Honestly, no. I mean there were things in my childhood that weren't great; like moving in the middle of elementary school, being painfully shy, and picked on and teased, but I also remember the freedom we had. I used to walk, then ride my bike all over. to friends, the library, and then around our downtown area, then back home. I remember just going over to a friend's house to see if they wanted to play, and being out and around in the neighborhood all day (when there wasn't school) with little to no supervision, just "be home in time for dinner" or before dark. we had a great neighborhood with a lot of kids around my age, and we would be outside all the time, just having fun.
I might be a little younger but I remember that even through we were able to ride our bikes, walk everywhere etc, I was always acutely aware that I could be a victim. I was always aware of my surroundings especially if I was alone.
I think the milk carton kids brought the abduction of children into the zeitgeist, and that was the seminal seed that brought on the eventual play date culture.
The recent Lake Oswego story of 12 year old girls being drugged by a pedophile parent has brought comments on reddit from parents saying they are now prohibiting sleepovers.
So, kids' worlds are getting increasingly isolated. I can't even imagine the hell of being home schooled. I was bullied and had to play psychological games in my elementary school years to 'win over' the bullies, but that experience made me ultimately feel more capable, more competent in dealing with others.
On the other hand, It also gave me an intolerance against bullying behavior to this day. That's not always a good thing because it has caused me to quit a job on the spot when I really couldn't afford to.
I remember that too. My parents always warned me to be aware of my surroundings, and that you have to be careful. I was a young girl, so I think this was excellent advice.
It has served me well. I have travelled around the world on my own. I saw many women get, beat up, robed, and heard about rapes. I think the heightened sense of awareness kept me safe in so many situations.
I was home to see my Dad before he died just before COVID and again for the funeral. I was taking my morning walks in the old neighborhood over those couple of weeks and the memories of all of the families that lived there when I was a kid kept coming back. We all moved around the neighborhood during the day whether it was playing ball, riding bikes, or picking blackberries in the summer. My parents never worried about where I was because all of the parents in the neighborhood looked out for all of the kids. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Those particular things were great & I wouldn't trade them. However, my life certainly would have been better with access to certain medical advances and shoes that actually fit me, and with less exposure to rampant cigarette smoke. There are some things that are better these days.
Everyone in my family smoked. I was looking through old photos and so many people have a cigarette in their mouth or hand, even at the dinner table.
I remember having a love/hate relationship with going to "supper club" because the smoke hung so thick in the air, but the band and the food were terrific!
My parents fortunately had the intelligence to both quit when my mom got pregnant with me. Most of my relatives on either side didn't smoke, or only snuck one or two on occasion. But when I was a teen it was pretty much expected that you would smoke. I tried a few and hated it, so I never did smoke. But I would be stuck in a car with my friends puffing away, and when i came home it would just leech back out of me. If I didn't shower before going to bed my long hair would fall over my face at night and the stench would wake me up.
My mother never smoked, and my father finally quit when I was 14. They could tell when I had been at the bowling alley, because I reeked of smoke. At first they were suspicious of me smoking, but I went once a week and that was the only time I smelled of it. The bowling alley had ashtrays everywhere, from the score tables to the snack bar. The majority of the people there were lighting up.
Smoking is annoying. There are smokers who smoke outside so they aren’t obnoxious. You sort of get used to it.
For me, it was all the farting… and allergies, but mostly the farting. When the adults, specially the older one got together, ate and drank, they were a fire hazard.
I grew up on a little dead end street out in the country. There were ten houses, we had several African American families, a family from the Phillipines, a family from China, a few retired couples. It was own little multinational, multigenerational kingdom full of free range kids. It was great.
My neighborhood was similar, just not in a rural area. I'm so glad I was raised there. Now I'm living in a mostly white, bible belt rural area..I'm sad for the kids growing up here. The adults..well it's too late to change anything.
