images 13"We'd spend hours in the woods with Daisy rifles or build go-carts without brakes or go sledding with steel or wooden monstrosities that could sever a limb."
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"We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell or sometimes just walked right in and actually talked with them."
- 15
"We didn't have Playstations or X-Boxes or video games. There was no cable, no DVD players or computers, no web, no Twitter, and no Facebook."
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