How many of you seniors...?

Question

Sat on a front porch and "listened" to seniors talk when you were a kid?
I know I did and the lessons I learned have carried me through life.

Answer 1

I did! I did!

I used to love listening to what people did when they were young. There was one of our elderly neighbours who had travelled extensively in Europe before the First World War. While he told me stories of where he had been, I would have a movie going on in my head placing myself in those far off wonderful places!

And then my Mom's stories about growing up on the Prairies during the Depression were fascinating--all the hardships--all the desperation to just get by. I especially found it entertaining to learn that my less than 5 foot tall, tiny mother, played front goal scorer in a woman's rollerderby team! That one floored me the first time I heard it, and still makes me chuckle today, 45 years on.

I'm afraid that in comparison, my stories are going to be kind of boring, if and when my grandson's ever get around to asking me about my young life.

Answer 2

The west coast isn't much on sitting on the front porch but I can remember sitting in the kitchen and listening to the adults. and I can remember someone being shushed because of "little pitchers with big ears" with a nod toward the kids in the room.

I don't know if it counts in this thread but I learned such interesting and important lessons as how to build a fishing rod, not just a line and stick pole, one with hand wrapped line guides and a reel holder made out of tubing and a hose clamp with a hand wrapped cord handle. We worked on that out on the sun porch that hung about 50 feet above the driveway in back of the house. I learned to shoot first a BB gun and then a 22 rifle off that same sun porch all taught by my old granddaddy. He also taught me how to use a fire extinguisher properly and how to use a garden hose most effectively to put out a grass fire.

I learned so many things from him that have helped me to get through life and now it's my turn. I just hope I can do half as well. Forty three years he's been gone now and I still miss him...

I'd better quit rambling or I'll fill my keyboard with tears and ruin it (can't afford that on a fixed income).

Answer 3

I remember a time, before television, when the only way to know what was going on in our world from day to day was the chat on the front porch or down at the local barber shop. We spent a lot of time as children sitting on the floor and looking up at the grown ups as they talked about everything. Maybe that is why as children back then we learned to "look up" to our older family members.

Answer 4

Yes, I remeber listening to my senior neighbors back in the 50's and 60's when I was young.

Now, i"m 64 years old and enjoy "Playing" with all my adult toys too include my Laptop and surfing the internet. I sometime wonder how my parents and others ever made it through their life with the internet.

OOOOH, I still enjoy talking with the neighbors when they come out of their condos and I tell them what I read on the internet.

I'm just a big kid.

Answer 5

I've always made it a point to listen very carefully to Senior Citizens. They are an absolute wealth of information. They have an unbiased accounting of history and most of them tell the truth. They can teach us so much. It's a shame Society throws them into a Nursing Home and throws away the key.

Answer 6

I loved listening to my elders talk about what it was like when they were young, your right you learn a lot.... My grandfather was a sailor back when ships still used sails and the stories he told were wonderful as were those my grandmother and their friend told.. If you listen you can learn a great deal about history from the people that lived through it...And what you learn sometimes is closer to fact than what you read in books. You are right what they teach us can help us through our lives.... Good Question...

Answer 7

Yes, I've loved sitting on the porch and listening to adults talk, however it was plain gossip, but oh how interesting it was.
I miss the good ole days some.

Answer 8

I can remember that - It was pleasant to sit and learn from their life experiences. YOU MIGHT ENJOY THIS:


Survivors of an Era

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's 40's, 50's, 60's and 70's !

First, some of us survived being born to mothers who smoked while they carried us,
took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored
Lead-based paints and we didn’t die from it.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.

As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because... WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And we were still O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the Bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Play stations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms... WE HAD FRIENDS
and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Prayer in school, the Ten Commandments and other godly reminders were considered the norm and our way of life. No religious minority could change our beliefs or our laws. God built our foundation and it kept our heritage and our country strong.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned
HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

Answer 9

Yes I'm a senior.I remember my parents,aunts and uncles and grandparents having a good old talk.seemed like they would go on forever when I was a kid.Now I'm doing the same thing,with my sisters and brothers.We all love to talk and joke about things,we sure have a good time together.

Answer 10

Amen to jiloth7.
I remember many of the same things.
Listening to my parents, aunts and uncles talk was
so very fascinating.
My only regret was that I never met anyone from
my father's family. Orthodox religion problems.