I Grew Up Back When - Post Your Memories...

carouselsilver said:
I do wonder about the current generation of kids growing up in these troubled times. and I mean the troubles are beyond anything that we could have imagined; Covid, constantly being exposed to negative social media, not knowing the simple pleasure of just being in the moment without whipping out a phone to "capture the moment." Our brains are perfectly able to capture moments!

I can remember, as a child, lying on my stomach in the grass and watching tiny insects marching back and forth. I can remember standing by the garage and nibbling on honeysuckle flowers, sucking the sweetness out of them. Getting excited when exploring was rewarded by finding a cherry tree. Getting lost in a field of grass that was taller than me, and feeling as frightened as if I were lost in a jungle. Thinking that maple seedlings were angel wings. Ah, memories.
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I think sometimes technology does not bring the best in things. For example Social Media being one of those negative things for the young people of today. Having a phone at a moments expense in some cases is a really good thing as if you need to use it for what it is intended for and that is making phone calls. Such as if your car breaks down it is a great thing to have. Also have WAZE or Google Maps is a wonderful thing. Like you stated having a phone to whip out at a moments notice to capture any moment the second it occurs I don't know how great that really is.
 

I grew up when there were no “athletic shoes,” but only canvas “sneakers.” They were available only in white or black, and in high or low top models. Sneakers were worn primarily in gym class or after school. During the regular school day, boys wore leather shoes, primarily loafers. We actually polished our shoes, and might have new heels or soles put on them if they wore out. Parents would often buy their kids a new pair of shoes for school wear at the beginning of the school year, and they were expected to last a year, and could with proper maintenance…👞
 
Fyrefox said:
I grew up when there were no “athletic shoes,” but only canvas “sneakers.” They were available only in white or black, and in high or low top models. Sneakers were worn primarily in gym class or after school. During the regular school day, boys wore leather shoes, primarily loafers. We actually polished our shoes, and might have new heels or soles put on them if they wore out. Parents would often buy their kids a new pair of shoes for school wear at the beginning of the school year, and they were expected to last a year, and could with proper maintenance…👞
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Same here.. !!... remember having to whiten the gym shoes every week... ?.. the black gym shoes were slip ons the white had laces..they cost more.. and despite there being no designer envy back in the day, in the way the kids have today... there was still a way to tell which kids were poor. Those who had white lace up gym shoes, compared to those who had slip on black.. was just one of the many ways.
 

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....there was a public telephone on every street corner( with queues for them in the evening)tv was black and white and there were only three channels,being naughty got you a sore bottom,you could disappear for hours on end,You had to be with your friends to talk to them,having a pen pal meant posting a letter and getting a reply a couple of weeks later( today I’ve had an in depth chat with my military trained friend in Ukraine and my Latvian one in Canada).....Times change.
 
Furryanimal said:
....there was a public telephone on every street corner( with queues for them in the evening)tv was black and white and there were only three channels,being naughty got you a sore bottom,you could disappear for hours on end,You had to be with your friends to talk to them,having a pen pal meant posting a letter and getting a reply a couple of weeks later( today I’ve had an in depth chat with my military trained friend in Ukraine and my Latvian one in Canada).....Times change.
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...yes remember the only way we could communicate with our family in Toronto was by blue airmail letter.. and that would take weeks for a reply... ...and when I was married to my ex husband who was in the Royal Navy , there was no way of communicating with him while he was at sea, except BFPO letters, and those could take over a week to get to him depending where he was... and then another week for a reply back to me ..
 
When I first saw the thread title, I was going to start with "back in those days...," but it occurred to me that this isn't simply old memories but reflected everywhere I've lived before my current environment.

Regardless of socioeconomic/racial/ethnic factors, regardless of whether households were headed by couples or single parents, and even regardless of whether parents worked, nearly everyone I knew was family-oriented- and family members were a part of each other's lives.

'Parents these days don't have time...' is not a valid excuse. It's a matter of priorities.
 
JaniceM said:
When I first saw the thread title, I was going to start with "back in those days...," but it occurred to me that this isn't simply old memories but reflected everywhere I've lived before my current environment.

Regardless of socioeconomic/racial/ethnic factors, regardless of whether households were headed by couples or single parents, and even regardless of whether parents worked, nearly everyone I knew was family-oriented- and family members were a part of each other's lives.

'Parents these days don't have time...' is not a valid excuse. It's a matter of priorities.
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Seems to me that electronics are the biggest difference today. Kids spend a lot of time on their phones, computers, games, etc. None of which did we have. It gives them less time for personal interactions with family and others.

