What was it like when you were growing up?

Question

WOW- what an amazing response- thanks for all your answers so far!

Answer 1

Born in 1962, okay?

When your parents said 'no' that was it.

you had NO toy that was worth more than $25, no matter what.

You would not have dreamed of mouthing off at a teacher, there were real consequences

No dating until at least 16, some of us were older.

CERTAINLY no sex at 13 & 14, how sick can you get?

You EXPECTED to get married, generally before 25

your GRANDPARENTS were in there 40's or 50's when you were born, your PARENTS were in their 20's they had the energy to keep up with you.

If someone was a bad influence on you, rest assured, the relationship ended, no debates.

TV was not your best friend, and your life example

Children did NOT swear, or their parents were thought to be trash, and other kids wouldn't be allowed to play with you.

Parents were fully accountable for their children's academic performance, and attendance.

You spoke one language in America, if you came here speaking another, you LEARNED. Our society was called a Melting Pot; nobody came here, and recreated their old country, language and all, in the middle of things. You maintained your traditions and heritage in your own home, as was your right; you didn't come here to get over.

You looked up to, and respected your elders.

Answer 2

Theres some really great answers here, to a really good question! And funny how all the good stories don't involved money eh?

I grew up in the 80's and I share many of the same memories as other people, pacman, mum doing keep fit videos, playing out ALL day! At the back of our house was just fields, complete with horses, a pond full of frog spawn, and stables to explore. And there were loads of neighbour kids to play with, we were really close and played out together all the time.

It was really safe, but that was partly to do with living out in countryside I think. Living in cities has always attracted more dangers hasn't it? Like people say there was no terrorism, just the IRA! Well I remember canary wharf, warrington and manchester, and I know there must have been lots more bombs than that? The IRA were much more of a threat than terrorism is today.

On reflection, and reading other peoples sad stories, I know I am so fortunate, I had a fab time growing up and wish I could be 8 years old again! I hope when I have children I can give them exactly what I had.

I have spent all morning reading this and done no work whatsoever. Can we make this question into a book?!

Answer 3

I was born in 1964 in UK. I'm with Marie M, on most points. Why does each generation change, if parents try and replicate their own childhood. My kids are pretty good, no swearing, teenage sex etc, but even though my values haven't changed, the world has, and not for the better. I don't remember ever having a wet summer, or ever being inside during daylight - we were told to get out and enjoy the sunshine, and went off on our bikes after breakfast - fruit picking or swimming in the river - we didn't need to be ferried around in the car, which was just as well because we only had one, and Dad used it for work. We seldom hung out with adults after the age of 12. We behaved because if you messed up, your mum and dad would know before you got home - everyone knew everyone, and adults weren't afraid to take a collective responsibility for kids. It was a safe feeling.

My kids didn't have so much freedom, but I follow the old rules - no sitting at the computer or TV when the weather is good (or even when it is not!) They both play several instruments and have a wide range of interests. I would never own any kind of PlayStation etc., and there is only on TV in the house.

Answer 4

Growing up here in UK in the 1940s and 1950s was at best described living in the ruins. Bombed out buildings everywhere and shortages of just about everything, especially bread which the UK.gov put on ration after the war [WW2] to help feed the Germans, as if we gave a damn.

So much for the mid to late 1940s. Most of what you see on film of this period concentrates on the middle and upper-middle classes. No one ever bothered to ask the working class 'how you doing?' Hungry and wearing rags for the most part actually.

Something bright on the horrizon in the 1950s with the arrival in UK of the one and only [First King of Rock n Roll] Bill Haley. Cinema seats were ripped out by mobs of teddy boys when they went to see the movie, Rock Around the Clock, starring Bill Haley and the Comets [what else?].

By 1957 I had decided to join the Army at the madly young age of 15 - blimey! Actually, apart from square bashing, my army career, which lasted until 1965 when I was 24, was an absolute breeze. No shortages of anything in the army, especially 'boots'.

When I came out of the army in 1965 I got a new job in London the day I arrived. I was a fully trained up telegraph operator and firms were desperate for my services, practically falling over themselves.

Soon, I got a job with the American Broadcasting Co. Sorry to say they went bust in c1991 having been employed by them from 1968. Got a nice pension out all that hard work.

Ho-hum! Did lots of silly jobs for a while then found a job as a cleaner working in lots of unusual locations including the House of Commons, and various UK.gov offices and at the BBC.

I'm now retired and racing towards my 66th birthday - can't wait as more wonga is on the way from an investment started back about ten years ago. Probably a cruise somewhere, not sure yet, but it will have to be with she who must be obeyed, or else no dinner for a year!

Answer 5

What an amazing question with so many varied answers. I can identify with so many of them. I had a good childhood although it was dogged with illness and I had to go to a special school for sick kids till I was 12 but the environment was good with no drugs, no eating in the street and loads of litter and the freedom to play out for hours on end and be safe, and no terrorism, except the IRA. I have read all the answers and it has been really nostalgic and an eye opener. Wish there were more interesting questions like this on here to read. Well done!!

