Sometimes I read forwarded mail. Sometimes I don't. Sometimes the ones I read are a total waste of time. Sometimes they aren't. I was fortunate enough to get one recently that was not only cute, but insightful. It made me think of what it was like for me as a child and how life is so different for Lucas! So here it is ladies and gents...

"TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's!! 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.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads.

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 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 did not have Play stations, Nintendo 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!!

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

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS! Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?"

Now of course I'm not saying that all of those things were great and wonderful for our collective well-being, but every little piece shapes who we are as adults. One thing that really got me thinking was the "playing" part. I ran the neighborhood with my friends! So why can't we just open our front doors and yell "dinner" when it's time? Because we've lost the "it takes a village" mentality as a society! We fear what other parents will do should we "dare" to correct a child or tell the child's parent that he/she did this or that. Trust me when I say, Lucas is far from being a saint. And yes, he has some reasons for some behaviors. However, I appreciate other parents at Tumblin' Tots, Mc Donald's or the park telling me when his behavior is out of line! I do prefer a parent to tell me versus them talking to Lucas themselves, but that's mostly due to his autism and the likely reaction to a stranger approaching him in that situation. But I hope we're not so changed as a society that we can't still chirp a "honey, be careful" to the child who is dangerously close to falling or hurting another child! So what do you think? Is the forwarded e-mail an accurate account of your childhood?