As kids our generation was tough!

A

Aunt Marg

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Just finished posting a reply on an older thread topic related to summer heat and how we coped as kids... found here

https://www.seniorforums.com/threads/summer-days-prior-to-air-conditioning.43653/page-2#post-1768958

Anyhow, the wonderful topic got me to thinking about other kid related things specific to weather, and so here it is.

Aside from summers being hot, winters here in Canada were never, and have never been for sissies, and sissies we weren't. Our winter gear... jackets, waterproof snow pants, mitts and gloves, and the insides of our boots would be soaked, and it was all my mom could do was convince us to wait until our winter stuff dried enough before we headed back outside to build snow forts, snowmen, have snowball fights, toboggan, and just have fun.

Kids today wouldn't have the slightest what we lived through, but one such memory I have that dates back to when I was a young child, was having plastic bread bags pulled over my feet before putting on my winter boots, because the insides of my boots would still be damp, sometimes wet, but play was all that was on my mind, so out came a couple of plastic bread bags, my feet were bagged, boots followed, and out I went! Baby siblings and neighbourhood kids all got the same treatment. No slowing us down.

Unlike today, we walked to a from school, uphill both ways. Rain, sunshine, snow, sleet, fog, we weathered whatever Mother Nature could throw at us, and we conquered. I remember some days being so cold where we walked to school backwards with hoods pulled over our toque topped heads, because walking backwards kept the bitter cold wind and blowing snow from burning at our faces and necks. Even then it was a frigid walk.

When I got older, when I wanted to visit friends on the other end of town, I hopped on my bicycle, caught the bus (if I had the money), or walked, and I never complained, neither did any of my friends. Walking everywhere was a fact of life, everyone did it.

Gosh, the good old days... what great memories they are.
 

People are forever talking about nostalgia. There was a time when I did too but now I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in place or time than where I am right now. I used to listen to "oldies" and thought, "Man! Those were the days!" Today when I listen to those tunes or think of life in general "back then" I get really depressed. I think it's because I knew so little and what I did know was untrue. I was taught to appreciate romance and honesty and then I grew up (still growing up today) to discover that the majority of the world's population are cheaters - in both senses of the word. Have I become a cynic? Yes, I suppose that I have and I guess that's a negative thing but it means that I appreciate the life I have now today. That's not a bad thing, is it?
 

If I try to tell my children about walking home two miles from school everyday, even in 40 below weather, they just laugh and say, "Oh yeah, Right Mom!" Then they bust out laughing!
and YES, They still had school when it was 40 below, back then!
We girls had to wear dresses to school, so we wore jeans under the dresses and took them off when we got to school.
Some days, I had to run ice cold water over my hands and feet when i got home because they hurt so much from the cold.
Geez! That was so long ago it seems like another lifetime!
 
My mother used to regale us with stories of how bad winters were in Buffalo, N.Y. I supposedly was born during a snow storm. My mother used her outdoor clothesline in the winter even though she had an electric clothes dryer. The clothes would dry rigidly hard with icicles on them where they dripped, but my mother claimed they were softer and smelled better than those done in the dryer. I thought it was freaky that frozen jeans could literally stand up by themselves!
 
Verisure said:
People are forever talking about nostalgia. There was a time when I did too but now I wouldn't want to be anywhere else in place or time than where I am right now. I used to listen to "oldies" and thought, "Man! Those were the days!" Today when I listen to those tunes or think of life in general "back then" I get really depressed. I think it's because I knew so little and what I did know was untrue. I was taught to appreciate romance and honesty and then I grew up (still growing up today) to discover that the majority of the world's population are cheaters - in both senses of the word. Have I become a cynic? Yes, I suppose that I have and I guess that's a negative thing but it means that I appreciate the life I have now today. That's not a bad thing, is it?
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Reading your post, Verisure, my heart aches for you. I do think many of us... most of us in fact, were raised with the ideas you were, and through growing and maturing we established our own vision of what life held for us.

I also grew up with certain beliefs my parents instilled upon me, most good, but through life's lessons learned, I quickly realized life was different and would be different for me than what it was for my parents, but thinking back to those lost days that are so far behind me now, I still find comfort, happiness, and contentment in the past when I reflect upon it, more so than my life today.

I know we're all programmed differently, none of being the same, but I believe that's the key, to find happiness, contentment, comfort and peace at some point in time in ones life, and for some of us, that's now, and for those like me, it's in the past.
 
I don't know. Some of us may have had to walk in the bitter cold to get to school while others like me had to endure the heat at times but at least we were able to spend the time at school and after school with our friends. I give credit to the endurance the kids have had to put up with for the past year when socializing was limited and there were no activities such as Little League, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, school plays, etc to keep the kids busy and able to be with other kids.

