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?

🤔 Oh Pinocchio! 😂

Wipe what with your hand?

This all sounds like a Catherine Cookson book.

Exactly and thanks! This really was the case so for someone to mock the reality has no idea of how we used to live, whole point of the thread.

Hey commentator, please ask your elders, show an interest in their lives, they have a lot to say to learn from.

Aye, and me friend Emily chucked her selves under t'horse.
But we was 'appy, and loaf of bread were less than t'shilling.

It's also disingenuous to think that a lot of bad stuff still isn't happening behind closed doors, even in this so called enlightened age. You only need to read a few threads on MN to see just what a lot of women are still putting up with. Neither era was/is perfect, that's just life.

Oh politely please bore off and take off your rose tinted glasses. "Lazy parenting".. yawn.

Some things were better, but some most definitely were not. I was born in the mid 70's was a young child late 70"s/ 80's a teenager late 80's/ early 90's, so Gen X .

I do not recognise a lot of what OP is saying .

sharing bath water, my sister and I were bathed one after the other in clean water every night. There isn't any way our Mum would allow us to share bath water or bath with her or Dad. We also had clean school uniform or clean clothes daily.

I did not ever wipe myself after using the toilet with my own hands. That's revolting.

I am glad that I had the opportunity to grow up without my every move/ mistake being recorded and put on social media.

The good- the freedom to play out on bikes, building dens and skipping games. Sunday being a day of rest/ slow and often boring, taping the top 40 on a Sunday night, making mix tapes, recording programmes on video, renting videos from the video library as a teen, home made fake ID that worked mostly, being able to go for a night out as a late night teen/ early 20's and still have change from £10. Thriving high streets and shops. The Body Shop, Our Price, The Sweater Shop, Woolies, Boots and ChelseaGirl, Dorothy Perkins, Tammy Girl and Too shop were places that my friends and I spent many a happy teenage Saturday afternoon mooching. Teen mags like Just seventeen, smash hits, Jackie, were teenage staples for info and gossip. Late teens it was More magazine, especially position of the fortnight!

The not good - smoking was everywhere, parents could smack their children, which was and is wrong, but was still seen as normal in many families. Crazy!

Misogyny, and sexual harassment of women was everywhere. It was usual to suffer sexual harassment in the workplace place, which looking back was utterly toxic!

This was alongside racist, sexist and homophobic attitudes. Section 28 was active in schools and being called gay or thought of as gay by peers at school meant school was a miserable existence for many.

The mid 80's AIDS warning adverts were terrifying! Ditto the Charlie says adverts and public health warning adverts.

car safety was not a thing.I can remember my sister and I bedding down in our sleeping bags in the boot of our family hatchback travelling up to Scotland to visit relatives. Madness!

Mental health and anxiety were not taken seriously. I can remember going back to ( boarding) school after the holidays my heart sinking knowing that I would have minimal face to face contact or time with my parents until Christmas/ Easter/ Summer. Apart from the odd exeat I saw them from aged 11 to 18 every twelve weeks .

Also having to share a dorm with five other teen girls. All with different personalities and traits without any real down time or privacy The worst part was feeling homesick and upset crying in secret because no one really cared. It was always worse in our weekly letter writing sessions and once a week phone call home from the school pay phone,

There were many good things in the 70s/ 99's, but not all of them were good!

And house phones were rented from whatever BT used to be called.

It was the GPO - General Post Office.

Absolutely 💯 ...this and more

Well neither I nor any of my friends experienced the things you mentioned in your post. It doesn't mean they didn't happen, just as your daughter not experiencing the things mentioned in that MNers post doesn't mean they don't happen.

Yes, no seat belts for anyone, lot less traffic and speeding. We had a campervan and weren't allowed to go into the cupboard because wasn't safe! So yes, we would take it in turns to hide in there.

5 adults and 4 kids fitting in a ford fiesta to go to Alton Towers. 2 kids on laps, 1 in the boot and the smallest one (me) in the passenger footwell... Whilst all the adults were smoking the whole journey.

I did not ever wipe myself after using the toilet with my own hands. That's revolting.

I’m guessing that OP meant after a wee - and probably after a hover over the manky loo.

That must be grandparent not parent though?