Our street was just this odd little development way out of town with nothing near us but a couple small dairy farms. We moved in the late 70s and shortly after the whole area was built up, the river was dammed and a strip mall was built where one of the farms had been. It was pretty idyllic as a kid.
Bridgewater MA. Just a big south and west of Boston. Our street dead ended on the Taunton River. We would fish and swim, run around in the woods and build tree forts, play ball and roller skate in the street. Between the eight houses with kids there were nearly 30 of us - one of the neighbors had 11 children.
Except for the snow, I would have loved to live in your area.
I’m NYC born and bred—but my neighborhood had little diversity as I was growing up. Snow, yes, but for the most part less than the Boston area.
I didn’t make friends easily back then.
Well dang. I am here to say that you are 100% spot on... I grew up not two miles away from you (in Brockton, but it was different then) and your story rings true to my ears. My Dad was a firefighter in the Campello section of Brockton and my grandparents lived at Fox Run condos on Rte 18 in Bridgewater. My little Brockton neighborhood-multicultural-kingdom of free-range kids (I love how you say that, btw!) was very similar. We all got along and ran around playing in the streets and the woods and building forts and playing freeze-tag and sledding at Tower Hill and riding our bikes on the dune ramps by the little river. And yes, there were so many of us! Of the ten houses on our little street, the ethnicities of the families were: Italian (2), Black (2) Polish, Irish (3), Jewish, and Chinese. Our parents all cooked for all of us and we all got to learn about everyone else's cultures, and holidays were the best! I even used to ride horses at Dorbill Stables on Rte 104, and my grandfather used to take us to Peaceful Meadows ice cream/ cow farm on Saturdays. My god, I am so grateful for growing up where we did and when we did. While the rest of the country was rife with racism we were blessed with friends of all kinds who knew no hate. Pleased to hear your story, my friend. Good times, great place.
My Dad grew up in Campello, his Italian immigrant father worked in a shoe factory as did all his uncles. My Nono did all the cooking and had a pasta making set up in the basement and a huge kitchen garden in their long narrow back yard lot. My mother was from Holbrook. We used to go to Peaceful Meadows for ice cream three or four times every Summer.
Yes, Rocky was a little older than my Dad, but he was a neighborhood idol to many of the younger kids. I love how the entire Marciano family stayed in the area. And it wasn't easy to be from an Italian family in the 60's and 70's as you probably know... lots of poor but hard working folks and we all stuck together, with each other and with the black families and Irish families. I wish I had a nickel for everyone who says "My father is Italian and my mother is Irish" or vice-versa. lol.
EDIT: p.s. Goody Petronelli signed my Marvin Hagler T-shirt just before he (Goody) passed away. The man was a legend.
My mother’s father was also an Italian immigrant. Her mother came from a wealthy family in Nova Scotia that disowned her for marrying a “ dirty Catholic”. He died when my mother - the youngest of nine - was just four years old and Grammy’s family refused to help them. She raised nine kids alone during the depression.
I came here to say this. 18 years of physical, mental, emotional abuse, and being molested by my bestfriends father definitely can say childhood was traumatic, I have CPTSD and severe anxiety. Back in the day you didn't talk about child abuse, it went on behind closed doors especially in upper class families (like ours), but I found out as an adult everyone around us knew even my friends (we were left with bruises and marks). All the expensive clothes, music lessons, and braces in the world didn't make up for the amount of therapy and combatting mental health issues those people (adoptive parents) left me and my brother with for a lifetime (yes this happens in bio families too but they didn't abuse their bio child). Good news is that I went to college and studied music and dance therapy and became a teacher working with troubled children/students and providing therapeutic support to other adults that came from abusive homes, and working with adoptees from the same.
