True: Children from the 70’s Should be Dead.!

Times always change, sometimes for the better and sometimes not. That is yours to decide. But here are 20 fun reasons why children who grew up in the 70’s or earlier are really lucky to be alive compared to the standards of today’s modern society. Such as just randomly rolling down the street with too skateboards and no safety padding. You live and learn so when you know better, you do better.

No Seat Belts For You

Cars were driving pretty fast by this point; it actually took decades for the safety of being in a vehicle to catch up to the technology. Seatbelts were a new thing in the 70’s so people didn’t always use them. There also weren’t tickets for not wearing one until 1984 in NY State. This was the first state in the US to enforce use of seatbelts.

No Car Seats

Often you were rolling around in the backseat, holding on for dear life. Or perhaps you were sleeping peacefully on the floor your parent’s car. Car seats where invented in the 60’s but weren’t common or even a law until late 70’s (1978-1988) this was when it became a law state by state.

No One Ever Wore a Helmet

Helmet laws weren’t common until the early 90’s. People never wore helmets unless they had some other medical condition or where playing football. The bike helmet was invented in the mid 70’s but if you were forced to wear it you either had a condition or overprotective parents.

Jarts a.k.a Lawn Darts Because Getting Impaled is Fun

Jarts were responsible for over 7,000 injuries. In the late 80’s lawn darts became banded in the US after a child was accidently killed with them playing a game in the yard. The family was determined and relentless in their lobbying after the death of their child and in 1988 the CPSC (consumer product safety commission) officially banded the “toy”.

Playgrounds Were Money Makers for Doctors and Hospitals

Many things used to be made of this substance called Metal. Unfortunately though in the hot sun, metal heats up quite a bit and can lead to first degree burns. Playgrounds were also on concreate and asphalt so broken bones were more common. Now there are recycled rubber tires (which will probably be replaced by something more Eco friendly).

Skin Cancer Anyone?

No one even thought about skin cancer in the 70’s. You lathered up with tanning oil or any oil really and laid out in the sun all day. There wasn’t such a thing as sunscreen, the darker the tan the better.

Left Alone in the Car

This was a typical aspect of a 70’s kid life. Mom didn’t want to drag you into the store; you didn’t want to go into the store, so in the car you stayed. Now you can get arrested for this. But in the 70’s you may have been stolen, overheated, or frozen depending on the weather.

Latchkey Kids

You also let yourself in at home, and were unsupervised for several hours. This meant you probably cooked yourself a snack, handled knives, possibly rain with scissors. Numerous threats to personal safety could have taken you out. At the very least you were prone to severe tooth decay.

Fake Food Becomes Popular

Food additives, colors and numerous other aspects to food changed during this time frame. Food became less made of actual food. In fact this aspect of change may be effecting people today; it just didn’t kill too many people right away. And hey, cereal became way more fun.

Drinking from the Hose was Delicious

Drinking from the hose was normal. But now hoses are made from Poly Vinyl Chloride or PVC and when the hose sits in the sun for some time you can get lead poisoning. And BPA types cause hormone problems and more. Plus standing water issues, bugs, dirt can also make a person sick. Some hoses were made from good old rubber prior. Maybe hose drinking should just be done in moderation.

Going Barefoot Everywhere in the Summer

Shoes in the summer time were optional. This we now know can lead to picking up any kind of flesh eating bacteria, impaling yourself on a nail and obviously losing toes and feet. (Well, possibly.) Being barefoot can ground you more to your surroundings, but it is very frowned upon today.

Lead Based Paints

Lead paint was common until 1978 when it was realized, whoops, this is toxic. Kids eat paint occasionally, and sometimes paint gradually chips and deteriorates into your environment. Lead poisoning is serious stuff, and it is now a common test for young children.

Surviving the Slip and Slide

The Slip ‘N Slide was a thrilling but treacherous cheap piece of plastic, marketed for summertime fun. Simply wet a long piece of plastic with no barriers or padding and throw yourself down it, what can go wrong? Turns out neck injuries and paralysis. Between 1973 to 1991 there were a small number of serious injuries reported. Today you can get a safer version.

Klick Clacks, Children’s Nunchucks

Click Clacks seemed like a harmless game, which may promote hand-eye coordination. But it was made with heavy balls, which did injure many people. They were deadly even from normal wear if the ball escaped its attached position, injuring children from the 70’s. They were officially banded in 1985.

Nothing was Antibacterial

The era of antibacterial everything was not in the 70’s, it’s a wonder everyone didn’t die from constant infections from bacteria. Especially since you can find hand sanitizers and antibacterial soap everywhere today.

Mom Probably Had A Few

Smoking and drinking while pregnant is very taboo now and looked at as insane in extremes or irresponsible to perhaps selfish in light use. But in the 70’s it wasn’t as much of a concern. There were people who wouldn’t even take an aspirin and others who still had some drinks and used their stomach to hold the ashtray.

Second Hand Smoke was Everywhere and Plentiful

Parents smoked with their kids in the car, in the house, at the hospital, restaurant etc. Smoking laws didn’t become a thing until the late 90’s, beginning in 1998 in California and sweeping across the country. Before then, it was common for people to smoke nearly wherever they felt like. Cigarettes were also advertised as being healthy for decades before the warning labels went on them. So parents never thought they were doing anything wrong.

Buying your Parent’s Cigarettes

This may not have actually killed you, except when you decided to get some for yourself since no one had an issue with kids buying cigarettes. You could go to the store and buy smokes for your dad or mom. Now they would call Children’s services if a 7 or 8 year old went to the corner store with the request of a pack of smokes.

Children Liked Eating Dirt

Eating dirt was part of life as a kid in the 70’s, mud pies, making your sibling eat “food you made from the yard”. All part of growing up. But now you can’t do that or you may not be actually raising your children correctly according to some. Other’s will tell you there is nothing like a good ‘ol mudpie.