I grew up in a caravan, ask me anything.

[Gammeldragz]

For most of my childhood we lived in various caravans, the one I remember most was from age 9 to 14. We didn't have mains electricity or water. We were very poor. This lifestyle is miles away from many people's, so if that sounds interesting, ask me anything!

How do you feel this has affected you in later life?

Did you live on a static van site?

How did you keep clean and go to the loo?

How do you feel this has affected you in later life?

I really appreciate running water and washing machines! Though I also love camping and making do - and power cuts, I feel I have special skills for coping with those .
The poverty has made me frugal and good with money, though neither my parents nor siblings are so maybe that's just me. I was bullied a lot for where I lived and being poor and scruffy with it, which I suppose had an impact but many children are bullied for various reasons so I guess that isn't any different.
Other issues surrounding my childhood involved the instability, parents' mental health and drug use, little routine or boundaries etc and they also obviously impacted on how I turned out. I tend to consider my achievements perhaps more proudly than I should, in light of where I came from.

Mostly though, honestly... It makes me feel a bit special and I like that.

Did you live on a static van site?

Apparently when I was first born, yes. For a very short time. It was mostly vans rented to hippies and very scruffy vans though, so not like a holiday Park or the kind of caravan sites I see here in the south East.
Mostly we lived in caravans on farms where there were only one or two. The one I remember most there was one other van, which was mostly occupied by a series of interesting characters, but occasionally vacant.
It was only about 30ft long, one bedroom, so not like the kind I've stayed in on holiday parks with my children!

How did you keep clean and go to the loo?
The toilet was a portable chemical toilet, but outside in a lean to against the caravan and instead of chemicals it was filled with soil and when full my DM would take it out to the woods and dig a hole, bury the contents. Gross, but seems normal at the time!
I sometimes had a bath at a friends house, but usually it was a strip wash at/in a giant saucepan - I have a fantastic photo of me as a toddler IN the giant saucepan, having my bath!
However, I must say we didn't wash often enough and I and my clothes were usually far too grubby. The water had to be carried a few hundred yards and across a busy road, to get to the caravan. Heating it had to be done on the small gas cooker, and gas was also precious. So we couldn't spare much for washing...

How old are you? (Or rather what decade/s did you grow up in?)

When did you leave home? Were you desperate to leave, or were you happy enough with it at the time?

Were your parents hippies?
If so, are they still hippies?
If not, are they apologetic about your upbringing?

How old are you? (Or rather what decade/s did you grow up in?)
This was the 90s I remember most.

When did you leave home? Were you desperate to leave, or were you happy enough with it at the time?
I'd have given anything to live in a house and have a normal life. It really fuelled my teenage angst! I was desperate to get out. We moved when I was 14, to a flat in a town in an area far away - massive change. It was nice to have facilities - I was still bullied at school, but for different reasons and home life was even more chaotic. However, as a teenager it was also often fun, especially as I could have friends round, which I couldn't when we were in the caravan!
I left home at 17, returned briefly and left again at 18.

Are your parents hippies?
If so, are they still hippies?
If not, are they apologetic about your upbringing?
Yes, definitely. Both my DF and DSF were hippies, as was DM and most of their friends.
Yes, I'd say so.
Hmm, sometimes. DM is definitely apologetic for the chaotic aspects and exposure to drugs/domestic violence/alcoholism. DSF isn't very understanding of how these things effect children, he seems to think being fed and sheltered is enough!
As for the actual lifestyle, no I don't think they feel they should apologise for that and I'm not sure they should either. Plenty of other families we met lived like that, or travelled in scruffy hippy vehicles with their children. It's just a different way of life, I suppose. There were reasons why we lived like that, my mother truly believed she couldn't cope with living in a house, the bricks were oppressive, apparently.

Are you poor now?

Are you poor now?
Relative to then? I don't feel so, no. My kids have all the clothes they need and enough of the things their peers have to not feel left out. We always have enough food.

Relative to national standards, yes. We get some benefits and always have done, I had my children young in a far from ideal situation. It has taken a long time for me to get my head round the idea that it doesn't have to be this way. I very much had a poverty mindset and this is difficult to change. I'm currently studying for a lifelong career path, which while never being well paid, will hopefully lift us out of the benefits trap and we hope to buy a home one day. I have taught my children to value education and be aspirational in a way my parents never did.

Do you think any kind of intervention/involvement of outside services could have helped your situation?

Do you think any kind of intervention/involvement of outside services could have helped your situation?

Not when we lived in the caravans, no. It was a lifestyle choice and we were generally well cared for, just a bit grubby and very occasionally a little hungry, but nothing dire. Health visitors were quite happy with us, mum engaged with them and they could see we were fine.

Once we'd moved to the flat, yes. That's when the real problems started and we needed help. Schools did nothing. I even reported my parents to SS myself, nothing came of it. There were several occasions where services should have intervened but didn't. I do hope it would be different now, but not confident it would be.