How different was your childhood to your dc's and is theirs better or worse?

[sealandotter]

I have 3 dc- 10 year old dd, 7 year old ds and 5 year old dd. My eldest dd asked me the other day what my childhood was like and it got me thinking about it. Mine wasn't actually that different to my children's (I'm 36 btw). I still live in the same area (although they go to a different school than I went to) and I'm a sahm and my mum was too. We do roughly the same activities as I did when I was young (e.g. swimming, walking the dog, trips to the garden centre, going to mcdonalds, watching Saturday night tv etc) and they get involved with most of the community events that I went to when I was young. We don't really live in an area where kids can go and play out so none of us really had that freedom that I hear others talk about. They do slightly more varied after school clubs than I did but they read a lot of books that were out when I was young. I realise some of these things are conscious decisions that we've made but I don't really see a huge difference between the two which I suppose is a good thing as I had a normal and happy childhood. I was just wondering if anyone else's children are having similar childhoods or if they are better or worse than theirs

They are different in some ways. I grew up in London zone 2, whereas my DC live in a more rural location, which has pros and cons. We are more affluent than my parents were, due to DH's job, so they have more luxuries like holidays and eating out. Also I am lucky to be able to work part time and be around more after school, whereas my mum worked full time and I was a latchkey kid. However I went to private school (on a full scholarship) so I was more privileged in that respect.

Their lives are similar to mine in the most important aspect, which is that they are growing up in a happy settled home with parents who love each other and adore their children.

Mine was a lot better we lived on an estate every single kid played together we went everywhere to the woods, fishing, we played games all day long we played out told ghost stories etc,
whereas my kids live on a main road in London, kids don’t play out here it’s not a thing, I feel a bit sad they didn’t get that experience

Really pretty similar, especially as mine are only toddler/baby age. We live in almost the same postcode to where I grew up. The bigger one goes to the same nursery I went to. We go shopping at many of the same shops. Different activities/toddler groups but similar ideas - my brother and I went to toddler gym and toddler music groups too.

My mum is around and spends a lot of time with my kids, so some of their books and toys are my old ones, or ones she has bought again. The older one loves Mog the forgetful cat and the Shirley Hughes books like I did.

A big difference is that we went to church every week whereas I haven't even had my children christened.

Also, my mum didn't have her own family around so relied more on her nct group and other mum friends for support and childcare. I think the pandemic might have affected that aspect, too.

Massively different.
We had much less money and I wasn't encouraged to carry on with my education so was working full time at 16.
I am much closer with my kids then my parents were with us too.

Very very different in some ways, similar in others.

I grew up on a farm : my chosen are growing up city centre. I went to a tiny primary school with 25 pupils : my kids went to a primary school with 300+ pupils. I traveled over an hour each day to get to secondary school: they walk 10 minutes down the road. I had to cycle or get lifts everywhere and hardly saw my friends out of school: my kids see their friends all the time, they are all within ten minutes walk of home. I grew up a very white, conservative part of the UK, my kids are growing up bilingual, in France, their friends are from all over Europe My kids are really close to their grandparents: I hardly knew mine. My kids had me around for the first ten years: my mum went back to work full time when my little sister was 2.

i don’t think either upbringings are better or worse tbh, just different.