If you are a Nigerian born between 1930-1980 Congratulations!

If you are a Nigerian born between 1930-1980 Congratulations!

To Those of us Born 1930-1980

No matter what the new Nigerian generation thinks about us, WE ARE AWESOME!!!! OUR LIFE IS LIVING PROOF!!!!

Our Nigerian mothers took aspirin, ate garri and fufu, geisha from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then 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 no helmets on our heads.

As infants & children, we would ride in family cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, no shock absorber, bald tires and sometimes no brakes. We drank water from the mouth of public taps and not from a bottle.

We shared one bottle of coke with four friends and no one actually died from this. (We also learnt the virtue of sharing which seems to be going extinct right now)

We ate cake made with Fat and Agege bread, with real butter. We drank TreeTop 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 evening lights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. We had no mobile phones. And, we were OKAY!! (Those were peaceful days!)

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 ONLY HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them there! ( where we could actually verify who they were unlike the case with the internet)

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. (These accidents actually made us strong)

We would get spankings with belts, roots, twigs, or just the raw bare hand with five fingers and no one would call child services to report abuse.

(OMG, those spankings have made us what we are today, with a healthy respect for authority)
We ate crickets, bush rats, grass cutters, squirrels and those insects that come after the rains. Mama always knew how to deal with them with a nice cup of Phillip Milk of Magnesia.

We wore Bata shoes. We made up our games with sticks, scraps and pebbles or just the bare sand.
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, shared their lunch or their mama would prepare our lunch.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law! And will even punish us for breaking the law. (I shudder to think what my father would have said if I had even suggested that he gives me money to pay for scores, what?)

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. What can kids today do besides push buttons? We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with them all.

If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up in this generation. While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.
It's nice to know that God was watching over us.

Congratulations!

Don't forget, that we were beaten black and blue by seniors in secondary school and nobody to come to your rescue in 'tail cutting' and 'red nights'. Made me stronger and more independent. Try it today and one millionaire will lock you and you and your dad for terrorism on their child!

Dont forget that they were slaves then, by the europeans who took our money away.no public awareness. No overall education but still very much satisfy

U try. D good old days are gone 4eva. I'm scared now of been kidnapped becos I use d best ride in my area.

Congratulations!but that doesn't mean some of us who were born after 1980 didn't share some of those things u mentioned,I played "ten ten" and "suwe" outside my house wit friends,no other channel on tv except NTA and LTV then later clapperboard, I went to boarding house where the seniors bullied the hell out of our lives,and my parent will tell me to endure it that its part of life.anyway childhood was fun

Men! I rmba wen some days i will skip home for like 2days bc of the belt whip waiting for me for 1 offense or the other.

Rmba we playing dangerous games like somersaulting into deep dangerous sandy gullies (of about 15-20ft deep) and still stand on your feet cause if u fail to stand on ur feet ur friends will beat the sh-it out of u.

the days we make trolleys (Boris) from old car borris and ride round city schools with it.

The days when we force our bodies into lorry tire holes and your friends will roll u for like a kilometr and drop u and the tire only for u to pull yourself out with ur head spinning.

the days we jump into deep roaring rivers and swim for hours non-stop.

The days we fight like mad dogs and u go home wit serious injuries and hide it from ur parents cause if they see it, it means anoda serious beatings before its cleaned with hydrogen peroxide (we prefer to hide it from parents and treat it ourselves with sand poured into it)

The days of squirrel hunting and mango plugging with lots of us going home later with broken heads!

Too many adventures to mention here. And to think am now 37 and with the modern advancements, am already feeling like and 70!

I look at kids today and i feel sorry for them. all their fun is on the net and pc games! little headache and they are rushed to see a doctor! In our time, who knows the word headache!

Very sad!

I at least shared very little of those days too;and it was good and adventrous;before the advent of cable tv, game boy,and atari .

Kids hardly play outdoor these days,intead they enjoy playing with computer games,robotic friends and stuffs. Maybe that's why they're not that resillient and adaptive. .and .sometimes too lazy.

@greateros, that borres part? Did you live in Enugu? We made the best borres and used it to fetch water from kilometrers away. Very innovative kids we were, wonder why we are not building cars now.

Honestly, i feel like crying 'cos the good old days are gone and will never come again. Civilization is now the order of the day- So sad! Well i think i experience some of that 'cos i ws born in d 80's(though the late 80's)
i miss my friend, then in Ibadan. How i wish i could turn back the hands of time-
@ poster, that ws really a nice poem!

Really Gone are those good old days. When you respect ur teachers more than ur parent infact they are mini god. When ur one year old sibling must call you broda mi or aunty mi. When you flogged anybody flogable during masqurade festival. The list is endless.

Funny enough, the kids living in the slums of ijesha, agege, ajegunle,mushin etc, are the ones enjoying real childhood. They roll in the dirt, play football in the mud, dance and sing in the rain stark naked with dangling willies. They are the ones who re enjoying a semblance of childhood.

oh ok so you grown folks are proud of being beaten?

^^^yes, and beating others.

@greateros and invisible

kai! u guys just reminded me of those borres days. kai! I grew up in Enugu, swimming in "mmiri ani", playing of "koso", john wayne cards from chewing gum wrappers, heck my dad gave me severe beatings because of catapult. i miss those days. kids of now are all grown up, toasting babes at 5yrs. even skools dont have playgrounds except for public skools(these days everybody wants their kids to be aje bu'''er). but d public skool pikins dem dey blast JAMB pass dem. I'M HAPPY FOR MY CHILDHOOD AND THATS SOMETHING I'M NOT WILLING TO SWAP FOR A GAZILLION BUCKS!.

lol, nice one!

nostalgia, i think.i do feel it to.good old days

hey guys! what about moving from one family's house to another during xmas, new year and easter in search of rice and gifts(usually money)? And by the time u got home, ur belle don swell up like udi hill? nobody was afraid of their kids being poisoned or anything like that. Then chicken was a huge luxury and if u didnt have money for chicken, u'd just come outside and sharpen ur knife so loud that the neighbours will be salivating thinking u were actually killing one. yeah and when if any classmate stole his parents money and got caught, we used to see him as a "hardened criminal" and everyone was admonished not to keep company with such? damn i miss those days! i remember our schools used to organise for us to go and watch the execution by firing squad of condemned armed robbers like big fish and santana to deter us from stealing and after any of such trips, even the most hardened of us would become "born again". hmmmmnnnnnnn! nostalgia na good thing sha!