Things your parents routinely did uncommon today…

Front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive cars were unheard of in my parent’s day, so every year the family chariot went to the garage at some point in the fall to get snow tires put on the rear drive wheels. They had an aggressive tread design, and some had little metal studs in the tread to help get a grip on snow and ice. In the spring, it was back to the garage to get regular tires put on. Not many people put on seasonal tires anymore… 🛞

The first few cars my parents had during my childhood didn’t have seatbelts, either. When they got seatbelts as an option in the 1960’s, they were on the front seats only, whereas I rode in the rear seat! The back of my parent’s seats was supposed to stop me if I went cannonballing in an accident. Fortunately, this theory was never tested out… 🤣
 
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Kadee said:
I did the same regarding cooking until I was about 25 ,after that age it was gas stoves ( no not petrol ) Gas …
I was scared of them cause the went bang when you lit them, I’m still very reluctant to use them now if I’m away from home on holidays
( I have an all electric home for that very reason)
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I suffer from the same anti-gas phobia after seeing two houses in my neighbourhood blow up. One was in 1956 in London, Ont. The other in 1958 in Lachine, Que. The latter was an apartment building. I know those explosions were the exception but if it is so close to where you live it sticks with you.
 
Shoe polish! I remember special occasions, my dad polishing his dress shoes. My mom, who worked in a factory, used white shoe polish every day after work to freshen them up.
 
Reading newspapers! Every evening my father would come home from riding the train from his job in NYC with two newspapers, which sold for 7 cents a copy back then. Reading the paper was how commuting men passed the time on the train…

I got to read the paper’s comics in the evenings. On Sundays, my father would go out to get the Sunday paper, fat with ads, a magazine section, and best of all…color comics!

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Yep...keeping us kids in line[talking back was not even thought about ]today these kids are off the chain...some of the stuff I hear would've gotten my head slapped off if I had even thought about it....mom could read your mind back then, hehe!
 
Going from room to room with a dustpan, loaded with hot embers, to ignite the fires in our "Kachelofen" (tiled ovens). There was no central heating or electrical heating at the time.

Putting bronze hot water bottles into our beds so that we could have at least warm feet. Temperatures in our bedrooms were often cold enough to freeze the water in the room. Brrr. That's why we are made of such sturdy stuff! :LOL:
 

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