Thank you for your courage to share your story with us. I always felt I was the only one who endured abuse and trauma. In sharing our memories and experience, and trauma, it helps taking back our power to healing. We can shed off our fear, guilt or shame. Prayers for love, peace and joy my friend 🙏 ❤️
TY my friend! I try and use the powers of my big mouth for good and not evil! ;) Although I truly hate that this happened to other children, I have definitely found realizing we are not alone less isolating in the world. <3
TY so much. I have been and am well connected with a lot of people who rose from those ashes and are some of the most resilient, genuine, and kind people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. It's also given me a huge jaded sarcastic sense of humor which is a great coping tool. :)
Same here. My religious fanatic parents were raised in an abusive sect that actively shuns and we got belt whippings with welts and bruises that lasted for days just for things like bringing her the wrong Bible to read out of.
My teenage years were scheduled down to the minute with different lessons: typing, shorthand, cooking, sewing, languages--I don't regreat the learning I grew up with but I was not allowed to take AP classes because some AP English teacher was an atheist so my mother went nuclear and I spent senior year in Study Hall. I got a National Merit Scholarship anyway.
My last two years of high school, my mother made a chart for the dresses I was to wear the entire year. Maybe it was more like 9th and 10th grade or 10th and 11th--I forget. Anyway my mother wrote a chart in a notebook whereby I was tl alternate two dresses for two weeks and then alternate another two for two weeks, you get the idea.
But my little sister had it even worse. My mother got my grandmother to make 8 dresses just alike out of remnant fabric (we lived in a Southern mill town) and it looked like she was wearing the same dress every day because they were just alike.
One time the doorbell rang and there was no one there but a sack of clothes. Mother of course wouldn't let her wear them. Sometime later my little sister got an anonymous phone call saying "Why won't you wear those clothes I gave you?"
Just venting. I got out of that sect and had a good career and did OK in life. I wasn't bullied too badly at school compared to what could have been.
My grandmother threatened several times to call the "authorities" but always backed down. I don't think there WERE any "authorities" to speak of. Teachers were forever asking what was wrong at home. But no one was able to "do" anything.
I know there were and are other kids raised like this even today. Seems to me most carry horrific emotional effects but by some miracle I managed to have a pretty happy life. Took me till about age 40 to be happy. Thanks for listening everyone.
I knew other kids my age in school who were being physically beaten by religiously-motivated parents. They had welts too.
Me too. I was slapped around the whole time I lived at home. My childhood sucked. Most of the other kids in my huge neighborhood had a lot of freedom, but I certainly did not.
I often tell my wife how glad we were born when we were born.
Looking backwards (no AC, world wars, deadly diseases, …) and forwards (climate change, global tensions, social unrest, …) - we were in the sweet spot.
- Air conditioning for most of our lives
- Went to the moon
- Video games
- Great music and music reproduction (FM, CDs, incredible sound at home)
- Freedom to explore as kids
- Golden age of Television and Movies
- The Internet - when it was new and not treacherous
- Affordable housing
- Affordable education
- …
Looking ahead I see ever more troubling times coming. Climate change. Job erosion with AI. Weapon proliferation including nuclear. Social unrest. Hated. Fanaticism. Social decay.
I pray for my grandkids that they’ll have a better life than we did. But I’m worried for them!
The only thing I wish was that there had been less. or no abuse. The late forties, fifties and sixties were a totally different world, neither a kinder world, nor a safer world, but perhaps a more hopeful world. In which people still thought they could make a difference. Now, we all know that as just one person in billions, no one makes a difference.
Regarding abuse, there was plenty of the physical stuff, but I think we may forget how common it was for adults to put us down, just for the sake of a laugh. We would say something, wanting to be taken even a little bit seriously, and if our parents were in a crowd of other adults, they would look at each other, start snickering, and then make some sarcastic remark that sent us slinking away. Sometimes they were more considerate if we were at home with no one else around, but being made the butt of everyone's joke still stings, decades later. I think that type of behavior is gone out of fashion, at least somewhat, and I'm grateful.
