As a child of the 1970’s, I’m just grateful to still be here. Why, you ask? Because for those parents that aren’t from that era, child safety was essentially non-existent. Child safety wasn’t even a term.
Like felines, we were all given 9 lives at birth, which, when combined with dumb luck is a majority of the reason I’m still here to write this article. The remaining percentage can be chalked up to the few companies, like Tide, that actively attempted to create and design technology that protected the consumer – but we’ll talk more about that in a minute.
Back in the 1970’s, parents barely even watched their kids. Older siblings were often tasked with watching toddlers. We were told to ‘go outside’ and the idea and hope was that, like cats, we would eventually return home. Hours upon hours were spent riding our bikes, climbing trees and building forts.
In the safety sense, playgrounds were WAY more adventurous. They were constructed of metal and wood over beds of dirt and gravel, unlike the composites that hover within the expanse of recycled car tires we have today. We have wetpourcontractors.co.uk making playgrounds safe nowadays.
If you didn’t fall victim to splinters or the occasional exposed, rusty nail, you suffered in other ways. One of our favorite games was an earlier version of the hit CBS show ‘Survivor’. But instead of living on an island eating rice and beans, the goal was to get the merry-go-round to reach the speed of sound, sit back and watch children get tossed at other kids like missiles.
The youth of today don’t have to worry about participating in ‘lawn darts’ at the annual family summer barbeque. They were banned in 1988 after putting 6,000 people in the emergency room and causing a handful of casualties.
Helmets, those things our kids wear today for almost anything they do when leaving the house – they were for dweebs and losers. In fact, we doubled-down on injury ratios by having friends ride on our handlebars.
Half of the cars on the road didn’t even have fitted seat belts. It wasn’t until the 1980’s that individual states actually required you to wear one.
And if you were going for a car ride and weren’t lucky enough to ride untethered in the flatbed of the truck, you were unbuckled in the cab with the windows up, taking in all of the glorious second-hand cigarette smoke.
Heck, not only was it normal to get hotboxed by your parents or Uncle Eddie, cigarette companies actually felt comfortable targeting kids in their ads.
And when you weren’t riding in a vehicle with someone you knew, you were waving your thumb at oncoming traffic. Hitchhiking was a preferred method of travel. It was like we were signing up for danger.
Sunscreen was irrelevant. It was a badge of ‘summer honor’ to walk into school in September with skin peeling off of our cheeks and shoulders.
Times Have Changed
As a father now, I look back on my childhood with a little bit of horror. While I made it through in one piece, I am much more concerned about my child’s safety than my parents were for mine. Maybe it’s because of the news or social media or just the fact that there are more dangers in today’s modern home than there were 40 years ago.
Pill bottles, cleaners and detergents weren’t as safe as they are now, but neither were our practices. We now make an effort to focus on child safety by child-proofing cabinets and drawers. In fact, the second my first kid started to be mobile, I was on my hands and knees searching for every single sharp edge or potential harmful cabinet they could get their hands on…especially in the laundry room. We always keep our detergent stored high and out of reach. And Tide is there to help when we get too caught up or distracted in the ‘moments’ of parenthood. They’ve provided a safety measure of their own by incorporating the Child-Guard™ Pack and Child-Guard™ Tubs with their Tide PODs.
As I wrote this article, it got me thinking about my own “safety style” as a parent. Luckily, not only does Tide help protect my children in the laundry room, but they developed a quick quiz that helps you easily identify your safety style. Take the quiz HERE.
According to Tide’s quiz, I’m a Cheetah.
“I’m fast on my feet, adaptable and nimble. My parenting philosophy is that I have no one philosophy. It’s about what is right for the situation and the environment. Staying tuned in to my little ones so they go into the world feeling loved, confident and safe is my first priority…”
What about you? Share your results with me in the comments below, and spread the word about laundry safety!
EDITOR’S NOTE: This was a sponsored post on behalf of Tide, educating good folks like yourself how to use and handle Tide PODs and other detergents in a safe manner. Check them out HERE, on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!