To think the past is being misrepresented on here?

Houses were more affordable but good furniture was often inherited or made . Clothes were often hand made, knitting and needlework were common skills. Society had a much less 'throw-away' attitude.

This. Things, including electrical equipment, were repaired when they broke, not just thrown away and replaced. I remember sewing up ladders in my school tights.

I went to school in the 80s/90s and I definitely think school is easier now. There’s much more recognition of SEND, mental health issues etc, as well as more technology like computers, tablets etc to make learning interactive, submitting homework online etc. rather than just writing things out endlessly as we did and having to carry multiple heavy exercise and textbooks around for all our lessons - woe betide you if you forgot to bring the right book to school with you! No google or wikipedia for looking up stuff you didn’t understand when you were doing homework either.

Also uniforms seem a lot more relaxed eg my son’s primary school lets them wear PE kit all day on PE days so they don’t even have to take their PE kit in and change. Girls can wear trousers. There’s more choice with school dinners and we never had after school clubs like they do now - the only after school activity was prep where you sat in the library and did your homework quietly!

I went back to the place I spent my early years, all the front gardens with their neat privet hedges have been dug up and paved for parking, there were also cars lining both sides of the the roads. Children now can't play outside the way we used to. Our local school recently had dinner ladies teach kids playground games. (older ladies with post natal pelvic floors demonstrating skipping - what could possibly go wrong?)
At infants if you went out without a coat and complained of the cold you'd be told to run around to get warm.At junior school the gates were open all day, apparently there was no fear of people wandering in or children running out, some children went home for lunch. Now children have lock-down drills as part of their routine, not dissimilar in some ways to my mum having to get away from windows and scramble under desks ( if they weren't near a shelter) during the war perhaps. (It was not uncommon to see limbless veterans and we had a couple of the 'guinea pigs' come to give talks at school when we were older.) There were many more children with Downs in the community, and I knew several deaf children whose mums had been exposed to rubella whilst pregnant.

Houses were more affordable but good furniture was often inherited or made . Clothes were often hand made, knitting and needlework were common skills. Society had a much less 'throw-away' attitude.
Strikes and power-cuts were exciting to us as children but a nightmare to manage for our parents.
People I knew generally put a lot of trust in the police, authority wasn't questioned as much. Doctors, teachers and the police were considered very respectable.
We were near London so as older children we were made aware of the threat from bombs being left in public places, after Airey Naeve's assassination the Houses of Parliament stepped up their security.

Some things were better, some things weren't . Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Born in 64 in London, lived the first 4 years in the slums in Wandsworth , where we - family of 5 shared a house with another family - they had upstairs we had down. We had two bedrooms, a kitchen, a scullery , out side loo and a tin bath in front of the one and only fire once a week

We finally got allocated a 3 bedroom semi between the commons - had a bathroom, and just one gas fire in the living room. You froze in the winter - ice on the insides of the windows, and whilst we did have a bathroom, baths were still weekly as the immersion was expensive to put on. All other hot water was from the gas boiler in the kitchen so strip down washes were the norm

Shools ruled, Our teachers were strict and had the backing of parents. Slipper and cane were doled out by the head ( primary school ) and if your parents were called to the school about your bad behaviour, you would get another walloping at home.

Secondary was a 3 mile walk, and walk we did, all weathers. Uniform was strict , right down to outside coats . We were constantly being tested, taking exams. . There were after school clubs - music, chess, netball , swimming etc, no charge other then any equipment you needed.

Both my parents worked, dad was a carpenter, died of mesothelioma due to years of asbestos exposure . We had one family car, clothes were second hand, bought from the Saturday morning jumble sale., hand me downs or home made. New clothes and shoes were christmas or birthdays Holidays were two weeks in a caravan in Bognor , the only time we ever ate out in proper restaurants . Take away was a weekly chippy or if mum won on the bingo a Chinese

Food was expensive back in the day , a high proportion of wages went on food. When I started work in 78, I took home £42.50 and £20 of that went to feed me ,me dad and little sister ( all that were left home then ) We didn't have the choice of foods we have now. Fruit and veg was purely seasonal. But omg , when the soft summer fruits came in, the pure joy of biting into a peach and having the juice run down your face and trying to eat the flesh before it all just slipped off the stone

No one was expected to go to Uni, you left school and started work. Only the exceptionally bright pupils went . A 40 hour week was the norm and only two weeks holidays , but you got all bank holidays - shops didn't open 24/7 then. And Saturdays supermarkets would be out of fresh food by mid morning with nothing fresh arriving until the Tuesday

Housing was cheaper but back in the day we didn't have the regulations we have now. Leaving home you would find a bed sit, not a HMO, you literally had a room in a house with a lock on the door and in that room you would cook and live. A two ring mini oven and a sink. Shared bathroom and loo, put 50p in the meter for the hot water for the bath, 50p for your electricity in your room.