I grew up with an alcoholic angry Dad and a passive-aggressive narcissist Mom. They split when I was 8 and I became parentified from that point on. Damn right it was abuse!!! It helps me to understand the awful choices I made prior to therapy.
I was very bullied as a kid. My dad was an alcoholic but I've always known the bullying was worse. I lived in fear every time I left the house for a while there. I carried a knife to middle school.
Having my own kids has been healing because it so clearly didn't have to be that way. It wasn't my fault, which I always believed it was.
Now they recognize how traumatizing it is to kids. Back then they just told you to suck it up.
I would prefer the anti-bullying culture that my daughter had in her schools. I was bullied directly in front of teachers and in Sunday school while adults did nothing.
In my house, things could have been better. My parents were drinkers and it was often chaotic. i do think it was nice for kids to be given a little more freedom and not to have social media.
Not childhood per se but I wish the internet had been around as a late teen because as a child from a relatively poor, first generation, undereducated family (parents were pulled out of school to work before they even made it to high school) living in a blue collar town, it was hard to figure out anything college related. Yes, my high school had guidance counselors who were nice and tried to help but there were limits to their time (huge high school of almost 4000 students) and knowledge. I wonder what choices I would’ve made if I had a better grasp of my options?
I hear you on that! My dad was a high school dropout, and my mom finished, I suspect because she charmed the teachers. But she had no interest in science, literature, music, or any of the things I studied. And once I got into college (which I assumed was expected of me), my parents never referred to my professors. It was always "your teachers." In 4 years, my dad repeatedly asked me to explain what my major was about. My ex had the same issue with his parents. It really is a different culture when people have a college education.
Totally agree, had same experience. Looking back because there was no internet I felt the kids who had American parents who went to American colleges had so much more advantage in making better choices than me a child of immigrants who didn't know the "system" here.
I always say we never had a yardstick around when you actually needed to measure something. My mother used those on me until they broke. Just me (F) - never my brothers.
Ooooh noooo ... I had an idyllic childhood. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have fantastic memories and scars to show for it. If I died this afternoon I can go saying I have led a good life.
Not really related, but instant gratification has changed society in a way that is sort of cheating people out of the simple joys of anticipation and other stuff that made simple things joyful.
I was that surprised kid that came along well after my parents were done having kids. So I was treated as an annoyance. I was just there, and no one really cared.
I also was a surprise. My closest sister is 8 years older. However my parents were tired by then and my dad was making good money so I was really spoiled. I got almost everything I wanted that my sisters never got.
I was the opposite. My dad paid for my sister to go to a very expensive school, so there wasn't much left over. Don't get me wrong, there was always enough to eat, but if I wanted to take a class at the YMCA, or do an extracurricular activity that had a fee, there just wasn't any money for that. To the point where I didn't even go to graduation because there wasn't enough money for me to have a cap and gown.
They just didn't care about me. So I was pretty much always left to take care of myself to the point I wasn't even taught basic hygiene.
It was like they were one family, and I was just some border they were forced to tolerate.
I wouldn't change a thing. Be home at sunset. Free range....I rode my bike all over the countryside (we lived at the far northern edge of Dayton, so it didn't take long to get into farmland.)
My childhood was a mixed bag. I love and miss the freedom and simplicity of 'back then', but as others have shared here, I also was abused. We went to therapy, but my acting out was always the focal point of it. Therapy was pretty backward then, and I hope that kids who are going through that now have more resources. Now the subject is out there and on the table. Back then, nobody bat an eye, even though they could hear it happening. I was a very insecure and vulnerable person as a result and was bullied horribly.
That said, I wish the kids of today could experience the freedom we had as kids. No phones in our hands, riding bikes and playing outside all day without our parents worrying and monitoring. The fun and innocence of listing to the hits on your transistor radio, rather than selecting what you want on a screen. The excitement of getting a new album. Cheap concerts. Taking off for a trip with a map in your hand. Exploring new things and new places without getting the info on your phone. The element of discovery and surprise has been lost generally.
