Born Before The 80s

• First, you survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank and lived in houses made of asbestos while they carried you.

• They took aspirin, ate blue cheese and tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.

• Then after that trauma, your baby cribs were covered with bright coloured, lead-based paints.

• You had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when you rode your bikes you had no helmets or shoes, not to mention the risks some of you took hitchhiking.

• As children, you would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.

• Riding in the back of a ute on a warm day was always a special treat.

• You drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

• Take-away food was limited to fish and chips - no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Red Rooster.

• Even though all the shops closed at 6 p.m. and didn't open on the weekends, somehow you didn't starve to death!

• You shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no-one actually died from this.

• You could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner store and buy Fruit Tingles and some fire crackers to blow up frogs and lizards with.

• You ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in it, but you weren't overweight because ... you were always outside playing!

• You would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as you were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach you all day. And you were O.K!

• You would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out you forgot the brakes. You built tree-houses and cubby-houses and played in creek beds with matchbox cars.

• You did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video or DVD movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms ... you had friends and you went outside and found them!

• You fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

• Only girls had pierced ears!

• You ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in you forever.

• You could only buy easter eggs and hot cross buns at Easter time ... no really!

• You were given BB guns and sling shots for your 10th birthday.

• You rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell or just yelled for them!

• Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!

• Footy had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!

• Your teachers used to belt you with big sticks and leather straps and bully's always ruled the playground at school.

• The idea of a parent bailing you out if you broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

• Your parents got married before they had children and didn't invent stupid names for their kids like 'Kia ora' and 'Blade'!

• Your generation produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

• You had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and you learned how to deal with it all.