Teaching kids about safety is always a challenge. We want our kids or grandkids to have fun, but we also want them to be aware of their surroundings. It comes down to a fine line between being too strict and being too lenient. 

In the 1950s, scaring kids straight seemed to be a popular method for teaching them about safety. The proof is in the manual It's Great To Be Alive, a guide from the Police Safety League that was meant to teach kids how to have safe fun.

Instead, the manual perhaps mentally scarred kids for life. Would you ever want to leave the house after reading this?

Granted, the lessons in the book are all important ones every kid should learn. But you think the authors of this book could have gone about it in a more comforting manner. 

The cover shows some happy kids running home from a long day at school. But don't be fooled by their gleeful expressions, danger lurks on every page.

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Here is what kids might have taken away from this gruesome-yet-hilarious safety manual. 

1. Don't hide in leaf piles, or this will be your fate. 

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2. You might die if you fly a kite. 

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3. Don't play in refrigerators or you will be entombed forever. 

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4. If you don't look both ways before crossing the street, you'll become crippled.

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5. Don't ride a bike.

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6. Don't ride a bike.

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7. Seriously, don't ride a bike.

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8. Always respect your elders.

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9. Okay, so maybe there is one good takeaway from the book.

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Honestly though, we think this book is better left in the 1950s.