I found this lovely piece in my mail box yesterday and it brought a smile to my lips. I want to share it out with those of you who were born in the 1940’s, 50’s and 60’s. Read on to see whether you can relate to some of these beautiful memories. The photos in this post are from my own private childhood album. They were taken together with my elder siblings and cousins during a trip to Japanese Garden in the mid 1960s.
Here it goes:-
First, we survived with mothers who do not have maids. They cooked and cleaned while taking care of us at the same time.
They took aspirin, candy floss, fizzy drinks, shaved ice with syrups and diabetes were rare. Salt added to Pepsi or Coke was remedy for fever.
We had no child proof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets.
As children, we would ride with our parents on bicycles or motorcycles for 2 or 3. Richer ones in cars with no seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a private taxi was a special treat.
We drank water from the tap and NOT from a bottle.
We would spend hours on the fields under bright sunlight flying our kites, without worrying about the UV ray which never seem to affect us.
We went to the jungle to catch spiders without worries of Aedes mosquitoes.
With mere 5 pebbles (stones) would be an endless game. With a ball (tennis ball best) we boys would run like crazy for hours.
We caught guppies in drains or canals and when it rained, we swam there.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually worried about being unhygienic.
We ate salty, very sweet and oily food, candies, bread and real butter and drank very sweet coffee or tea, ice kacang, but we weren’t overweight because…..
WE WERE OFTEN OUT PLAYING!!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, till street lights came on.
No one was able to reach us all day. WE DID NOT HAVE HANDPHONE TO BUG US. And we were O.K. AND WE WERE SAFE.
We would spend hours repairing our old bicycles and wooden scooters 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, X-boxes, Nintendo’s, multiple channels on cable TV, DVD movies, no surround sound, no phones, no personal computers, no Internet. WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and we still continued the stunts.
We never had birthdays parties till we were 21.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and just yelled for them!
We don’t know what is “Bumiputra”……
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law ! Nobody knew about child psychology !
Yet this generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
The past 40 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!
You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the government ‘regulated’ our lives for good !!
And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were.
P/S: The big-font used is because of Long-sightedness or hyperopia at our age .
The article above was written by Patrick Teoh in his blog “Niamah!!”. http://www.niamah.com/
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188 Hugh Low Street, Ipoh 
Haha, Patrick curi this somewhere from the internet and put in his own sugar and salt. I come across this some 2 years back. Just like in the good old times, we often curi rambutan and coconuts from the dusun. Now internet is our dusun.
Hahahaha, I do not know where Patrick got this from but it is good; I thought you gals and guys will love it too 🙂
Frances, absolutely true. Those were the days. Carefree, safe and happy. Present day kids, are stressed, over-protected and unhealthy. Is almost a daily affair that customers asked for products that are allergy free??
Those days never heard of, but now I’ve a chart for my products: free from
– Colouring
– Lactose
– Gluten
– Milk
– Sugar
– Peanuts
– Soya
Yes coke with salt!!! nobody told us that it was harmful. Shaved ice with syrup, and nobody complained of excessive sugar intake. All these were so yummy. Airbags in cars? What’s that? we never use a safety belt until 19?? We’ll be happy to play with 5 stones and rubber seeds, but now Xbox is soso!! they want to have more. The requests these days are infinity.
Hi Elaine, I ‘m glad both of us got to taste a bit of such simple and carefree days 🙂 before things like handphones and i-pads invades our homes, making life so different for kids today 😦
During my childhood in the 60s, I was a “home alone” kid on most days when my parents n siblings were out working. Nevertheless, I was a happy child. I played with my dolls, sewing them clothes n giving them parties, played games with d neighbours’ kids and even helped out at my neighbour’s vegetable farm! If my mom was late coming home, I could go to any of my neighbours’ house n I would be offered lunch! Families, friends and neighbours back then were very close knitted n helpful. Our lives were simple and we were rich, not in materialistic possessions, but in warmth n happiness!
Yes Soi Yin, I could feel your warmth and happiness 🙂 and keep it coming, my dear 🙂
Speaking for those in the baby boomer years. Those were the happy and carefree days. Our playthings are those we improvise with all those things around us. We can play with the cigarettes boxes we collected. Those boxes are beautiful and we used to collect it for games. We washed the cockles shells (lala) and we used them to crush it with one another and see whose shell will break. We draw man and woman in hard cardboard. We draw paper dresses and shirts in paper to put on those cardboard man and woman. With the rulers we used as swords to fight with. We make our own kites to fly in the parks and gardens. There are lots and lots of simple articles and things we pick up and play as games. There are free and abundant everywhere.
Life is so peaceful, free, people are friendly and warm. Yes those were days my friends, we hope it will never end indeed.
Hi Katherine,
Those were happy and carefree days indeed 🙂 but like most things in life, it have to come to an end, eventually 😦