Parents-remember what it was like to be a kid-your kids do not need a bubble

I read this on a forum, but it reminded me of my time growing up in Encinitas.


First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter or lard and bacon.
We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight.. WHY?

Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on..
No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were OKAY.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them 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 put lawn chairs on top of skateboards and raced them downhill, no helmets, no pads, just a t-shirt, a pair of O.P. shorts and a pair of Vans.
We found the biggest hill we could find and jump off of it trying to land at the bottom.

We got skinned knees, broken bones, concussions and more. We experienced pain and it was OK. Sure it hurt, but it helped us with our understanding of the world. It is OK to experience sadness, loss, even failure because it equips us to handle the world when Mom or Dad isn't there to protect us.

We did not have Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms.

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping pong paddles, or just a bare hand and no one would call child services to report abuse.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

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

I was just thinking about the times I didn't come home right on time, sometimes a few hours late. The thing about it, I still came home. If you are worried that something bad is going to happen then you are not equipping them with the knowledge to handle the world beyond your front door. Land the helicopter and helping your child grow. Telling them you are worried they will get hurt is the same thing as saying you do not believe that they can do it and that they are destined for failure. I am not sure why I found myself on this rant, possibly hitting a lot of different emotions today after my run in with the neighbors...but that is for another day.

Some people ask if Danielle and I want to have natural born children because they might get PKD from me. While we are leaning toward adoption, if we could have natural born children, we would, for this reason, with all that I have gone through, I would not have wanted my parents to not have me. I love my life, my wife and my friends. Sure, life has been tough, but my father set the example on how to be tough through physical adversity. He fought kidney failure and poor health for almost 20 years. Watching him get knocked down and get right back up was no different to me than watching Rocky get knocked down and just when you thought the fight was over, he would hit back and win the title. He set the example for me on how I need to be through my series of fights up coming.