I was just speaking with a friend of mine....

AZ Jim

AZ Jim

R.I.P. With Us In Spirit Only
Location
SURPRISE, ARIZONA
we were talking about how things have really changed. Now, I was born in 1936 so I've see a fair piece of time so far. When I was a kid, we had several in school who stuttered. I don't see that anymore. Another thing I never saw in my schools was braces on teeth. Folks just couldn't afford 'em..How often do you see crooked teeth today? When James Naismith invented Basketball the average male height was around 5'8". The basket hasn't moved up to keep pace but now players are 7' tall. Nutrition? I dunno....Move the basket up proportionately and eliminate the easy slam dunk.
 

I remember a kid or two who stuttered, but haven't run into anyone in years who does. Of course in schools today they have specialist to help children with speech problems. As far as braces goes, I had them. Wasn't that uncommon when I was in school and my parents were not wealthy by any means. I had them around 1966-69. And basketball has certainly changed with the taller players. I don't even watch anymore.
 
Nobody seems to get boils anymore, but food allergies are very common.

Could it be that getting boils and festered splinters your fingers prevented some allergic reactions?
 

Impetigo..!! I remember a few of the ''poorer' kids coming to school with purple gentian violet painted on their faces. I was always too polite to ask why and it was years after before I learned what it was, but you never see that today do you..?

Incidentally my eldest brother has stammered all his life..it's a bad stammer where you have to be very patient and let him say what he wants without completing his sentence for him....and once we had a neighbour who stammered badly, so badly that it could take 20 minutes for her just to get one sentence out.

I agree today that it's probably the onset of speech therapists who have now made stammering almost a thing of the past. Incidentally do you know a stammerer doesn't stutter when they sing?
 
Interesting DW..but of course we now know it's a bacterial infection passed from one person to another by contact usually through a cut or some kind of broken skin..especially where there are humid conditions..
 
I was in elementary school in the 40's. Braces then were non-existent in my schools. By the 60's things had changed.
 
hollydolly said:
Impetigo..!! I remember a few of the ''poorer' kids coming to school with purple gentian violet painted on their faces. I was always too polite to ask why and it was years after before I learned what it was, but you never see that today do you..?

Incidentally my eldest brother has stammered all his life..it's a bad stammer where you have to be very patient and let him say what he wants without completing his sentence for him....and once we had a neighbour who stammered badly, so badly that it could take 20 minutes for her just to get one sentence out.

I agree today that it's probably the onset of speech therapists who have now made stammering almost a thing of the past. Incidentally do you know a stammerer doesn't stutter when they sing?
Click to expand...

I don't know about the purple on faces but I did know that country singer Mel Tillis who was a terrible stutterer sang flawlessly but couldn't speak three words without the stutter.
 
AZ Jim said:
I was in elementary school in the 40's. Braces then were non-existent in my schools. By the 60's things had changed.
Click to expand...

Seems every kid has braces in the US. But I can't recall even seen a kid with braces in the UK. All my nieces and nephews had them - in the US.
 
Butterfly said:
Never saw obese children (at least not in schools I attended) either.
Click to expand...

I know the reason.. We used to get home from school, change clothes and hit the block to see what kids were out to play ball, fly kites with, have out top spinning contests with, play our war games with, cowboys and Indians, etc. When the street lights came on, if mom hadn't already called us in, we went home. Today, kids are on their cell phone, parked at the computer or playing their video games. THAT is why todays kids are fatties and we were not. One other thing, NO fast foods then, no Mickey D, no burger King, no KFC....
 
It's called progress. (BTW, I always thought Brits had bad teeth as far as straightness goes.)
 
Butterfly said:
Never saw obese children (at least not in schools I attended) either.
Click to expand...

We had a 'fat' girl in our school but she stood out because she was the only one in a school of over a thousand kids...but when I think back she wouldn't be described as obese today compared to so many children who are truly huge..
 
oldman said:
It's called progress. (BTW, I always thought Brits had bad teeth as far as straightness goes.)
Click to expand...

Not these days...not for many years.... Of course like anywhere in the western world there are some who just don't look after their teeth, but the poor dental health of the children due to the terrible dentists way back in the 50's and 60's did indeed allow the majority of children to grow up with crooked or bad teeth ..however it's not like that now, but it's a name that's stuck with us..Brits have bad teeth. It's just not the case for most these days!!
 
oldman said:
It's called progress. (BTW, I always thought Brits had bad teeth as far as straightness goes.)
Click to expand...


All my brothers and myself had naturally straight teeth, in fact I used to be complimented on my teeth, so I don't know where you got that idea from.
 
Bee said:
All my brothers and myself had naturally straight teeth, in fact I used to be complimented on my teeth, so I don't know where you got that idea from.
Click to expand...

Monty Python skits were my first exposure to the world of supposedly bad Brit teeth ...

And yes, I know that's like assuming all Americans are like Jerry Springer. :playful:
 
I can only remember a few fat kids in the 40's and 50's. Impetigo, ringworm and..gasp...head lice.....was a great disgrace.....only "dirty" kids got that. As far as head lice goes, it's an epidemic here in Florida. It's almost a given that your kid is going to come home from day care or elementary school with them at least once.
 
AZ Jim said:
I know the reason.. We used to get home from school, change clothes and hit the block to see what kids were out to play ball, fly kites with, have out top spinning contests with, play our war games with, cowboys and Indians, etc. When the street lights came on, if mom hadn't already called us in, we went home. Today, kids are on their cell phone, parked at the computer or playing their video games. THAT is why todays kids are fatties and we were not. One other thing, NO fast foods then, no Mickey D, no burger King, no KFC....
Click to expand...

That's the absolute truth! I don't think I ever sat down except for supper, and then back out till dark. We were always playing something or another, all over the neighborhood. At suppertime, you could hear the moms hollering for their kids. And you're right -- back then fast food was a sandwich at home.

As an older child, I'd get my homework done and then back outside. We walked everywhere we wanted to go, too; between all that, and PE in school, we got plenty of exercise.
 
Same where I grew up. We had no car and no TV so we walked everywhere or later rode a bike. We played in the street and in each other's back yards when young and later played tennis and jived a lot. Weekly visits to the local Olympic pool was a Summer pastime. Entertainment was radio, movies and books or comics, but mostly playing with the other kids in the street.
 
My children had braces even though I didn't think they really needed them. British children have had them for years here now.There is nothing to pay, it's all done for free!
 
Fat children were a rarity here and also when my own children were at school. haven't seen any at grandchildren's school either, though I Know they are supposed to be everywhere now.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top