Baby Mamas

Baby Mama Update ~ Vax R/Us

Times have changed - but have they? We survived being born to a mother who may have chain smoked Chesterfields or drank habitually while they carried us; now meth-coke and heroin cause babies to be born addicted. They took heavy doses of aspirin, ate salty ankle swelling sauces, even mercury exposing fish from a can; never being tested for sodium or sugar diabetes, probably ever. Along with enduring all of the trauma from baby cribs, jingling with overhead carousel-chimes, in rooms covered with bright colored lead-based paints bordered by asbestos walls.

How did we survive no child proof lids on medicine bottles or door-cabinet crawling lock protections. We even rode bikes with no helmets - of course our heads were much harder then. We hitch-hiked everywhere; our basic mode of transportation. Seat belts or air bags never existed as a glimmer in car makers eyes. Now they've made (4) door trucks to accommodate 'belts' throughout the vehicles. Riding in the back of a pickup sliding loosely was always great fun. Sadly, I know of several pickup truck accidents with kids flying out that lives could have been saved.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a sterilized bottle. We shared our Coke Bottle Swigs with friends, and no one actually died from this; I think? We ate triple frosted cakes, cream puff pastries and white bread slathered with real butter and actually drank pop with extra sugar-cubes added as a quick 'high.' But we weren't overweight because we always played outside running around; rather than sitting around playing indoor Internet games, incessantly. I see school kids walk side by side with eyes on their cell phones; never just talking to one another. Are their best friends now computers?

— Our brains were being challenged in real-time. Unlike video games the story wasn't pre-written for us —

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the street lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day via mobile phone~text or even neighborhood shout-outs. Somehow we still survived that, too. Boys would spend hours fiddling and building wooden push-carts out of scraps and shopping cart wheels then ride down the hill, with only our feet dragging to stop us. After crashing into anything-everything - it still was such fun - a challenge if you will and we wore our bandages as a badge.

— Oh No —

OSHA child labor laws were non-existent: Kids will be kids. We burned our trash in backyard incinerators (anyone remember those) and constantly stepped on rusty nails while curiously traipsing around construction sites; Tetanus shot-jabs thereafter.

Our broken bone heavy white 'Plaster of Paris' casts filled with neighborhood signatures and silly squiggles made famous as featured at classroom Show & Tell days; so worth that. We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from ambulance chasing (settlement oriented) lawyers pointed at every deep-pocket within reach - Whew makes lawyer jokes a reality!

The idea of a parent bailing you out if you broke the law was unheard of; learned 'tude-taken. They actually sided with the law before the lawyers and the politicians regulated our 'entire' lives 'for our own good,' of course. Flash is out - Fancy cars, commonly worn jewelry, make us Targets; where's the "Progress" with that?

Smart Phone Reality? Factory kids got rickets from lack of sunshine. Kids today suffer from lack of sunshine through indoor 'lectric game day tripping. Lest we forget everyone's favorite: Playing backyard Doctor - Stethoscopes Out.

— Remember what used to be good before it hits us between the eyes and we may not recognize it —

Jay Kantor, Chatsworth, California

'Senior' Vocal Author - Vocal Village Community -