TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 50's, 60's, and 70's (MY VERSION)

Several of my friends have posted this sweet and nostalgic piece. I can see the beauty in remembering way back when. Hell I was born in 75, so I was around during a good chunk of the “old days”. However, I am a mother, and my oldest was born in 2002. I faced a lot of “that’s not how we did it” from most of the people who are in my parents’ generation. I just have this to say about that. Not everything that has changed is bad. I agree that the video games and the television and the tripling of child obesity is a very real and a very, very dangerous concern. I do not believe however that scoffing at the new ways or considering every change that has been made as being ridiculous. Children’s lives have been saved due to many of these changes. That’s enough for me not to feel that they are unnecessary. The idea of the piece is “We turned out ok, so it couldn’t have been bad”. The truth is, not everyone turned out ok. Please read the short piece below. It explains in larger than life numbers the differences that have been made. I’m raising two beautiful girls in this world, and I have to believe it’s not all horrible. I have to. Every time I see the positive I cling to it. It’s out there. You just have to look for it because it doesn’t sell as well.

*NOTE: I am not suggesting if you aren’t following all the rules set by today’s experts, that you are endangering your child. I know we all do what we think is best for our children.

TRENDS IN ACCIDENTAL INJURY-RELATED DEATH RATES AMONG CHILDREN

Safe Kids Worldwide is a global network of organizations whose mission is to prevent accidental childhood injury, a leading killer of children 14 and under. Safe Kids was founded in 1987 by Children’s National Medical Center with support from Johnson & Johnson. The first full year of funding for Safe Kids in the United States was 1988. Therefore, 1987 data is used as a benchmark to establish trends.

•  The accidental injury death rate among children ages 14 and under declined 45 percent
• The motor vehicle occupant death rate among children ages 14 and under declined 25 percent
• The bicycle injury death rate among children ages 14 and under declined 70 percent .
• The pedestrian injury death rate among children ages 14 and under declined 59 percent.
• The drowning death rate among children ages 14 and under declined 42 percent from.
• The fire and burn injury death rate among children ages 14 and under declined 64 percent.
• The airway obstruction injury death rate among children ages 14 and under declined 11 percent.
• The unintentional firearm injury death rate among children ages 14 and under declined 80 percent.
• The falls injury death rate among children ages 14 and under declined 45 percent.
• The poisoning death rate among children ages 14 and under declined 19 percent .
• SIDS rates are down from 1.37 per thousand to .69 per thousand from 1987 to 1997 and much of that correlates with the Back To Sleep campaign.

In closing I would like to mention a few more things: In decades past, many injuries that a child could survive today, would have ended in death 30, 40, 50 years ago.  In addition to that, if a child received an injury that left him or her compromised mentally or physically, that child may or may not have continued to received public education.  Many of those children were simply raised in their homes until they were too old to be cared for by their parents any longer.  Public education has changed considerably in the last 30 years.  Children who would have been institutionalized due to their disabilities back then are IN our schools now.  I couldn't find stastics on convalescent care of children that simply never returned home.  It's a gray area.  But my point is bad thing DID happen.  Tragedies existed but most of the kids in the 50-60-70's didn't go to school with the effects of it.  

I would like to see a meeting in the middle.  A compromise between paranoia and blind belief that the old days were better.. just because.  This is a VERY different world. Lets not forget that while we talk about how safe things were, we are talking about how it was for a specific group of people.  We are talking about the millions of children who WEREN'T abducted or molested.  We are talking about the kids who DIDN'T receive debilitating head injuries.  We're talking about the kids who may or may not have had anyone at all at home.  I have a friend who has to live with what happened to her in childhood.  At far too young of an age, she was "watching" a child a few years younger.  From what I understand, they were playing outside in a large group.  The younger child DIED from an accident.  The older child, now an adult, can understand mentally that it wasn't her fault, but emotionally, she will always bear those scars.  She will always feel the brunt of it.  The laissez faire parenting of the generation I grew up in left scars.  And I do understand that they were better parents than their own parents.  And I also understand that even the things I worry about now, are NOT the things my children will find fault with when they are older.  Again, my point is, that yesteryear was not perfect.  No time period is perfect.  We can only hope to get better.