What was a HUGE deal in your house growing up that is normal for you now?

[Bakingmamma]

Various things in my house.

A big one was baking. Although we
usually had the things in the house, wanting to bake was such a big deal and we could only do it on special occasions. Possibly did it once or twice a year.

I’m not talking about big extravagant bakes either! I’m talking about 12 bog standard cupcakes with some basic icing on!

It was only when I reached adulthood that I realized I could cook some basic cupcakes in 20 minutes and it wasn’t a big deal at all.

It takes longer to do a load of washing!

What was a huge deal in your house that you’ve now normalized for your own children? I can’t be the only one 🙈

Leaving the house with wet hair

I would say my only issue was that the front door wooden one would near get shut and locked. My dad was a joiner and never fixed it. It just was left slightly open all the time even over night and my mum slept with a big Knife next to the bed. Now my doors are locked when all the time.
I wasn't expected to do chores and anything which I have passed on to my children and it causes loads of arguments in my house. His mum was very strict very cleaning and he seems weirdly keen to clean all day.

Sal

Having hot drinks outside of the official times for having certain hot drinks. It was very much frowned upon if I spontaneously decided I’d like to drink a cup of coffee at 10:15 am because I fancied one. Coffee time was 11am. Heaven forbidden a cup of tea at coffee time.

Also the wearing of jeans on on a Sunday.

to answer a pp, this was in the 1970s and 80s. It would have continued into the 90s and beyond but I left home at 18 and never went back!

1980s-1990s

Definitely fruit - we had cheap green apples, oranges and bananas, but everything else was a luxury. Avocados, melon and (non-tinned) pineapple were the height of exoticness.

Most vegetables - we lived on potatoes. I never tried aubergines, courgettes or peppers until well in to adulthood.

Pasta - too fancy for us. We had boil-in-the-bag rice.

Bread/baked goods - only ever had the cheap white pan loaf. Pancakes were once a year. Scones were a treat at the café.

Fresh fish

Hair conditioner

Fabric softener

Tampons - they were too expensive. We only had those thick pads that lost their stickiness after 5 mins then slipped out of place.

Clothes and shoes were only bought on special occasions like Christmas and birthdays.

Soft play/play gym - only for birthdays

Pizza.
having friends for tea, the doilies would appear along with the best dinner set. I’d go to their houses in return and it wasn’t such a production.

days out we’re always a traipse around the shops on the local town while ddad worked out what time he could reasonably go to the pub.

Holidays were always in this country and cut short by several days as parents hated being away from home.
we now go away for the whole holiday like normal people and save up for decent kid friendly days out. I’ve relived my childhood through them I think.

Driving. My parents never learned to drive so more or less assumed it was something other families did. I learned to drive when an adult and never looked back!

Class/wealth is important.

We were proper working class growing up.

Parents couldn’t drive till 87/88/89ish.

Bath/shower everyday would have seemed like a mind blowing and incomprehensible luxury! Parents grew up without indoor hot water so would have been used to strip washes.

central heating was fitted late 70s but was usually on if cold.

Rarely went out to eat. Expensive.

We had strawberries and peaches in the summer (watching Wimbledon) but not other times of the year.

As a couple of pps have said... WINE. No-one except the 'posh' and the middle/upper classes drank wine. (Pre mid 1980s.) Now, loads of people I know drink wine. You can get a decent bottle for about a fiver! Feels like it was a bit of an expensive thing pre mid 1980s.

Also, holidays abroad. No-one I knew went abroad in the 1970s. Only rich people. I didn't go til I was 21. Always Borth, Aberystwyth, Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, and Blackpool. NEVER anywhere out of the UK.

My mum didn't like dressing gowns or slippers for reasons I still don't understand so we were always freezing in the mornings (days before central heating).

I love a comfy pair of slippers and cosy dressing gown now.

We never had chocolate bars in the house, occasionally my dad would buy us a tube of smarties when he bought a paper.

@Usrr there was a lower standard of living in the UK after WWII than in the USA and Canada. Took many years for living standards to rise for anyone but the rich. There was a lot of bomb damage in cities and a lot of rebuilding was required. There was a housing shortage which went on for decades. Food rationing continued for many years after the war.

Whereas I think the 1950s was a boom time (at least for white Middle income people?) in the USA, I suppose Canada would have been similar?