And on a side note, I grew up as a kid in the 60's. My dad grew up as a kid in the 30's. He had it much tougher than I did growing so though I might sometimes think of how much easier kids have it today (if we do leave out the COVID year), I certainly had it a lot easier than his generation did. But judging from the stories he would tell me about his childhood, he was just as happy being a kid in his times as I was in my times.
 
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Gaer said:
If I try to tell my children about walking home two miles from school everyday, even in 40 below weather, they just laugh and say, "Oh yeah, Right Mom!" Then they bust out laughing!
and YES, They still had school when it was 40 below, back then!
We girls had to wear dresses to school, so we wore jeans under the dresses and took them off when we got to school.
Some days, I had to run ice cold water over my hands and feet when i got home because they hurt so much from the cold.
Geez! That was so long ago it seems like another lifetime!
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I remember reading an entry from a member telling how schools would shut down when it was cold, and as a canuck I nearly fell off my rocker with laughter.

Here in Canada schools don't shut down because there's a wind-chill or temps plummet, that's what winter parkas, boots, toques, scarves, mitts and gloves are for.

I remember walking to and from school on days where it was raining so hard it would take longer to get too and from school, because I would mad-dash my way to and from school the entire way, reaching that favourite oak or maple tree in so-and-so's yard, and as soon as I caught my breath, I was off again, this time looking to make it to the wonderful church along the way that had a most perfect overhang at the front entrance, and there I would stand for a few more minutes in hopes of the downpour subsiding, then it was off to the next stop along the way.

In all the years I attended school, I was never chauffeured to and from as kids are today, and I recall there only being two times in all those years where school was cancelled due to extreme weather, with heavy snow accumulations being the reason both times.

I recall my brown paper lunch bag turning to mush part way to school on rainy or snowy days, and on those days I learned to bread bag my lunch for the trek.

We kids would walk in the tire tracks left behind in the snow to help ease the effort of trudging through and having to break trail through a foot or more of freshly fallen white stuff, and in our travels often looked for that perfect slide down a hill in our waterproof snow pants. Walking to and from school wasn't just about getting to and from school, it was about playtime, too, and believe me, we made the most of it.

It really does seem like a lifetime ago. That's the only part that makes me sad, wondering where did the time go.
 
Fyrefox said:
My mother used to regale us with stories of how bad winters were in Buffalo, N.Y. I supposedly was born during a snow storm. My mother used her outdoor clothesline in the winter even though she had an electric clothes dryer. The clothes would dry rigidly hard with icicles on them where they dripped, but my mother claimed they were softer and smelled better than those done in the dryer. I thought it was freaky that frozen jeans could literally stand up by themselves!
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Gosh, that's one thing my mom never did, was hang washing on the outdoor line throughout winter, and being a staunch line-drier that I am, too, I have never hung washing in the winter, but do think about those who have. Have seen a few images of frozen clothing standing on it's own. :)

frozen-clothing.jpg
 
MarkinPhx said:
I don't know. Some of us may have had to walk in the bitter cold to get to school while others like me had to endure the heat at times but at least we were able to spend the time at school and after school with our friends. I give credit to the endurance the kids have had to put up with for the past year when socializing was limited and there were no activities such as Little League, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, school plays, etc to keep the kids busy and able to be with other kids.

And on a side note, I grew up as a kid in the 60's. My dad grew up as a kid in the 30's. He had it much tougher than I did growing so though I might sometimes think of how much easier kids have it today (if we do leave out the COVID year), I certainly had it a lot easier than his generation did. But judging from the stories he would tell me about his childhood, he was just as happy being a kid in his times as I was in my times.
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Growing up as a young child, my parents stories reflected much the same as mine, but where I started seeing change in relation to young and growing children and the freedoms we had in comparison to the freedoms kids today don't have, started in the 1990's.

Fully fenced yards, always being supervised, being chauffeured to and from school, to events, etc, property owners less tolerant of having neighbourhood children commandeer their yards as their personal playgrounds, and so on.

I don't recall ever being shooed by a homeowner for playing in their yard back in the day... boy, have times ever changed. Our playground was everyone's yards, and for blocks around, nothing was out of bounds.

Life today has become way too overly structured, and way too restrictive for kids as compared to childhood back in the 60's and 70's.
 
Aunt Marg said:
Growing up as a young child, my parents stories reflected much the same as mine, but where I started seeing change in relation to young and growing children and the freedoms we had in comparison to the freedoms kids today don't have, started in the 1990's.

Fully fenced yards, always being supervised, being chauffeured to and from school, to events, etc, property owners less tolerant of having neighbourhood children commandeer their yards as their personal playgrounds, and so on.

I don't recall ever being shooed by a homeowner for playing in their yard back in the day... boy, have times ever changed. Our playground was everyone's yards, and for blocks around, nothing was out of bounds.

