Traditional Baby Crib made of hardwood
First, some of us survived being born to mothers who did not have an OB-Gyne, who smoke cigarettes and/or drank San Miguel Beers or Syoktong, while they carried us in their wombs. The Manghihilot was a cheap and popular way to deliver babies. Dinala ka ba ng Nanay mo sa Pediatrician for DPT? While pregnant, they took cold or cough medicine, cortal or medicol, ate Isaw, and did’nt worry about diabetes or cervical cancer.
Traditional "Andador", made of rattan
Then after all that trauma, our baby cribs were made of hard wood covered with lead-based paints, pati na yung walker (Andador) natin, matigas na kahoy or rattan at wala pang gulong.
We had no soft cushy cribs that play music, no disposable diapers (lampin lang), ( noon cloth or rattan duyan lang tied to the posts or ceiling, babies would fall asleep sa sobrang hilo ) and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, no kneepads, sometimes wala pang preno yung bisikleta.
Take-out foods was limited to Ongpin’s pansit or Aling Toyang’s pre-cooked ulam in kalderos. No pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway, Jollibee, and coffee was just Kape hindi gamahal as in Starbucks.
Getting a free ride
As children, we would ride in jeepneys libre pag kandong, hot un-airconditioned buses with wooden seats (yung JD Bus na pula), or cars with no airconditioning and no seat belts (ngayon lahat may aircon na).
Carabao Ride
Riding on the back of the carabao on a breezy summer day was considered a treat (ngayon hindi na nakakakita ng kalabaw ang mga bata). Chewing sugarcane sticks til all the juice is extracted is part of every Negrense childhood experience. Big trucks filled with sugarcane which makes stops in the city to get tires fixed often fell victims to children.
Did you make your own saranggola and pasted bubog on the strings?
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle purchased from 7 Eleven (minsan straight from the faucet or poso) walang 7 Eleven noon, sari-sari store ni Mang Akong to buy sarsi, suntan, RC cola or choco-vim.
We share one soft drink bottle with four of our friends, and NO ONE actually died from it or contracted hepatitis.
We ate rice with star margarine, pampatangkad daw, took raw eggs straight from the shell, and drank soft drinks with real sugar in it (hindi diet coke), but we weren’t sick or overweight kasi nga ……….
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING !!!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, and get back when the streetlights came on. Sarap mag patintero, tumbang preso, habulan at tagu-an. Hindi uso ang kidnap for ransom na yan, safe maglaro sa labas. Tandaanmo ba PIKO, step-no-step- yes, trumpo, garter & mala-ahas sa haba na goma? Kung naulan, jackstones, pick-up sticks or sungka, bahay-bahayan, tinda-tindahan, titser-teacher- an or swimming sa baha or kangkungan.
"Tumbang Preso"
No one was able to reach us all day (di uso ang cellphone, walang beepers). And yes, we were OK. Sipol lang ni tatay ang meron noon!
We would spend hours building our wooden trolleys (yung bearing ang gulong) or plywood slides out of scraps and then ride down the street, only to find out we forgot the brakes! After hitting the sidewalk or falling into canal (sewage channel) a few times, we learned to solve the problem ourselves with our bare dirty hands.
"Swimming Sprees"
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 100 channels on cable, no DVD movies, no surround stereo, no IPOD’s, no cellphones, no computers, no Internet, no chat rooms, and no Friendsters, Facebook. MSN etc. …….. …WE HAD REAL FRIENDS and we went outside to actually talk and play with them!TV viewing was a treat, kilala mo ba si Popeye, Gumby, Betty Boop & followed the bouncing ball in Melody Tunes? That was karaoke then, LOL!
We climbed walls and trees (to get aratiles and catch salagubang & tutubi – tied them on the neck or buntot with a string),fell out of trees, got cut or “bukol”, broke bones and teeth and there were no stupid lawsuits from these accidents. The only rubbing we get is from our friends with the words…masakit ba ? pero pag galit yung kalaro mo,,,,ang sasabihin sa iyo..beh buti nga !
We played marbles (jolens) in the dirt , washed our hands just a little and ate dirty ice cream, fish balls & inihaw sa baga We were not afraid of getting sick or getting germs in our stomachs.
We had to live with homemade guns, gawa sa kahoy, tinali ng rubberband, sumpit, tirador at kung ano ano pa na pwedeng makasakitan, pero masaya pa rin ang lahat. We made up games with sticks (syatong), and cans (tumbang preso) and although we were told they were dangerous, wala naman tayong binulag o napatay… paminsan minsan may nabubukulan lang.
We walked a lot, rode bikes, or took tricycles to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them to jump out the window!
Mini basketball teams had tryouts and not everyone made it to the team. Those who didn’t pass had to learn to deal with the disappointment. Wala iyang mga childhood depressions at damaged self esteem ek-ek na yan. Ang pikon, talo.
Ang magulang ay nandoon lang para tingnan kung ayos lang ang mga bata, hindi para makialam at makipag-away sa ibang parents.
"Kick"
That generation of ours had produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers, creative thinkers and successful professionals ever! They are the CEO’s, Engineers, Doctors and Military Generals of today.
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas….
We had failure, success, and responsibility. We learned from our mistakes the hard way.
You might want to share this with others who’ve had the luck to grow up as real kids, even to your kids so they will know how brave their parents were. We are lucky indeed.
(This is a forwarded message)
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