Answer 6

Well, I was a teenager in the 1970's and basically, everything sucked. The clothes were horrible, the music even worse, all the kids did in my day was get high and no one had any real goals. Well, I shouldn't generalize because I'm sure many of the people I went to high school with had goals. We were all split up in cliques. But of course there was no Internet, (I remember the very first computer game, Pong, and seeing my very first personal computer, it was like an old tiny t.v. and it was a Mac a friend had. You could only write code with it.) We were programmed to hate Russia. ( we had Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan as presidents) People only listened to Kiss, Blue Oyster Cult, Yes, (shudder) and other hard rock bands. No new wave yet. But yes, the clothes. Ugly, bell bottomed jeans, polyester shirts for guys, and these polyester pants guys wore called, Angel Flight. Girls wore these tight pants called, Dittos. I just remember being a miserable teenager and being on my own a lot. I was not sorry to see the 1970's die a slow, painful death. When I see shows like, "That 70's Show" it reminds me of the fashions, but I can't remember any of the kids acting like that. But then again I grew up in S. California.

Answer 7

I grew up in the end of the 60's to 1990's (although some might argue i am still growing up now.)

I was not allowed to go out much as my mother was busy trying to run a business from home so i was fairly isolated. There were a lot of elderly people where we lived so i tended to have a close group of friends.

Life did seem safer in some ways from a theft point of view i think we tended to be able to trust people more than we do now - with a few exceptions.

My parents grew fruit and vegetables in their garden.

I had four brothers and one sister living in a bungalow with one bathroom so we did not have to be choosy. But we did not mind until we reached our teens.

I was bullied at school and although one teacher was supportive another teacher i had did not understand what i was going through at all.

I think some problems like sexual abuse and depression did still occur but they were hidden and not spoken about as much as now. Science has moved on since then.

Answer 8

Safer, for one thing. I grew up in an era where kids could wander all over the neighborhood without worrying about being harmed. The only things I worried about were stray dogs which barked and looking both ways before crossing the street.
Even back as early as when I was young, there weren't the advantages today that kids have now, like computers, ipods, toys that did everything but fix dinner ,and 1000 or so channels on tv. (I know that's somewhat of an exaggeration, but you see the point). I sometimes wonder what I could've done with those advantages. But we had an advantage that children in this day and age are sorely lacking, imagination. We used it to the best of our abilities in order to combat boredom and stay out of the way of busy adults. With all those electronic toys, games and tv I see many kids expecting someone else to entertain them 24/7.

Answer 9

I was born in 1937, and when I was a child the sreets were empty of traffic.Very few people had cars and the main transport was the bicycle. We could play outside all day and not worry about traffic. There was a lot of horsedrawn traffic as well. The Great western Railway would deliver parcels on a horse drawn cart. our milkman, baker and coalman all used horse drawn carts. Our house like the rest only had a coal fire in the living room, but in the winter you could feel the warmth when you opened the front door. We bathed in a tin tub in front of the fire, and my mother would do most of her cooking on the fire.WE had slot meters for gas and Electric. and it was a penny in the slot which would last for a day and a half. We had gas lighting for the street lamps, and the lamplighter would come around the streets at dusk to light them with a long pole with a wick on the end for a taper. He would be back in the morning to put them out again. Bus fares were a penny return anywhere in the city. Train fares were cheap as well, but wages were low. My Dad was in the building trade and his wages were about £5 per week for 45 hours. With this he had 5 of us to keep. We never had holidays and rarely had new clothes.Cinemas were cheap and all the family would go together to the cinema once a week. Families then had stronger ties and did things as a family. We would all go to the seaside together ,or on picnics etc. Uncles Aunts, Cousins would all go.I left school at 14 years of age and my first job was in a factory and I had just under 10p (decimal) per houe for 44 hours a week. Sundays were religiously observed and everything was closed . We had great respect for our parents and at meal times we had to wait for my mother and Father to eat before we could sit at the table. We were tought good manners and if i was given a present, my mother would give me a good smack if I forgot to say thankyou. There was much less crime because the law gave heavy sentences for crimes. To go to prison then meant hard labour for the prisoner, and it was hard labour indeed. Every body in the street was a good neighbour, and my mother would take us out shopping and leave her front door open and money on the table for the insurance man . Thats how honest people were then . Pity we can't have those days back again.

Answer 10

Really great! I grew up in the country and had fields and woods all around to play in - I used to make dens, go off with my little packed lunch and the family dog over the downs for the day, paddle in the river, hardly ever watched TV, didn't have a video recorder (DVD wasn't even around then!), a mobile phone, a games console or a PC but was so happy! It's sad that I feel like I can't live without any of those things now - life was simple and happy!

Answer 11

It was boring. I went to a school district that was thirty miles away and rode about an 1 and a half each way on a school bus. Had we lived across the road we would have been in a much nicer school district that would have been at the most four miles out.

Being so far, there was no opportunity to engage in sports or anything after hours as it was too far for my parents to come to pick me up. The teachers basically looked at the books and assumed you already knew everything.

I remember on arrogant SOB music teacher who hadn't taught anything about music to us and expected us to know everything. He called on me in an attempt ot embarass me by wanting me to explain where the note on the staff should be. I went to the black board and correctly put inthe correct note.

I had studied music privately and that's the only reason I knew the answer; it wasn't from his class. My only regret is that after correctly answering his demeaning question I didn't get back into his face about how we were supposed to know these things when he hadn't taught it to us in the first place.

Hopefully, this school system has fallen into the earth and caring parents have sued it enough times for it to change.