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Five things you miss from your childhood, and five you are glad to have left behind!

55 replies

sadpapercourtesan · 26/01/2022 16:49

Just being nosy, really Grin. I'll start: I was born in 1977, for context.

Things I miss:

  1. Playing out in massive groups of kids and having the freedom to wander, play really long elaborate imaginative games etc.
  2. The sense of collective excitement when something was happening on TV, like a new Dr Who or something - everyone knew, everyone was watching it.
  3. Clapping and skipping games/rhymes, and the whole pre-digital subculture of children.
  4. Cadbury's chocolate that tasted like chocolate
  5. Great children's TV - I know not all of it was great, but more so than today's offerings. Grotbags, Superted, Chocky etc.

Things I am happy to see the back of:

  1. Leaving kids/animals in cars for hours in all weathers. I remember whole Sunday afternoons sweating and crying, jammed between warring siblings in the garden centre car park.
  2. Violence against children in school and at home - and in public sometimes, without much risk of being challenged.
  3. The practice of feeding really awful food to kids that you wouldn't touch yourself; tinned meatballs, tinned hotdogs, Smash and beans while the adults ate steak or ordered a Chinese takeaway
  4. Thatcher
  5. Compulsory praying and hymn-singing in school (I know there is still legally a collective worship requirement, but most non-church schools no longer force kids to pray)
OP posts:
dudsville · 27/01/2022 18:55

What i miss is all from early childhood
My mother's cooking
My grandmother's cooking
Unsupervised play
Street parties
Saturday morning cartoons with my father.

What I don't miss is all from later childhood
Loneliness
Hunger
Lack of community
Being scared
Being sad

I must say, I have a fabulous life now. That was a temporary glitch!

sadpapercourtesan · 27/01/2022 18:57

@Dacquoise NC and therapy have saved me too Grin

I sometimes imagine what my 7yo self would have made of a snapshot of my life now. It's not perfect by any means, but looked at through that lens, it's paradise - nobody screaming in my face or spitting at me, no stepfather, people who actually like me, decent food, warm enough, my own space and clothes that fit. It blows my mind sometimes.

OP posts:
HellonHeels · 27/01/2022 18:58

Miss:

Absolutely nothing

Don't miss
School
PE
Controlling mother
Having no agency/power - my only power was silent resistance inside my head.

Dacquoise · 27/01/2022 19:00

@sadpapercourtesan, I see my life now as a second childhood for similar reasons. It's never too late to do it 'right'.

sadpapercourtesan · 27/01/2022 19:01

[quote Dacquoise]@sadpapercourtesan, I see my life now as a second childhood for similar reasons. It's never too late to do it 'right'.[/quote]
YES! Me too. And not abusing my own children - seeing them grow up confident and loving - has been very therapeutic.

OP posts:
Hlglu56 · 27/01/2022 19:35

Miss:

  1. Big family BBQs/ Christmases
2.People not constantly glued to their phones wherever you go.
  1. Enjoyed school and learning and having hopes for the future. I’m bored in my job and haven’t achieved much career wise.
4.Friendly neighbours where everyone knew each other and socialised with one another.
  1. Going shopping and out for lunch with my mum. We live away now and I really miss her.

Don’t miss:

  1. Spending Sunday afternoons in a smoky social club and the smell clinging to your clothes.
  2. Feeling really cold, even inside the house.
  3. Pressure from parents to achieve high grades all the time
  4. Going to Sunday school
  5. Shyness and anxiety.
AdaColeman · 27/01/2022 20:01

Miss
The excitement of school play productions and choir festivals.

My Mother’s cooking, especially skate in black butter sauce, and her wonderful Yorkshire Puddings.

Staying with my Grandmother in the summer holidays.

The amazement of discovering “Abroad”!

The anticipation of the arrival of the travelling library van, and what I might discover on its shelves.

Don’t miss
Long spells in hospital, visits from parents only once or twice a week. My mother used to send me a postcard every day, I’ve still got many of them.

PE and games lessons at school, some of the regimes were designed to humiliate us.

Just after the war, there was a scheme for returning service men to become teachers with just a year of training. I encountered a few of these, most should have been in therapy themselves, kindness & enthusiasm were rare.

Coal fires.

School lunch sago pudding.

