To wonder what people actually expect and why they can’t just be happy to live simply?

you are confusing your opinion with facts.

If we all agree - because it's a fact - that holidays have existed for centuries, surely it means that at least some people wanted them.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_revolution

Not a terrible overview. If you want one specific to the Renaissance Italian States, then here’s another:
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/students/modules/hi985/topics/consumption_and_its_control/dcs-38903_2.pdf

Or an academic talk on the Renaissance era in general, ostensibly the first age of commercial globalization:

www.huntington.org/videos-and-recorded-programs/miraculous-things-culture-consumerism-renaissance

yes indeed but spending all of your money on "treats" and them moaning you are broke is not!

They certainly weren’t and they certainly didn’t feel the needed to fill up every day of the school holidays with expensive fun. You made your own fun.

I never said you need to go into debts to be good parents, but refusing on principle to do anything and pretending that "simple things and simple life" with no expense and no entertainment is the right way to raise a child is bonkers.

Choosing to stay home with a board game when there are so many things to do in this country and other will never be my choice. Board games are for injury and sick days when you are desperate and bored😂

Things that should be simple pleasures, which everyone needs to make life more than a trudge, have become very expensive. So to live 'simply' in many areas in Britain you do actually need a good amount of money, which is a problem when wages haven't kept up.

Dont need to do any research. Well aware holidays existed, the feeling of entitlement to a holiday every year let alone multiple however did not.

You been spying on my lifestyle or something? 😂😂😂

huh??!

It only means you had shit parents, on which planet entertaining your own kids is a modern thing. If nothing else, many parents used to be more involved with kids than they are now.

It’s not lazy parenting to focus on not having debt, to not pay for holidays every year or to have the days out you can afford which don’t have to cost a fortune.

Intererestingly, my grandparents used to go to the cinema and then get fish and chips most weekends before they had kids. My grandad had a decent but not massive wage in an industrial job and my grandma altered clothing from home as a side hustle to being a housewife, something she had really developed during the war. Looking at local prices, you'd need about £30 - £40 a time to do that now as a couple.

Bread and roses.

what "stats"?

I am not writing you an entire history lesson, make your own research. You enjoy simple life and simple activities, you must have plenty of time for that 😂

You can't be reading that much if the concept of "holidays" in the past is such a discovery for you. Libraries are closed right now, but you can still find information online...

also this.

@Terrazzomazzo : I'm very fortunate; financially stable and will be indefinitely (probably!)

Years ago, ordinary people could afford to buy a house. For those that couldn't, council housing was available at a cheap rent. Now, not only is home ownership out of reach of many people, but cheap rent simply does not exist. The consequence of this is that there must be many people who live in a constant state of insecurity. You might have a couple, both of whom work full time but, if one of them were to lose their job, they'd no longer be able to pay the rent. What would they do then? Move in with relatives, like it's the late 1940s and there's a post-war housing shortage? Go and live on a sink estate? It's no wonder they're unhappy.

it was tough bringing up a family on one wage in the 70s, or even on two lowish ones. My middle aged DC have a way better standard of living than they grew up with. Most of their high earning friends came from ordinary backgrounds, but took opportunities, moved away, put off having children til they were established etc. That has meant they have been able to give their DC more opportunities for travel, hobbies, educational opportunities etc.

There is also inheritance. Few of my generation inherited anything, but that much maligned generation of boomers were the first to see house buying as achievable. Even inheriting the most modest house will help future generations with uni fees, house deposits etc. Unless of course we all end up in expensive care homes.

I do understand it’s very difficult in some circumstances, illness, disability, single parenthood, living in expensive areas, etc. But there are many young people doing well.

why does it have to be everything or nothing? Does it help your reasoning?

So it's either you NEVER have days out or holidays, or you waste money and resources in endless consumerist landfill crap?

Does it make you feel better about yourself to pretend that people can't' enjoy a few great holidays abroad, nice days out AND spend some days at home and hours reading?

I think it's lazy parenting not to help your kids to discover different places and show them that travelling, spending a few days abroad, exploring a new city is not a big deal at all. It's a big world and no one is stuck into their little town, or their little job - better for your mental health frankly. Each to their own really.

You are using tech to complain about tech.. I am loving the irony here.

It was the norm in my circle.

Not sure why you’re zeroing in on computers specifically, as if not having a computer is the sole determining factor of whether the simple life was widely embraced or not.

Of course the number of families owning computers would be relatively low when you’re talking about a product new to the market. That percentage rose dramatically as they became more widely available and affordable. Clearly people did want them.

I went to school in the 80s. I knew one girl who went to Spain once, and came home with a colourful donkey that we were all completely jealous of! Everyone else had a week in a caravan in Rhyl or Blackpool. I didn’t go on holiday at all until I was an adult.

Feel free to post your stats.

Absolutely!! I can’t agree more OP. It’s incredibly liberating and peaceful to live a simple life. Ironically, the simpler I make my life, the richer it gets.

And then there’s the people who had weeks in Blackpool, Southport, Minehead etc.

It’s well known that finding gratitude in what you have and engaging in mindful activities away from screens play a huge part in having good mental health. It’s also well known that children being able to entertain themselves when bored is beneficial.

SOME people were not. Others were. Some people don't have multiple holidays a year in 2025, some of them (according to their posts on MN) do not WANT to go on holiday ever.

Is family skiing an invention of the 2000s?
Beach holidays?
Countryside holidays?
"taking the air" in the mountains?

Feel free to google... You are in for a big shock if you have convinced yourself holidays and multiple holidays are an invention of the last 20 or 30 years 😂

Don't start reading about ancient Rome and Greece to name a few, you'll faint.

14% of holidays in 1970 were abroad - 46% in 1994 according to the www.