To think the younger MN generation would be shocked at things we did decades ago...

[Allonthesametrain]

It was such a different time, before the days of hand gel, smartphones, ordering online, house cctv, awareness etc.

This is from a background of a good home with values, DF worked hard, DM did everything for us 3 DC and also worked early before we got up and during school hours when we of that age.

Things we would do...

All 3 have a bath together every night when young, also go into after bath DF or DM.

Most clothes were hand me downs/passed on from friends and neighbours and anything new was for a special occasion.

If we wanted anything special we had to wait until Christmas or birthdays and were delighted and grateful

Lucky to have a house phone, it was in the hall way so no privacy and a shout how long are you going to be on there if you rang out

Bedrooms were sparse, we put colour on our walls with posters we got from magazines

Fun time meeting your friends, on foot or bikes, roller boots, usually at the school you've been at all day because it was known and had no big fences around it.

We collected tapes, later CDs, which we listened to over again and had to rewind, also recorded from friends on a double deck

Recorded our favourite songs from the radio, had to pause before next one to not include the DJ's blitherings

Young teens, oldest looking member of group bought a couple of 2L cheapest cider, we all drank from

Pubs, rarely enough loo roll, we never thought to bring our own, wipe by hand or drip dry

Need a wee, you went anywhere

You walked to meet your friends then walked/staggered back, split up on way to walk on your own as girls

You didn't dare argue with a teacher, even when it was unfair as a good student

If you went to university it was a shared bathroom and kitchen between 12, one tine fridge, old pans. Then when you moved out to house share the furniture was from the 1940s, mattresses had springs sticking out, slugs were a normal practice to put outside.

You qualify, get your own first flat, most basic furnished, the slug relatives are there, you still have to go to the laundrette as no washing machine. Single glazing, you put your own film up to help.

This was if lucky, friends from less privileged areas and backgrounds were left to roam, hungry, sniffed glue, caused chaos, were always dirty, same clothes every day. When 'naughty' they were beaten by their parents and disrespected, often hit by teachers.

Things have progressed so much but there are still many living this life within their homes.

So, with the observation of MN posts about things like should I be upset about DC not being offered his favourite food at lunch time just seems so trivial compared to the reality of us as older parents.

Are younger parents picking arguments about what could be deemed as insignificant just because they can now on SM?

Yeah, I know, I will seem as a dinosaur, but Im not. Basic values need to come from home, which we as gen X experienced growing up. When you're a young child and all you know is instant gratification from screens then this is their norm, then going forward their DC. Not saying all parents do this, of course not, but sadly many do.

My point? Oh yes, growing up in harsher times, which wasn't ideal at all but it was what it was and now we appreciate the positives of now, but without knowing what it was like before is it difficult to appreciate and not succumb to a lazier way of parenting?

My kids share bathwater. It's a time rather than a financial issue.
They also wear hand me downs.
They don't roam the streets/wee everywhere

I am guessing you are in your 50s op - I am 40s and a lot of your post sounds archaic to me.

We used to dream about a hole in the road!

I was born in 51. Some of this post resonates with me.

Thank you, that was the laugh I needed after reading that absolute drivel!

Op, you have described how most millennials also lived until the fairly recent era of social media. Except for wiping bums with our hands, I’m pretty sure that was just you.

My boomer Dad and my War generation grandparents were not peeing ‘anywhere,’ most men still had the decency to go behind a tree or a bush.

Leave the poor Gen Z’s and Alpha’s alone, many decades from now their early lives will look very different too. ‘The past is a foreign country’ and all that!

I remember now, my Mum used to give me 50p a day in the holidays to entertain my little brother. He was 6, I was 12. This was about 1974. We would do things like travel the whole length of the Central line and come back. We lived about 30 miles west of London as well. You could do that for 50p then. My Mum would have been horrified if she knew we had gone to Ongar.

I was born in '68 and definitely had hand-me-downs and shared bathwater. I relate to a lot of the OP.

A lot of my clothes did 4 cousins before they got to me and I dreaded the quarterly arrival of the suitcase. Mum's rationale was "there's still plenty of wear in that"! It was embarrassing.

I'm sure my friends had new clothes though.

