To start a thread for grumpy old ladies who think things aren't what they used to be

[susanstryingterm]

I'm probably a bit older than the average age on here, and totally emphasised with someone who said, in slightly despairing tones on a thread yesterday 'I sometimes think nobody knows how to behave anymore'.

So:

I think children should stand up for older (60+) people on public transport.
I think weddings should be a 'cut your cloth to suit your measure' exercise.
I think children should be called in by 9pm at latest during the Summer, so that neighbours can get some consideration.

and no idea why you made the lame attempt to shock me with the stuff about the "dim table". Clearly that is a hideous concept which thankfully has gone out with the Ark. If I am being PC gone mad to be glad of that then so be it.

Oh Yes Chalet I can't believe no one has mentioned Christmas yet!

Gone totally insane! What does a 1 year old need £200 worth of stuff for. And people get into debt on credit cards over it.

I always had a great Christmas and I can't remember hardly anything I got!

I hate those fb photos of a massive spawling mound of about 30 odd Christmas presents halfway across the living room….for an 18 month old child. Just horrible.

The flip side is kids were hideously bullied at school back then, and now there is a lot of work done on self esteem and expressing emotions and how its not OK to be horrible to each other, and that is a good thing IMO.

Great thread op, interesting reading.

To be fair amici I wasn't allowed to do a few of yours as a child, and I'm 51.

Agree with lots of these.

Personal responsibility (or lack of it)
Everything is always someone else's fault.
And no-one says sorry any more.

NOISE everywhere. So many people seem to be unable to do things without mindless noise playing from something. Summer is the worst - go to the park and 15,000 people will be there playing poxy music out loud from their poxy music devices. Are they listening to it? No. But you'll have to. And you are actually distracted and irritated by it, because in your world music is there to be listened to, not as an incessant tinny background drone accompanying every action.

The alternative is SILENCE, people. It's nothing to be scared of. Other people actually find it restful, though not so much nowadays because it's in short supply owing to tools playing Jessie J from their mobiles.

Ahem [fans angry red face]

So,
I think able people should stand up for older (60+) people on public transport.

I am deeply worried about the Kim Kardashian/instagram/reality TV thing. Death knell, as far as I'm concerned.

And I really hate the way young girls dress these days.

I hope when I'm 60 I won't need another adult to stand up for me on a bus Lweji.

oh NOISE!! don't get me started. There is absolutely nowhere to go to escape noise. Drives me nuts. Even libraries are not quiet now.

Christmas - crazy. I don't believe people who say "it's for the kids". I think the kids are better with less stressed parents. I'm sorry to say I know people who get themselves really upset/in debt etc over Xmas presents for children and spend half the year paying it off. I don't understand how one day of the year can be so important, nor do I think it's healthy to send that message to children.

more moans - it's part of a culture where constant buying is considered important and if I live to be 101, I will never understand why.

Exactly Dido, media attention and materialism are not two good ideals to live your life by.

Constant self promoting on media, imagining your are in a reality show, is unsustainable. It's more like the Truman show, a fabric of self deception and falsehoods.

A frenemy of mine whips up a card buying frenzy at the drop of a hat " You completed your test, good job, have a card, lets celbrate", everything is "a journey of mindfulnes..... creating memories" all catalogued in its nauseating glory on facebook. Thats why I am not on it.

On a need to know basis, I don't need to know

I read on another thread that some places are starting to use ipads and apps to pay for stuff this made me grumpy we are going to end up just swiping and pointing and not actually speaking to a real person.

I dont think teenagers should be ferried about here there and everywhere it drives me insane when other parents feel sorry for my teenagdr because they use their legs or a bus

A wedding invite is just that an invite go/dont go but fgs stop whinging about it and an indicator of a gift is handy

I also find the buying of mountains of expensive branded consumer goods for kids at Christmas to be obscene. Beyond a certain point, more stuff does not equal more joy. There are other things you can do to make Christmas special for kids.

I'm not even that old. I'm just old-fashioned.

Eek, it is the competitive consumerism that is so unnecessary. There is a point when more stuff doesn't equate to more joy, but some choose to ignore it

Why do I need to buy an app on my phone to regularly remind me to be mindful, when I could just turn my phone off and have a think, in silence?

I like good manners, so I hope that I will never make a child who has just had bowel surgery cry by berating him in front of a bus full of passengers for not standing up. Old people can be shits too.

The whole Wedding thing. I thought it was mad enough when I got married, but it's just ridiculous now. Hen weeks? Whatever happened to a few drinks down at the pub with your mates?

Bright orange makeup plastered all over young faces. Looks hideous

MrsJayy - in case any of my divorced friends remarry - how do you turn down the wedding invite of a close friend?! Probably easier with younger children but after that...?

You could tell them you don't approve of divorce/remarriage/modern blended families, etc.

All i was meaning was i have read threads of posters whinging that the venue is to far away or they want to take kids to a no kids wedding etc they couple have organised a wedding they sent out invites it isnt up to the couple if you go or not

Being asked 'are you alright' in a shop is not the same as 'can I help you?'

Goodbyetoallthat - I could try but they would rightly think that my inner being had been abducted by aliens and only the exterior of me was there!!

actually that makes me think....I could just not go and send a note professing to be from aliens......

DW just "hilariously" linked me to this thread, with the suggestion I should live here.