I know it seems like a bad thing, but I really don't know if it is or not. It is however reality and no matter what we think of it changing it just ain't going to happen!
Becky1951 said:
I remember chatting with my cousin in her tree house, me on the ground on our cell phones.

2 tin cans with a string connecting them.
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Yep, I remember that too, never worked real well but we sure tried. If real cell phones had been available to us our world would have been very different.
 
JaniceM said:
When I first saw the thread title, I was going to start with "back in those days...," but it occurred to me that this isn't simply old memories but reflected everywhere I've lived before my current environment.

Regardless of socioeconomic/racial/ethnic factors, regardless of whether households were headed by couples or single parents, and even regardless of whether parents worked, nearly everyone I knew was family-oriented- and family members were a part of each other's lives.

'Parents these days don't have time...' is not a valid excuse. It's a matter of priorities.
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What if the parent/s have to find work to feed their families...and have day care..and bills to pay? I think those are primary reasons to be away from the nuclear family. They don't WANT it that way, it is for survival.
 
Paco Dennis said:
What if the parent/s have to find work to feed their families...and have day care..and bills to pay? I think those are primary reasons to be away from the nuclear family. They don't WANT it that way, it is for survival.
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I think what JaniceM meant is that there are a lot of parents who do not spend quality time with their children. I was a single mother and it was a source of anguish how little time I could spend with my daughter. So I learned to make quality time with her. I tried to give her some of the magical moments I experienced as a child; walking in the park together, baking things together, teaching her how to sew. But it is rough on single parents.
 
carouselsilver said:
I think what JaniceM meant is that there are a lot of parents who do not spend quality time with their children. I was a single mother and it was a source of anguish how little time I could spend with my daughter. So I learned to make quality time with her. I tried to give her some of the magical moments I experienced as a child; walking in the park together, baking things together, teaching her how to sew. But it is rough on single parents.
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A very wise man once told me "Some people make good parents, others do not."
 
I worked as a phone operator for Bell Canada. Back in the day when all calls went through the Operator…Friday nights were busy..the small town where I lived was close to the Quebec border where the hotels stayed open till the wee hours of the morning..soo..on that night the women would call for their husbands…I would dial the number and the bartender would immediately answer” What’s the name”. Surprise..Surprise the husband was not to be found!
 
I began working as a farm laborer at 14 in 1970. We were paid 'a dollar an hour' to throw and stack hay bales, bring in corn, shovel out horse stalls, hoe garden rows, dig post holes, etc. Hard work. Seven in the morning 'til five or six in the evening. 40 dollars cash on Friday afternoon for 50-55 hours of work. 40 bucks cash to a 14 year old in 1970 and you were rich! Did this every summer 'til I was 19. In those days a guy could make enough money at minimum wage during one summer to pay for an entire year's college tuition. Today a kid would have to make 2000 dollars a week.
 
I was born at the height of the Great Depression in 1933, so it was common to seen men digging ditches alongside the roads to lay drain pipes. They were employed by the WPA and barely made enough to feed their families. Many had good jobs before the stock market collapsed, but at least they had their self esteem in place by doing a day's work.

We would play hop scotch using the heel of an old shoe to toss into the spaces. We roller skated with the keys for same around our necks on a string. We made up games to play in the street or even play timeless old ones brought over from Europe and England. We were outside most of the day when not in school.

We ate healthy meals as there was no junk food to be had. Ice cream, jello, pudding, junket, cakes and pies were special treats. Fresh fruit was usually in abundance.

Almost all were poor but happy. We went to school, wore clean clothes, and managed to get a first rate education. Even those who had to dropout early to help with household costs. For we were taught classics in those days, not nonsense.
 
Pappy said:
This was a typical scene when I was a teen.

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I wasn't born to be a teen in the 50s
So England is so far away yet different in each decade.
Coming along slowly to what it is today.
Of course each will remember their decade of what it was about for them in their own old age of looking back.
Which will be changed forever the future
Will be a whole other unimagined way so far removed from now.
The ones in Pampers will be saying your words someday.
 
Autumn72 said:
Please do.
I was in catholic school one year.
I ran home and begged my mother to take me out of that school and the reason why.
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My experience was the opposite. My mother took me out of public school due to excessive and extreme bullying. At Catholic school I was safe because the nuns did not allow bullying; they were very strict.
 

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