As a child/teen we walked or cycled everywhere. Entertainment was what we devised ourselves. We were expected to be outside, we only turned up home for meals. And meals were eat it or go hungry, no other choice, no snacking, no popping to mc'ds

We bought our first house in 95, a 1930's mid terrace. When it was built it was built with no bathroom, that was added after the war - a bath literally squeezed in under the stairs. Cost us £68k and two years hard graft to modernise it . It was the first time I had lived anywhere that had central heating and a shower. Interest rates were high in the 1990's, think they went as high as 15% which caused a crash in house prices. We started looking in 1993 but rates were still high and whilst prices were low, we couldn't afford the rates. By 1995 prices were rising again but I think the rate was around 8%

I love this my own grandma had the same stories from going into service to the blokes havubg to take 3 baths to get dirty. I love your history

Our headmaster used to cane the boys in the gym.
Theyd have to lean over a gym horse and he’d take a run at it for a good hard wack or ten.

Your dying your hair story reminds me of a girl I worked with in Bhs ( 1982-85) at a Saturday job. She dyed her hair blue and they wouldn’t allow her on the shop floor. She had to work in the storerooms until it grew out and they made her change her uniform if she left the building. They didn’t want her wearing a bhs uniform with blue hair.

Schools were definitely tougher back in 'the day'. I'm a child of the late 70s/80s and they were harsh. Kids could also get the belt, cane, strap or plain old smack from a teacher. Oh, ruler too. Writing lines. I never got any of that but I know some who did.

My school was relaxed students and teaxhers had relationships together.
My parents both factory workers purchased a home in cash during the late 80s. Not something us professional folk can do.
Their jobs paid well, amazing pension schemes and bonuses for staff, 4 trips away each ya at at the cost of £2 per person. This included reaorts and theme parks. A factory!
Could get a job so easily when I was a teen hand in a CV and get accepted snd start work within a week.
I miss the 90s!

No uniform inspections. Relaxed with cigs and alcohol, bullying was mild compared to today.
Life was easier. I wouldn't want to grow up in this day and age.

Agree.
My mum cycled to work. She had four jobs and cycled between them 3/4 miles between each so not really far
My dad got a lift to and from work ( he was a builder)
We didn’t have a car. They couldn’t afford lessons anyway but mum learnt when she got to about 60.

There was one family with a car in our street in the 60s / 70s

I was in secondary school from 2005-2010. (State comprehensive, in a deprived area).

We didn’t have “uniform inspections” but would get shouted at if our ties weren’t done up properly or if they were too short/looking like a cravat. We could wear trainers and boots too. I remember getting a pair of black Rockport boots for my first day of year 7 and was buzzing 🤣

I remember dying my hair crazy colours, blue, pink etc and the teachers never bat an eyelid. Same with the lads who would have shaved heads, mohicans etc. I don’t think any of that would slide in todays schools/academies.

No Saturday detentions. No spelling tests. We had an “isolation” room where the naughty kids would go if they got sent out of class.

I remember people would smoke in the toilets and the teachers would just confíscate the cigs. No detentions, no exclusions for that. The only time I remember people getting excluded would be for fighting and one time a classmate head-butted a teacher. He was permanently excluded.

It seems a world away from the crazy school rules and punishments you see today.

Agree
Portsmouth Uni research extract below.
See last para

14% of income in 1985 on non essentials ( not including cars or eating out )
25% of income in 2019 on non essentials ( ditto )
trend in spending inc along with increase in disposable income

YANBU

but a lot of MNs won’t have experienced schools or life in the 50s, 60s, 70s etc

Our school wasn't strict! We did what we liked. I never did any homework and skived off all the time. We wandered off grounds all the time and smoked in the common room. We did have a uniform but I don't remember ever being told off about my creative interpretations. We roamed around town freely in little spotty gangs.

I mean, I'm not nostalgic for it - our school was shit! I never learned nuffin to be honest. But it wasn't strict. And it was really easy to get a manual job and get a room in a house with friends in the 90s. I did that after school and it was honestly easy. I just asked in a nearby shop and got a job that day, paid my rent in cash to the landlord who came round once a week, got my shopping on my way home on payday, put the bills money in the kitty (a brown envelope in the hall), and went about my life.

I think that's what sometimes people are remembering as easier. It's not that everything was amazing. I earned about £20 a day and ate a lot of 9p noodles. But there was a lower bar to entry, I think. For just getting a bit of a life, nothing major. Rent was just so much more affordable. My rent was ~£31/w in the 90s! That's about £58/w or £250 a month in today's money.

