Jill's Journal: Surviving childhood

By: 
Jill Meier, Journal editor
No peanuts in our schools.
Wear a helmet when you ride your bike.
Add pads if you hop on a skateboard.
The list goes on and on, and all the safeguards that have been implemented since I was a kid, got me to wondering, just how did we Baby Boomers ever survive childhood?
On a hot summer day, the kids in our neighborhood lined up at the nearest garden hose, and one after another, we took our turn at the spout.
We snacked on apples plucked right from the Johnson’s tree and wiped them clean on our shirts.
We brought sack lunches to school that included peanut butter sandwiches, and no one had to sit at peanut-free tables.
We gave our friends a lift on the handlebars of our bikes, many times with the chain guard missing – and our only worry was keeping our floppy pant legs free from the chain. If that happened, the pant leg wasn’t the only thing that was “chewed.” Moms sometimes did a little barking of their own, too. 
We climbed trees that seemed to nearly touch the sky and jumped from limbs perched high off the ground without a thought of breaking an arm or a leg.
And when we jumped on our skateboards, a helmet and pad were not the norm. 
We played softball and baseball without the protection of a helmet, a mouth guard or catcher’s gear. If the ball smacked you in the face, you cried, ran home to Mom for comfort and an ice pack, or you sucked it up and kept on playing, all the while knowing the hit you just took from an errant pitch was surely going to leave a mark.
When we climbed into the car – front seat or back - seatbelts weren’t required. In fact, many vehicles didn’t even have them back then. Without giving safety much of a thought, we jumped in the cargo bed of pickup trucks for a quick loop around town or hung our heads out the back window of a station wagon, for those of you who even remember the Brady Bunch’s mode of transportation.
But that was then, and this is now. Apparently, we’ve become a safer, more civilized society since the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Gluten-free and peanut allergies are serious hazards. Protecting our heads with helmets when you ride a skateboard is smart. Mouth guards and bicycle chain guards, well, it’s advisable to take advantage of them, too.
It’s amazing, Baby Boomers, that we survived the ills of childhood - germs, bumps and bruises and all - but we did.
So, I dare you – I double dare you – to take a step back in time to test the waters and while you’re at it,  slurp up some water from the good ol’ garden hose.

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The Brandon Valley Journal

 

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