Life today has become way too overly structured, and way too restrictive for kids as compared to childhood back in the 60's and 70's.
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We had that one neighbor that I think everyone had, the one who everyone was afraid of. If we hit a ball onto his lawn we would gingerly retrieve it and if it went into his backyard, forget it ! That ball was lost forever. There were stories that he would chase children off his lawn with his belt swinging. Of course no one saw anything close to that but all the kids were afraid of him and his house. Part of the neighborhood mystique I guess.
 
cdestroyer said:
View attachment 170070
does it snow in montana? I remember also, walking to school thru the bitter cold wind, some kids got frost bite no buses so only the locals,
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A lovely snap of history right there!

The snow banks and pathway leading to the front door is exactly how I remember it when I was a kid!

Snow banks so high, one struggled to toss the snow from their shovel up high enough for it to stay there.
 
Pecos said:
We lived in Northern Idaho until I was nine. We were snowed in multiple times. Those were the days when the basement was full of home canned goods and the coal bin was filled to the brim.
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Oh yes, our house, too (no coal bin though).

My dad built a large shelving unit for mom out of 2x4's, and mom would fill that shelving unit to the brim with everything from canned beans, to pears and peaches, cherries, syrups, relishes, jams and jellies, there was a little bit of everything, and what a pleasure it was to be able to go downstairs and fetch a homemade jar of something or another when it was bitter cold outside with a foot or two of freshly fallen snow.
 
MarkinPhx said:
We had that one neighbor that I think everyone had, the one who everyone was afraid of. If we hit a ball onto his lawn we would gingerly retrieve it and if it went into his backyard, forget it ! That ball was lost forever. There were stories that he would chase children off his lawn with his belt swinging. Of course no one saw anything close to that but all the kids were afraid of him and his house. Part of the neighborhood mystique I guess.
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Now had such a neighbour been in our hood when I was growing up, he/she would have been the recipient of doorbell ring, with a special package waiting for them... a package the boys would set aflame to, a brown paper bag special filled with dog poop, and of course there was the lead-up to Halloween night. We referred to it as "gate night" when I was growing up, and if you were a no-good, you were mopping eggs off your deck and windows the morning after.
 
Aunt Marg said:
Reading your post, Verisure, my heart aches for you. I do think many of us... most of us in fact, were raised with the ideas you were, and through growing and maturing we established our own vision of what life held for us.

I also grew up with certain beliefs my parents instilled upon me, most good, but through life's lessons learned, I quickly realized life was different and would be different for me than what it was for my parents, but thinking back to those lost days that are so far behind me now, I still find comfort, happiness, and contentment in the past when I reflect upon it, more so than my life today.

I know we're all programmed differently, none of being the same, but I believe that's the key, to find happiness, contentment, comfort and peace at some point in time in ones life, and for some of us, that's now, and for those like me, it's in the past.
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It's sort of funny (not 'ha-ha' funny) that I've left the past behind me and most of the pain I feel is when "looking back". I've done a lot of "leaving behind" in my life, picking up everything and travelling to the other end of the earth and starting afresh ... then doing it again, and again, and again. I suppose it makes sense being as I was forever finding very little that stacked up to my expectations. I am content now for the most part. I've done nearly everything I've ever wanted to do and if it worked, it worked and if it didn't, it didn't but I found out on my own terms and I can never criticize myself for not trying or for taking things "on faith". So, this thing about nostalgia ... I forgive everyone from the past and that includes myself but I wouldn't want to return to it, no Siree Bob! :)
 
Pappy said:
When us kids weren’t shooting our BB guns, we like to walk uphill to our patch of woods and use a twig, usually spruce, cut a point on it and place a crabapple on the point. Then, like throwing a baseball, fling the apple as far as we could. Those apples would really get some distance. We tried to hit our barn which was quite far away.
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There was no shortage of things kids delved into back in the way.

My FIL used to tell us stories how he would cut out a portion of an old rubber inner tube to make a sling for catapulting rocks. He said he'd get the sling going above his head and once it achieved a speed of a hundred or so miles an hour, he'd let one side of the sling go and the rock would rocket out of the holding patch like a bullet out of a gun.

3e83ce9aa5c3dda474d4e4c3973b0a51.jpg


Homemade slingshots were norm back in the day when I was growing up. Boys who couldn't afford a store-bought version simply carved their own.

39eb87a09136ab161586a27cf539b829.jpg


Also remember what fun we had with mountain ash berries. We'd cut a foot-long piece out of an old garden hose, and use the length like a blowgun, firing mountain ash berries out the end at the speed of a pellet gun.
 
timoc said:
Not forgetting the sleds we made from oven roasting tins, tin baths and us poor folk used odd bits of lino. Not much fun when we were hurtling down a slope at 90mph and a tree appeared from nowhere, I think that's how I flattened my nose. :)
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That's the thing about past generations, we found out own fun, and most of the fun was frugal.

Myself, I remember hunting down the perfect cardboard box from my grandparents cellar, then walking to a neighboring gravel pit, climbing into the cardboard box, and sliding down the gravel banks. When the bottom of the box got a hole in it, I'd get a new cardboard box.
 
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