I was born in ‘89 and relate to lots on the OP’s list. But it’s possible to reminisce without being condescending.

Older generations didn’t choose the world they grew up in any more than young people do today. It’s not groundbreaking that things change over time.

Yes, being sent dick pics at school. Pressure to send back photos of your own bits that then get uploaded for all to see. Pressure to receive choking and anal in your early, precious sexual encounters. The manosphere. Incels. Anxiety because of Social Media. Feeling terrified to be even slightly different/imperfect because Social Media. Online bullying. Violent porn being celebrated as perfectly normal. Being objectified and being encouraged to consider a career on Only Fans as empowering.

Things are SO FUCKING GOOD for our daughters now.

We has something the younger generation will never have.. freedom. The most glorious gift from my childhood. It as always strikes me as strange that those who enjoyed it so much are so determined to stop their children from having the same privilege. The 'times have changed' line is rolled out but really they haven't, risks always existed, people just used to balance risks against well being and no longer do.

You were lucky

Vey curious mish-mash of timeframes OP. How old are you? If
you were growing up when CDs superseded tapes that seems very at odds with re-using bath water and not everyone having a landline.

I’m 48 and so grew up with tapes then CDs in a working class home…….no shared bath water, and I certainly don’t ever recall wiping myself with my hand after using the loo.

Stinging hands in the classroom because we used to stand against the radiators in the morning after walking to school. The room never really warmed up. 5 of us sharing a bathroom. One toilet and bath with shower head only. Wall paper to cover our school books. Hand me downs but fancy ones, cousins in USA would send us massive packages. Walking to the local shop with a small list from mum and bringing groceries home. No need to pay because it went on the account. Taking clothes or shoes 'on appro' to try at home. Buying sweet cigarettes to pretend to smoke. Sitting in the back seat on each other's laps making faces at the cars behind. Recording favourite songs from the radio and desperately hoping dj wouldn't ruin it by talking to early. Sunday roast every Sunday.

In the summer, you would go to the Lido. You would be dropped off when it opened at 9 - 30 and picked up when it closed. The oldest would be treasurer and was responsible for keeping the younger two supplied with ice creams and crisps.

You were lucky 😂

Whilst you're not wrong about those things, I'm sure the OP is looking at the past through a broader lens.

You wiped your own piss with your hand? You what the fuck?

I'm 55 and…no.

Also ignoring the rest of the ridiculous nostalgia ‘raise the flag’ shit

I remember living in bedsits and squats....

I am just so glad that there I was young in the phone free era and there is no possibillty of being haunted by images of my worst excesses. I think things these days are much tougher for young people in terms of work prospects and being able to begin a fully independent life in your late teens as my generation was able to do. I also think that despite all the advantages of technology it now dominates practically every aspect of our lives, I mean look at me typing out my tired random ramblings late at night to an audice of strangers. My 16 year old self would have thought this was the stuff of science fiction.

Some canings took place on the stage during assembly, in front of the whole school. I remember a boy getting publicly caned for being late arriving at school 3 times in the same week (if you were late you got a "black mark" in the register. Too many black marks and the cane was welded. We were 5 years old. I was terrified of the teachers, especially the male ones.

ahh the good old days eh.

What has any of that got to do with the OP ?

Your dad used to shit in the bath? Fucking hell. The lives some people live

Woah. Your daughter has had a very different experience to mine. Had you discussed things with her and prepared her? Sound like you need a good chat!

I’m not sure what the point of threads like this is- people talking about only having 3 TV channels in an era in which there were only 3 TV channels. I remember it well and it certainly didn’t feel like deprivation.

I think a lot of people long for the past, including a lot of young people who didn’t experience it. To me that’s a kick up the area to try to recreate the things about the past that were better - NO PHONES being the key. Fewer distractions meaning we lived more in the moment. A slightly less consumerist society.

Reminds me of babysitting when I was about 15 for a couple with a 2 year old and a 4 year old. The little one was still in night nappies, and I was told she wouldn't need changing so not to worry about it. Of course she did need a clean nappy, and I didn't know how to fold and pin the terry ones they had. Luckily the 4 year old was able to talk me through it, as she was more familiar with how it was done than I was!

I’m Gen X, my parents were born well before the war (dad served) and I recognise everything in the OP.