According to today's regulators and bureaucrats, those of us who were kids in the 60's, 70's and early 80's probably shouldn't have survived because first, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, didn't get tested for diabetes, our baby cots were covered with brightly coloured lead-based paint which was promptly chewed and licked.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, or latches on doors or cabinets and it was fine to play with pans. When we rode our bikes, we wore no helmets, just flip-flops and fluorescent 'spokey dokey's' on our wheels. As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or airbags - riding in the passenger seat was a treat.

We drank water from the garden hose, not from a bottle and it tasted the same.

We ate chips, bread and butter pudding and drank fizzy juice with sugar in it, but we were never overweight because we were always outside playing. We shared one drink with four friends, from one bottle
or can and no one actually died from this. We would spend hours building go-carts out of scraps and then went top speed down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.

After running into stinging nettles a few times, we learned to solve the problem. We would leave home in the morning and could play all day, as long as we were back before it got dark. No one was able to reach us and no one minded.

We did not have Play stations or X-Boxes, no video games at all. No 99 channels on TV, no videotape movies, no surround sound, no mobile phones, no personal computers, no DVDs, no Internet chat rooms.

We had friends - we went outside and found them.

We played elastic band ball rounders, and sometimes that ball really hurt!

We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones but there were no lawsuits. We had full on fist fights but no prosecution followed from other parents.
We played chap-the-door-run-away and were actually afraid of the owners catching us. We walked to friends' homes. We also, believe it or not, WALKED to school; we didn't rely on mummy or daddy to drive us to school, which was just round the corner.

We made up games with sticks and tennis balls.

We rode bikes in packs of 7 and wore our coats by only the hood. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was unheard of... They actually sided with the law. This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and 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.

And you're one of them. Congratulations!

Pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow as real kids, before lawyers and government regulated our lives, for our own good.

For those of you who aren't old enough, thought you might like to read about this, my friends, is surprisingly frightening......and it might put a smile on your face: The majority of students in universities today were born in 1986........They are called youth.

They have never heard of 'We are the World, We are the children' and the Uptown Girl they know is by Westlife not Billy Joel. They have never heard of Rick Astley, Bananarama, Nena Cherry or Belinda Carlisle. (possibly not a bad thing of course....) For them, there has always been
only one Germanyand one Vietnam.

AIDS has existed since they were born. CD's have existed since they were born. MichaelJackson has always been white. To them John Travolta has always been round in shape and they can't imagine how
this fat guy could be a god of dance. They believe that Charlie's Angels and Mission Impossible are films from last year. They can never imagine life before computers. They'll never have pretended to be the 'A' Team, Red Hand Gang or the Famous Five. They'll never have applied to be on 'Jim'll Fix It' or 'Why Don't You'. They ca

1.Name: Cathriona Byrne
2. Nicknames: Cat
3. Birthday: 02/09/82
4. Place of Birth: Dublin
5. Zodiac Sign: virgo
6. Male or Female: female
7. Straight bi or gay: straight
8. School:was Arklow Community Collage
9. Occupation: operative
10. msn address: not getting it
11. Hometown: Arklow

__Your Appearance___

12. Hair Color: Fair
13. Hair Length: Short
14. Eye color: blue
15. Weight: ha ha not telling yet
16. Height: tall
17. Braces?: no
18. Glasses?: no
19. Piercings: ears
20. Tattoos: 6
21. Righty Or Lefty: righty

___Your 'Firsts'___

22. First best friend:laura nolan
23. First Award: gymnatstics
24. First boyfriend: id rather forget!!
25. First pet: cat
26. First Real Vacation: salthill in galway
27. First kiss: by my first boyfriend
28. First enemy! emm id rather not say

___ Favorites___

29. Movie: pretty woman,
30. TV programme. hereos,friends, simpsons
31. Color: turquoise and pink
32. Choc: cadburys caramel
33. Singer : pink
34. Song Right Now:rhianna. take a bow
35. Favourite season: Summer when we get one
36. Sweet: fudge
37. Game:lara croft
38. Food: chicken chow mein
39. Drink: vodka and white
40. Shop: New look
41. Perfume: lacoste,inis.
42. Animal: tiger
43. Posession:my phone
44. Country: portugal.
45. Shoes: my blue chelsea shoes.

___Currently___

46. Feeling: happy
47. Single or Taken: taken
48. Have A Crush: only on tom x
49. Eating: chicken chow mein
50. Drinking: diet coke
51. Typing: ya
52. Online?: ya
53. Listening To: football
54. Thinking: not much
55. Wanting To: get off line
56. Watching: computer
57. Wearing : pjs

___Your Future___

58. Want Kids?have one
59. Want to be Married?: deffo
60. Careers in Mind: sumewhere sunny and outdoors
61. Where do you want to live: somewher hot
62. Car: not yet but would love a convertible

__Which is Better With The Opposite Sex___

63. Hair color: dark
64. Hair length: short
65. Eye color: any
66. Short or Tall: little bit taller
67. Easygoing or serious: Bit of both
68. Romantic or Spontaneous: Romantic
69. Fatty or Skinny: Fit
70. Sensitive or Loud: more sensitive than loud
71. Hook-up or Relationship: Realationship
72. Sweet or Caring: Both
73. Trouble Maker or Hesitant One: Balanced

___Have you ever______

74. Got hit by a car: almost
75. Kissed a Stranger: Haha
76. Had Alcohol: of course
77. Had drugs: not telling
78. Passed out: yes
79. Been insulted by a complete stranger: yes.
80. Smoked: yes never again its disgusting!
81. Ran Away From Home: yeah for a few hours
82. Broken a bone: yes
83. Got an X-ray: ya
84. Turned someone down: yes
85. Broken Someones Heart: not that im aware of
86. Broke Up With Someone: Yeah
87. Cried When Someone Died: ya
88. Cried At School:

___Do You Believe In__

89. God: i dunno
90. Miracles: kinda
91. Love At First sight: no just lust
92. Ghosts: No but i do believe in spirits
93. Aliens: the government are always hiding something so why not
94. Soul Mates: not sure
95. Heaven: i hope so
96. Hell: no
97. Angels: yes
98. Kissing on The First Date: Yeah
99. Horoscopes: only if there good