TabithaTiger · 27/01/2022 20:02

I miss -
Having loads of free time to do whatever I like; read, play, watch TV
Christmas and birthdays being really exciting events
Going to birthday parties, playing games and coming home with cake and a party bag
Getting pocket money and spending it all on sweets
Sunday tea times with crumpets and chocolate cake

Glad to see the back of -
Having to traipse around furniture stores or DIY stores with my parents
Casserole
Wearing school uniform
Swimming lessons
All the cattiness between groups of girls at primary school

DinosApple · 27/01/2022 20:03

Miss-
My grandparents
Being free
Long hot summers in the garden
Mum cooking me dinner every night

Don't miss
Sunday night blues
Homework
Cropped tops
A fringe

ShowOfHands · 27/01/2022 20:09

Miss
Christmas as a child, particularly visiting my grandparents and feeling so loved
Proper snow and the joy of a snow day
So many foods like potato puff crisps and 10p mix up in a paper bag
Television when there were only a handful of channels and you had to wait for an episode of Narnia or The Borrowers and everybody watched Simon and The Witch, Johnny Briggs and Grange Hill and talked about it the next day
Playing out safely all day long. Building dens and rope swings over the river and all of the neighbourhood coming together to ride bikes and play Block 123

Don't Miss

So many foods like boil in the bag cod in parsley sauce
Peer pressure
Smoking in public spaces
Lack of central heating
Outdoor toilets at school

RonCarlos · 27/01/2022 20:13

I could have written your post OP. Except the school hymn bit. I slightly miss those but did not love them at the time Grin Come and Praise, by any chance?

JanuaryBluehoo · 27/01/2022 20:17

1( a real fire
2) living in a beautiful place on doorstep, beautiful village, garden etc
3( my parents and brother
4( yy the excitement of Christmas t.v.
5) yes freedom on the bike roaming.

  1. being left for hours and hours whilst people in pubs
  2. my sister
  3. my brother
  4. yes to nasty food I'd never dream of making now 5)smoke absolute everywhere!!No escape at all. Home, car, pub, plans,restaurant...streets cafe ..work
maddy68 · 27/01/2022 20:20

Miss

1-Being out and uncontactable. Came home when the streetlight came on

2 Sunday dinners ..mum seemed to start cooking at breakfast time to radio 2 and produced a roast dinner with my nan coming round

3 , freedom from responsibility

  1. The lock on the phone because I used to talk to my friends too much
  1. Proper cutlery. /Tableware Fish knifes and forks , steak knifes. Cut glass wine glasses

What I don't miss;

1.Lack of money to do anything

  1. Long walks to school in the rain
  2. Duty visits to relatives at a weekend
  3. Waiting for the immersion heater to have a bath
  4. Smell of cigarettes everywhere. Home, restaurants, in the car. ..
duvetdayforeveryone · 27/01/2022 20:22

I really miss Sugar Puffs!!! Honey puffs just do not cut it!

I miss Kwenchy cups!

I miss how I used to be so excited to watch television on a Saturday night! I loved Jim Davidson's generation game.

I also loved watching Neil Buchanan on Art Attack :)

Five things you miss from your childhood, and five you are glad to have left behind!
duvetdayforeveryone · 27/01/2022 20:27

I also miss my amazing Grandparents. They truly were the best!

ShowOfHands · 27/01/2022 20:29

Saturday night TV was ace. Mork and Mindy, Gladiators, The A Team, Perfect Strangers, The Flying Doctors, Casualty. I used to love it when the bloody football scores ended and proper family entertainment started. My Grandma used to watch terrible stuff my parents didn't condone, usually fronted by Michael Barrymore iirc and we loved it.

And Sundays was Land of The Giants and Lost In Space. Bliss!

Gardeningcreature · 27/01/2022 20:42

Saving my pocket money to buy a 'single' from the record shop.
Buying a quarter of sweets from a jar.
Taping the top 40 on a Sunday.
Top of the Pops.
Large family Christmases.
Playing out in huge groups all day.

Don't miss
Scratchy blankets.
Doing PE in just your knickers and vest.
Going from a school where boys and girls did every subject to one where there were clear cut subjects for just boys and just girls.
Having violent teachers who could hit you.
Smoking everywhere.

BiscuitLover3678 · 27/01/2022 20:50

90s born

A lot of these are to do with technology and feeling of community, interestingly.