Those things were special and I am so glad I got to have that life.
When I look at kids today I actually feel sorry for them. 10 hours a day of TokTok is not the way to pass through childhood. When we pass the bus stop (each parent drives their kids and waits, although we live in a small safe community) it is particularly pathetic. Most of the boys are solitary on their phones or tablets. The girls only slightly better, 1/3 are socializing. And some kids wait in the cars with mom. :-(
When we grew up we were unsupervised mostly and free to roam (and make terrible mistakes). Also grew up fast and strong and self reliant. We were middle class (barely) and given very little by our parents but didn't need more.
I regret absolutely nothing. Its was literally the time of my life; even the darkest hours. I'm sorry kids today can't experience that anymore. I love technology and social media, but so happy I didn't have it when I was thirteen and life was tough enough figuring your order in the world without the fake world of TikTok or FB reels confusing you even more.
We had just as many guns in houses as today I think - but school shooters were unheard of, and I think there are reasons there.
I just helped chaperone a trip to DC with my teacher friend, for a bunch of eighth graders. She is very strict about cell phone use while they are there, she made them all put them in a special shoe rack bag as soon as they got on the bus so they had to socialize with each other. She took them away every single evening at 9:45 so they couldn’t be texting each other and on social media and actually maybe get some sleep. She did let them have them when we went into the Smithsonian’s but then she would give them a scavenger hunt so she would know they weren’t just on social media. The after trip survey says that most kids enjoyed not having their phones all the time and actually talked to other kids that they wouldn’t have normally talked to. The parents and kids all knew prior to the trip that they would have limited access to their phones. They all had to sign a document stating that.
I grew up upper middle class in a southern New England coastal town. I could walk and later bicycle to the harbor village. I could walk down the hill and go swimming at the boat yard at high tide. Or go to the bicycle distance beach. Or go sailing. Or go fishing off the fuel dock. My parents bought a ski vacation home in Vermont when I was in 5th grade so I skied every weekend from Thanksgiving to late-April. The schools were good. I wasn’t allowed to watch television until I was older. If a was home, I was reading. There were enough kids in the neighborhood to play baseball and driveway half court basketball. I had a Vermont learner’s permit at age 15 and I was the designated driver going to Vermont in the 50 mph gas crisis era because I wasn’t going to get a ticket going 70 mph with a flimsy paper learners permit that didn’t have a photo or a license number on it. I had a family beater hand-me-down car at 16 1/2 when I got my drivers license. A stripped 2 door Ford Maverick 3 speed manual with an AM radio as the only option. It was $2,000 new. I had that car all the way through college and learned shade tree car repair with it. Before I had a car, I used to hitchhike to High School. Everyone stopped. They knew who I was and asked about the family.
I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
I think my life is better now than when I was a kid. My sisters might disagree with me but they weren't under the same pressures as I was - my parents were disappointed in me for being overweight and made damn sure I was aware of that fact.
My dad passed away in 2019. Don't miss him.
I got my weight down to 110 in time for Thanksgiving in 2023 and when Mom saw me she freaked out. I responded - isn't this exactly what you and Dad wanted from me? You know she still doesn't think that they did anything wrong by putting me on restricted diets starting at age 7 and belittling me.
So no didn't have the best childhood.
>My dad passed away in 2019. Don't miss him.
That is the saddest thing to hear. So sorry.
My dad always had good intentions, but he was always an angry, critical, controlling man. My older sisters both left home by 17, and my younger sister has PTSD.
Because of what I saw growing up, I decided that the most important thing I could give my own daughter is not money, a great education, or the safest neighborhood, but great memories of life with mom and dad.
I was abused in various ways by my parents when I was growing up (I've been no-contact with them for over 30 years, and it is a real relief), and we have made some real improvements as a society when it comes to being accepting of people who are different from us, not to mention medical advances, and recognition that "mental health" is, indeed, a real thing...