I was born in 1950 in Australia and vividly remember those days. Mum used a copper and hand wringer on wash days ,black and white TV with 3 channels , playing in the backyard and family close . I also walked to school by myself . Life was so much better .

I grew up in the same era.

It's much harder now for kids growing up and transitioning into adulthood. We were living the dream comparatively.

I am 39 and can relate to all of OPs post, apart from the teachers part.

By the time i was interested in music it must have been mid to late 90s and these were definitely tapes to begin. Loved taping my favourite songs from the charts on a Sunday night.

Shared a bath with my sibling until I was around 7/8 when my dad said they are too old to share now.

Not everyone I knew had a house phone until I was in my early teens. Maybe it was different for different walks of life.

So glad it was born when I was. Must have been the last few years groups to fully get to adulthood without social media. The technology came at a time where I was old enough to get exited by it. But at the same time not be damaged by it. Technology seems very damaging to kids/teens these days. The young kids being given a tablet to pacify is not great. Under 10 we were free to roam and creating adventures. It is not seen as safe now, and the kids wouldn't know what to do with that freedom of they had it. Bored too easy without the technology fix. As they get to teens they have access to social media and the filters and it breeds insecurities and comparisons to others. I know would have struggled growing up with this.

Kids grow too quickly these days, they don't know how to feel free and be without judgement. the girls get obsessed with makeup and how they look from a much younger age. Reels and the like are damaging with the short burst of entertainment then needing a new thing. In part it is good mental health is cared for now, but at the same time they are accessing so much content about it is is almost making them feel a part of something to have mental difficulties.

I think its more to do with class than age.
Im early 50s and I can remember well off classmates having backyard pools, video game consoles (in the mid 80s), vcrs, trips to mcdonalds, holidays to theme parks, lots of toys etc.
I grew up quite poor and had hand me downs. I think Im possibly a few years younger than OP as it sounds like they were growing up in the 70s.

'todays children' arent all anything though. Mine certainly arent overindulged 🙄. they certainly have more than I did at their age but thats because I was dirt poor growing up.

I don't think this was the same for everyone and it obviously is very important to you .
Rape being legal in marriage or not is just disgusting and wrong and in some cultures even today don't get a choice.
I think the post was meant as a more generalised easy times with no mobiles , kids just being kids and back before bedtime.

I recognise so much of the OP, and am just a little younger than you. We shared baths when little and bath water when bigger. Only one person using the water was such a waste - if one person needed a bath, at least one other person needed to make use of it afterwards on principle! And it wasn't daily, that was too much water. We washed at the sink each morning and on the nights we didn't have a bath.

Adding my own - out all day in mixed group of kids from ages about 4 to 12, playing in the local woods. The older ones would look after the youngest.

Going to the shop for 10p mixes!

Wiping icicles off the inside of your bedroom windows in winter.

Shovelling coal to fuel the central heating system from about 8. It was an exciting job!

Walking everywhere.

Just calling for your friends without knowing if they were in or able to play. If that was a wasted 30 min walk, so be it.

At uni we had no phone, no washing machine. Had to use payphones and the launderette.

You bring back memories, OP (grew up in the 70s, here).

Hand me down clothes that had been through several cousins before they got to me. Making our own clothes.

‘The war’ defined my father’s childhood as well. He’s in his nineties now, and soon there’ll be no one who remembers it.

We shared bath water. We didn’t have baths at the same time, but had baths one after the after.

My next door neighbour didn’t have a phone.

We rented tv from Radio Rental.

We came home at lunchtimes from school to have our lunch (senior school),

There was no national curriculum so teachers could teach what they wanted.

We had day trips to go and visit unis without parents, and when starting, only took clothes with us, Didn’t need to take plates, bedding etc.(1980s). Only the ‘top set’ people went to university or polytechnic.

Sales happened twice a year (January and July), and you thought getting 10% of was great. No one discounted by 50% etc.

Not showering or washing your hair daily.

Not carrying water everywhere. (We must have all been dehydrated)

or having constant snacks.

When we went on holiday (always UK), parents would put the seats down in the back of our estate car and make me and my sister a bed up in the back with sleeping bags. We'd lay down and try to sleep as they drove through the night.

Well good for you! Obviously the OP didn't have the same luxuries as you. And I think you know that or you're very ignorant.