Miss:

  • TV related for a lot of them. Eg Watching national tv together and when it was aired instead of now where you binge watch a show and have to avoid the internet so you don’t get spoilers. I loved watching something then going into school and discussing and predicting what would happen next. Also less variety meant more people watched the same thing. We all watched soaps.
  • not being tied to a phone. I don’t know how I’d exist without constant internet now, but it was so much more freeing. You did other things. I wouldn’t be online like now! You were on time to meet friends and just left when you said you would.
  • the excitement of waiting for the next Harry Potter book to come out and reading them in real time, growing up with the characters. When a book wasn’t due, one of the films was. So much fun.
  • 10p freddos and sweets at Woolworths
  • when you went abroad and you got completely different stuff and completely different shops and you couldn’t use your phone so you had a real break from normal life

Don’t miss:

  • pre smart phone I got lost SO much. I’m talking more teenage years when I’d go into London, try to visit someone or had to use a map abroad. Google maps has saved me a lot.
  • the feeling in the pit of my stomach when all the back to school stuff came out end of August. I love September now!
  • there being no vegetarian options and people generally acting like you were a weirdo for not wanting to eat meat
  • horrible PE lessons and uncomfortable and inappropriate PE kit. Cue humiliation and horrible pit in stomach feeling.
  • the everyday sexism that now I can just question and call out and feel ok with instead of constantly questioning myself. With this the normalisation of body shaming and sexism in TV
HelloKittyGirl · 27/01/2022 20:51

I miss…

Good telly like Philip Schofield and Andy Crane in the old BBC Broom Cupboard. Less was definitely more when it came to TV channels.

TOTP and a proper charts which people followed and got collectively excited about.

I don’t miss…

Having to sit cross-legged on a cold wooden floor for half-an-hour every morning for hymn assembly and even longer on a Tuesday for hymn practice.

Being chucked outside in the playground three times a day come rain or shine.

Having to go to an actual bookshop if you wanted to buy a book (i.e. no instant Kindle downloads and free browsing from your bedroom).

Having to go to an actual supermarket to buy food rather than touching pictures on an iPad and some bloke showing up with the stuff at your door the next day.

Having to wait until after 6pm to make a long-distance call and even then being conscious of the length and cost.

Bloody scary public information films.

RonCarlos · 27/01/2022 21:02

Bloody scary public information films

Oh god yes. The utter terror of an electricity pylon!

Gingerkittykat · 27/01/2022 21:13

I miss:
My grandma.
Being allowed to ride miles on my bike even though I cringe at the thought of how unsafe it would have been for a pair of 12 year olds riding on roads unsupervised and with no helmet.
The ice cream van.
Music lessons and playing in a regional orchestra.
Going berry picking in the summer.

What I don't miss.
Bullying, being autistic, fat, wearing NHS glasses and being a maths geek meant I was an easy target.
PE lessons, especially in first year when we had to wear gymskirts.
Being smacked/ leathered at home.
Dinners which normally consisted of some dried up meat, potatoes and soggy veg.

Dacquoise · 27/01/2022 21:13

@RonCarlos, not as scary as being shut in an abandoned fridge cos there were loads of those lying around!

StCharlotte · 27/01/2022 21:18

1960s baby. I miss:

  1. Long holidays
  2. My mum's roast lamb
  3. Watch with Mother
  4. Singing hymns
  5. Dancing classes

Don't miss:

  1. Windows frozen on the inside
  2. Being bored on Sundays (love Sundays now!)
  3. PE. I was so keen but so rubbish
  4. Lack of money
  5. My mum's menopause coinciding with my older sisters hitting puberty. Man it was loud!
piratehugs · 27/01/2022 21:20

I miss:
1 Reading lots and lots and lots of books
2 Some of the mysterious puddings we had at primary school
3 Being clever (too knackered now)
4 My best friend (he's not dead, he just dropped me)
5 Art and sewing classes - I was never any good at them at the time but I'd love to have another go now

Don't miss:
1 The shouting
2 My dad's dangerous driving
3 Having to find excuses to get out of swimming
4 Communal showers
5 Other kids' parents giving you a lift in the boot of their car Shock

RonCarlos · 27/01/2022 21:20

@Dacquoise oh yes, the killer fridges! Shock