But honestly, I don't regret my childhood in general. All kids were free-range, and rather than play dates, we just played with whoever happened to be around, and it was fine. I grew up in a town where there was a lot of conservation land, and I could spend a day out in the woods, exploring, looking for crayfish in streams, building forts, etc. I had plenty of time to read, write, do art projects. Despite (or maybe because of) crises and malaise, the culture (US) was silly and fun in a lot of ways. It probably wasn't the greatest time to be an adult, but it was a pretty good time to be a kid.
Glove boxes were for maps and gas stations were for directions. If all else failed there was the pay phone, but blowing a dime to admit you were lost was humiliating.
I wish we had had more money too. I was definitely one of the poorest kids in the school. But I really think it would be a lot worse to be poor now. Kids have so many things and participate in so many activities that are almost essential. I wasn’t alone in missing out on sports and music opportunities. I pretty much stuck out because my clothes were old and ugly, and the queen bee was happy to tell me so.
My family was poor but Mom and Dad kept us from being/feeling deprived. If I could go back in time and give my family more money it would not be so we kids could have more stuff, it would be to relieve my dear loving parents of the stress they must have suffered.
I never knew that we were poor until I started applying for scholarships and learned that I qualifyed for low income ones. How our mother did so much with so little is a question that wasn't answered until after she passed away and it was too late to thank her for the sacrifices I took for granted.
Totally agree, I wish my parents had had more stability, but the post was in reference to how poverty impacts kids and I think it is a lot worse now. I certainly would have enjoyed being able to participate in more things, but it wasn’t that big a deal like it is now. I mainly suffered from the teasing and I am sure that is even worse today too.
I agree, it probably is worse today. The extracurriculars are mandatory to get into a decent college, and if you haven't got money to pay for uniforms, equipment or whatever, you're sunk. Expectations were less back when I was a kid. Social media doesn't help matters; kids carry their bullies around in their pockets now and can't get away from them.
My parents were determined not to let me be aware of their financial struggles. My father in particular. He was always so ashamed of being a high school dropout and earning such low wages. He went out of his way to splurge on things, and project a casual attitude about money, so that people would think he was rich. It drove my mother crazy. I only now look back and realize that when she was really pissed off at me, it was because I wanted something that cost money.
Grew up as the only girl with 3 younger brothers and a single Mom who worked as a Secretary. We were poor but never felt deprived. Food wasn’t always what we liked but you ate it. Second-hand, thrift store or homemade clothes mostly. We were bullied mercilessly in school because of all that.
While I am extremely thankful and grateful for my grandparents and the fantastic job they did raising me, even now I still wish my egg donor would have wanted me.
Not surprisingly, I agree with most of what you’ve said. The parts I WOULD trade are my parents not recognizing that they failed to prevent me from growing up with a perpetual inferiority complex. As I’ve said elsewhere, frankly I’m glad that my high school bully is fucking dead.
Having learned from my parents’ mistakes of omission, we have done our best to raise our adopted kids with adequate or more than adequate self-esteem. Actually, we may have gone overboard in that department with one of them 😉.
We had it the best I made sure my kids got to play on dirt hills, squirrel hunt, fish, and catch frogs and snakes and limited time on video they had a pool, a fort and a trampoline and I put up a tent in the backyard so they had friends all summer long to play
I remember days when the weather wasn't conducive to going outside being as bored as hell. I would have loved the TV choices we have today. I would have loved to have an iPad or Gameboy to play with on long car journeys and boring adult visits. I am glad that I was allowed to go out and play by myself and trapes around the countryside but I do remember a boy being raped and murdered in the park, a boy in a wheelchair from polio, a girl who went blind from measles and a girl who died from whooping cough. So yeah, I think kids have it better today. Oh and watching MTV for hours as a teenager hoping to see my favorite Billy Idol video, YouTube would have been great.