It seems to me that part of the issue is we spend our money, as a society, on the wrong things.
I really do not believe all these luxuries, fancy nails, eating out, cars, consumer gods, makes people really happier than they were in the 60s, 70s, or 80s..

I think this is really true

We need to accept a simpler way of living

It was a mix.

1. you could get away with a lot at my school, uniform wise. It wasn't a good thing. I just got bullied for not having the "right" gear, we all looked scruffy and it definitely had a bearing on behaviour. Some schools seem stricter on uniform now but this does not bother me.

2. the toilet thing... this seems to have gone mad. Yes if you took the piss asking to go in every lesson they'd say no but you could always go between lessons and at any break and lunch and there were plenty of loos and time enough to go.

3. homework... i find this stuff hard to judge as I and my kids find the academic side easy, so i never feel like the demands on kids seem stress inducing.

4. general life:
   When i was a kid if you played an instrument you actually were expected to practise regularly and reach a decent level of proficiency. Kids don't seem to practise for hobbies outside of lessons/group training now

5. part time jobs
   We all had these from 14 or 15. Shops/cafes etc. It didnt interfere with school work and we learned to turn up on time, look smart, be responsible, be polite to customers etc. Plus it was great having the money! Where do all these workshy teens these days get the money to buy buffalos with flames on the side or mini disc players or socialise with friends

It seems to me that part of the issue is we spend our money, as a society, on the wrong things.

I really do not believe all these luxuries, fancy nails, eating out, cars, consumer gods, makes people really happier than they were in the 60s, 70s, or 80s.

I do believe long wait lists for doctors impacts our lives in a real way. Not just our health, but things like stress.

Why do we spend on the wrong things? In part because we need to keep the engines of global production whirring. Which is insanely wasteful, environmentally speaking, in reality. But we are all complicit in numbing ourselves with cheap luxuries.

This is a bit of a chicken and egg thing. When you only had one car because two were too pricey, you couldn't have two jobs requiring a car.

No, it was a Fife mining town.

I'm sorry about your dad.

The disaster that killed Great-grandad happened just outside the town: according to the reports of the time, he and his workmates were "overwhelmed by an inrush of moss". The accident report makes it clear that the mineowners were to blame, but the action taken was to try to prevent further instances.

They eventually recovered Great-grandad's body. My grandfather told me that he remembered someone coming to the house and asking Great-granny to identify a sock.

You've brought back another memory for me. I joined the St Andrew's Ambulance Corps in the '70s and was often on duty at football matches and stock car races - sometimes at galas or at a local beach in the summer: the council actually provided a taxi for us during the Fife Fair Fortnight so that they were fulfilling their obligation to have first aiders on duty.

Often if we were treating mineworkers they'd have blue-black scars from where they'd been tattooed by coaldust entering their wounds in pit accidents.

My primary school had no uniform, but my state Scottish secondary school required us to wear a uniform and girls were not allowed to wear trousers. (The school has much the same uniform these days, but girls can now wear trousers.)

It was Sunday School, for children. I didn't say my family wouldn't go to church with me.

I was in primary in the 70s. No tests or homework. I walked too school on my own from about age 7, but it was close and there was basically no traffic. I wasn’t the only one, but lots of kids got collected by parents too.

In middle school (first year was age 9 - 10, final year age 12 - 13) we started homework and had annual exams from the second year. Also did times tables and had spelling tests. The cane for punishment (though uncommon, detention and lines were more common).

There were free clubs after school - sport, drama, music, cycling proficiency, etc. - so always something supervised to do even if you were poor. But the freedom that people talk about kids having felt very real as well. We all walked too and from without parents and often had a blast. We went out after school (after watching the children’s programming on TV!) and stayed out until dark. Still pretty much no traffic so playing in the road was typical. If you were bored calling round for a friend was acceptable. In school holidays we would take an apple and sandwich and go off on our bikes all day. I went youth hosteling with friends at 15, no adults.

Born in 1964, I guess I had quite a middle class upbringing though my parents were from w/c families. Both mum and dad went to university which was probably unusual back then.

Went to a single sex school and it was expected we could do whatever we wanted then went on to university in London. Didn't really understand how much sexism there was in the 70s/80s till much later because I didn't see it.

Was that in a town beginning with S by any chance?

My dad worked underground in the 60s as an area safety engineer and would be called out to accidents. He never talked about it but it must have been very distressing at times. I think the years of cadmium exposure probably contributed to his death. The cost of coal is dreadful.

I agree with it being busier. There was a time when if you went somewhere on a weekday, in term time, things would be fairly quiet. Now it feels like everywhere is busy all the time.