I know you are talking about the 1980s, but I suppose there was a knock on effect. I remember lots of power cuts in the 1970s (we would use a camping stove and candles, as kids we thought it was fun). Houses at the lower end would be built with no central heating, even in the 1980s, though it was obviously possible decades before that.

Sorry tagged you by mistake @Bakingmamma

Day trips out as a family. We hardly ever went anywhere as a family apart from to visit relatives or to go on our annual holiday to Cornwall or wherever. Despite the fact that my mum didn't work so there was minimal stuff to do in the house they always said they were too busy to go anywhere. Was a bit better when we got a dog as occasionally they would agree to venture out in the car to walk the dog somewhere more interesting than the local field.

We went out and about every weekend when my kids were younger (teens now so only interested if it's food-related!). Got NT membership and went everywhere we could in our area. Or to different parks which were more than a walk away. The kids used to love it, it was really bonding as a family, and we enjoyed it too. They love going for long walks in the Lakes etc, whereas we never did anything like that as a kid. When I was little I used to shout "public footpath" in excitement when I saw an interesting looking path in the countryside and I really longed to explore. But no, we were never allowed to stop the car and wander up them.

Occasionally my dad relented to a "drive out". So spend ages in the car for no good reason, gettitng out somewhere relatively picturesque to take some photos and having an ice cream for 45 mins or so, and then back in the car again.

Oooh and women driving too. Probably only around 10-15% of women could drive when I was a kid (1970s.) Now it's probably who 10-15% who CAN'T drive.

Correction: Now it's probably 10-15% who CAN'T drive. (The word WHO should not have been in the last sentence in my last post!!!)

I mean the FIRST 'who...' EDIT BUTTON PLZ!!!

Eating Out
Going to the cinema
Doing anything outdoorsy. Rarely went to the beach and never went on walks or the like. Weirdly both DB and I have grown up to love outdoorsy stuff but my parents weren’t interested.

Take away. Only recall 2-3 times and it was from chippy and shared amongst 6 kids
Putting the heating on
never had wine until I went to uni. My parents never had wine in the house.
Getting your own bath. Had to share with my sisters

International food. I remember DDad asking where the potatoes were the first time he had lasagne. Wine another.

baths - one or two a week anything else was a massive deal.

Orange Juice

it was tightly rationed to a sherry glass. Tescos value juice. Horrible but such a big deal! 😀

Having a second car, having sleepovers for the kids, eating out a lot, variety of food from other countries at home, day trips when it’s no one’s birthday.

Such a good topic although painful in aspects..
Fizzy Drinks/orange juice- very rationed maybe once every few months
Central Heating on.
Baking- once a month maybe, we bake regularly now, as and when we feel like it.
New furniture/House decor (almost never growing up)
Baths/Showers- until we were teens heavily restricted
New clothing/Shoes- only as needed
Eating out/takeaways- never
My parents weren't poor, just really tight, both had their own agendas with money (send as much back to their relatives in another country ) I deeply resented them for that and moved out as soon as I was able.. said relatives are n'er do well people who don't give a flying fuck about us. It was a horrible way to grow up, and ultimately pointless.

Getting the cherry in the tin of fruit salad. My Mum ALWAYS had the cherry / cherries so it was exciting to find a sliver of cherry under one of those peculiarly grainy pears.

(US early 1960s vs US 1980s)

Fast food or eating out in a restaurant was a treat for us, mostly on a random pay day. For my DC it was a more 'whenever we feel like it' thing.

The first day it was warm enough to go barefoot to school. Not allowed when my DC were in school.

Mandatory church attendance (Sunday school AND morning service) was pretty common when I was a child, just about every family I knew went to church. Not so for my DC, although we did attend a very 'liberal' church off and on when they were very young. As soon as they said they didn't want to go we stopped, whereas I had to 'have it out' with Mum after I flat out refused to go at age 14.

Going to the beach, a long drive on surface streets that took 90 mins to 2 hours. OMG the fights my siblings and I had crowded in the back seat, especially homeward since we were a damp, sticky, sandy mess. Freeways went and drive time was reduced to about 30 mins so a day at the beach was a breeze.

**Freeways went IN WHEN I WAS EARLY 20S and drive time was reduced to about 30 mins so a day at the beach was a breeze

A lot of these things are to do with standards of living and the fact that many of the things being discussed were expensive.