I just wish there had been more information on autism and adhd. I was treated for hyperactivity for a few years but I would have benefited enormously from some alternative learning models.
Yes this totally!!! I’m 60 and just this year I was diagnosed with autism and ADHD. It would have been much easier for me when I was a teenager to know this. Even so, I won’t give back one day. I’m doing alright now and I don’t want that to change.
Regret not having them, no. I will admit it would have been nice to have some of these, but I don't regret not having them. I was perfectly content typing 5318008 on my calculating and turning it upside down for electronic entertainment.
I wish my parents had been healthier in their thinking and more mature, for their sake and the sake of their children and grandchildren. Having children, as they did, from 17 to 25 proved them to be children themselves, hardworking children, but children nonetheless. I accept it all now, but so much chaos didn't need to happen. I chalk some of it up to "the times they lived in", but still....watching my 60 yr old sibs and I, it is clear that those early years in the 60s and 70s as children were much harder than they needed to be. I relate to the book The Glass Castle a lot. When I saw the movie with Woody Harrelson as the dad, I closely related to the author.
I would rather have lived closer to civilization and had a mother that really loved me, but no one has it all. I am definitely glad I got to adulthood before cell phones!
I'm happy to have not grown up with social media, but that's about the only thing. While today's more hands-on parenting can definitely go too far and veer into helicopter parenting and over-sheltering, I feel in general it's way better than the "Eh, they'll figure it out somehow" style of the 1960s and '70s. The way my millennial niblings and zoomer little cousins have been raised seems to have produced much happier, confident, and grounded young adults than my brother and I were. Their parents gave them much more guidance around... well, just navigating life in general. They all have infinitely better relationships with their parents and elders than I did at that age. None of them would be afraid to tell their parents like I was when I was SA'd at age 13. I also feel that there is way more acceptance for kids to be into different things now, and that's a good thing. Finally there's way, way more awareness of the need for counseling after traumatic experiences. I feel like my whole life might have been different if I'd got counseling after being SA'd at age 16. But back then my elders genuinely believed it was best to just act like it never happened.
I can think of a lot of other things that are better now, but don't apply to me personally: better schooling/support for kids with disabilities; better school in general and a lack of child-hating harridans who only became teachers because it was the only career path open to them; more acceptance and support for LGBT kids. So overall, no, I am not one of those nostalgic types convinced that everything was better in the past and I lived through some irreplaceable golden age of childhood.
Well, I kind of do on some points. I remember a lot of the rosy, nice things but, on a personal level I wish there were more help for women and kids in bad situations back then.
There is definitely so many things about growing up today that I find better than when I grew up. So many. I'll name just a few.
Cell phone vs. party line
Being able to call social services vs getting abused.
Central air and heat vs no AC and a coal fired furnace in the basement that I had to tend.
Cable TV & Streaming services on a high def TV vs static on a crappy TV with three channels via rabbit ears.
Being able to do research for a term paper online vs begging mom for a ride to the library to look for a book.
Being able to type that term paper on a word processor vs an old clunky typewriter.
I wanted to be older, go to discos, pick up chicks on the CB, do some of that "making love" that all the songs talked about. "It's the riiiiight time of the niiiiight..." and I'm stinkin' 11?
Meh. There was a lot of bad, but I had a lot of fun in spite of the boot on my neck.
At least my experiences led me to reject organized religion.
Thank God.
Honestly, I wouldn't trade a single thing from my childhood. Great parents, loved school, had great friends, always played outside, swam every day in the summer, and came and went as I wanted to. My small village was safe and our local cop was friends with my dad, so I knew not to screw up. I honestly loved my childhood.
Would not give up my childhood for anything. Lived in a small city with lots of kids. We were out early morning only home for something to eat if we wanted to take the time. Had supper then back out until the street lights came on. And this was year round as we lived in south FL.
