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OUR LIFE

IN THE BEGINNING

It's pretty much a miracle that any of us survived childhood in the 1960s & 1970s

It seemed like mothers couldn't wait to kick their kids out of the house in the morning so they could get on with their "chores" or socialize with friends. They called you in when dinner was ready and let you back out, telling you to come inside when the street lights come on. Kids often wandered around in packs, to better fight off the weirdos trying to get you into their house or cars.

Adults often had no idea of their kid's whereabouts for long stretches of time.

Back in the day, parents hit you because that's what parents did when you angered them. It may have been just a smack on the head, or literally being put over dad's knee for a spanking. Sometimes it was getting chased around the house and hit with a belt. Parents raised with that kind of discipline tended to continue the pattern. In many homes a common threat was: "Just wait until your father gets home." It took a while for people to recognize that physical punishment was abuse. It landed many traumatized kids in therapy, years later.

This means that corporal punishment of children was pretty typical.

Back then, children had fewer rights, had limited emotional support, were expected to act a certain way, and were rarely allowed to express themselves.

A lot of children grew up fearing authority rather than understanding it.

If you went to school, you were generally exposed to several discipline techniques.

The classic was having a wooden paddle smacked against your rear-end if you spoke out loud, rough-housed, or did not have your homework. Another favorite was pulling you out of the room by your ear. These punishments today would likely result in an irate mother in the principal's office.

But back then it was just business as usual.

There was no warning that pesticide sprays were coming, just the delight of kids who found it fun to run behind the truck that sprayed poisons to kill mosquitoes and other hazardous chemicals.

The fog it made was enticing and it smelled good too. Kids chased after those trucks for miles.

Not to mention that jumping on the back of moving cars and running along with them down the road was also very common and a sport in those days for kids.