How did we manage to survive?

The Saint wishes tip his hat for this email, which he recently received and wanted to share with all those who were born in 1930's, 40's, 50's, 60's and early 70's!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us and lived in houses made of asbestos. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese, raw egg products, loads of bacon and processed meat, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes or cervical cancer.
Then after that trauma, our baby cots were covered with bright coloured lead-based paints. We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets or shoes, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.
As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.
Take away food was limited to fish and chips, no pizza shops, McDonalds, KFC, Subway or Nandos.
Even though all the shops closed at 6.00pm and didn't open on Sunday’s weekends, somehow we didn't starve to death!
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no body actually died!
We could collect old drink bottles and cash them in at the corner shop and buy Gobstoppers, Bubble Gum and 50 cent mixtures.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soft drinks with sugar in them, but not many of us overweight because...
We were always outside playing. And fat kids were called fatty, porky or chubby. Not told they were physically challenged or had a slow metabolism!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back before dark. No one saw us all day and we were O.K.
We’d spend hours building go-carts out of old prams and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. We built tree houses and dens and played in streams and on rivers.
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no
lawsuits from these accidents.
We did not have Play stations, Nintendo Wii or X-box. There were no video games, no 999 channels on SKY or video/DVD films.
No mobile phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms. We had real friends (not Facebook "Friends") and we actually went out and met them – not online!
Only old ladies had pierced ears and only men who had been in the Navy had tattoos.
We made mud pies made from dirt, and played with frogs, worms and snails and we didn't wash our hands before eating blackberries, apples and plums.
You could only buy Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns (yes, the buns were allowed to have crosses on them and non Christians were happy to buy them as well!) at Easter time
we were given air guns and catapults for our 10th birthdays. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just yelled for them!
Mum didn't have to go to work to help dad make ends meet!
Rugby and cricket had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Getting into the team was based on merit.
Our teachers used to hit us with canes and gym shoes, and bullies always ruled the playground at school.
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of.
They actually sided with the law!
Parents didn't invent stupid names for their kids like Kiaora, Blade, Ridge, Vanilla, Sky, Galley Eyes or Zepplin.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all. It may have not been the good old days, but at least it was real!