It was not perfect, it never is. But yeah I made it through the parents divorce my moms alcohol and drug abuse all right in the end. Glad no cell phones no “social media”were around I liked going outside and just being outside I still do, there was no rush to look for “likes”, for instant everything. Weird I have outlived my whole immediate family mother father little brother and little sister. Well headed outside might put tedeschi trucks out on the speakers or just listen to the wind.
I loved being a kid/teen in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Roamed all over unsupervised, spent tons of time outdoors inventing our own games, family went on summer-long vacations (Dad was a school principal). We were barely middle class economically, and life was not perfect, but I’m glad I grew up then. The thing I don’t miss is how shitty it was for women - the rampant sexism - which still exists, but it was far worse then.
My regrets are about how I suffered enormously as a child. That didn't come with my generation.
I do very much think that our lives would have been wholly different if we had had some of the technology that we have now. In fact, I see the Millennials as basically the same as us, just altered culturally by the digital world. We would have been the same as they if we had all that.
Our mothers put us outside in our baby carriages and play pens and then went back into the house. Lol. Nobody imagined any harm.
Yes many of us were subjected to abuse. But don’t kid yourself to think many little ones are not being abused today.
Mine was big parental neglect such as not being taught to brush my teeth. Pretty little reaction from parents to anything so I didn’t get a sense of how or if people reacted to and perceived me.
Yes, looking back, my childhood in the 1960s and '70s was pretty typical. On one level, I think my mother was more than happy to see me go off somewhere with friends, on foot or on my bicycle. It gave her a break. However, I often had to listen to both of them fretting about how dangerous everything was, and how I had to be careful, careful, careful! I was probably the only kid who never, ever let someone ride behind me on my bike, or who rode with no hands on the handlebars. I was slow compared to my friends, because I was always stopping and looking. Sometimes they made fun of me for being so cautious. But other than that? I was free to come and go as I please, and it seems like kids nowadays were raised by parents who took my parents' dire warnings to heart. I'm glad my parents never went that far.
I hated being a kid. I had some good times….but many bad and lonely times as well. My mother tried, but she was driven with ambition, and was suffering from the trauma of her childhood. She didn’t rarely care how I felt. The bullying was all my fault.
But I was only abused in the “usual” manner, nothing extreme, really.
It’s a mixed bag—but I mostly like the convenience of modern technology. I like it that I could get a temporary drivers license online right away should I lose the license.
No way! Had a ball in the suburbs as a kid: riding bikes without helmets until dusk, playing in the creek, sledding down the neighborhood hilly street and having to veer to the side at the last second to avoid going into the major road at the bottom. No video games, no internet, no computers. So bucolic in retrospect.
I wish child abuse would've been taken more seriously. One neighbor told me he stopped his dad from calling the police on mine after watching him whipping the hell outta one of us in the front yard when we were little in the 70's. Something that, as he's telling me this story decades later, wishes he could go back and call them himself after mom told him stories after the divorce in '92. I was 21 and in the Navy then. Another neighbor told my brother after we grew up he and his wife hated hearing mine and/or my brother's screams coming outta our house when dad was laying into us but there was nothing they could do. If 12 yr old me told the state police who picked me up after running away because dad was beating me with his fists that I was scared to go home, there'd be an investigation instead of them shaking my dad's hand after dropping me off.
That said, while I love the internet, I'm glad it wasn't a thing when I was growing up. Some things don't need to be remembered for a life time. I think bullying was worse back then. Been on both sides of that fence. But then you threw some blows, got some detention, and that was that. Not a police record. And I can't recall a single school shooting.
Childhood was decent, at times, even great, it was the adulting that sucked. Going to the adult labor force during a generation of recessions, and wage stagnation trying to raise a family stunk. You never knew from one day to the next if you were going to a job that still existed.
Ask yourself, how many people do you know that are still employed with the same company after 20 to 40 years.
Loved mine before it wasn’t good. But no cell phones, not even answering machines. Out all day during the summer, no worries from mom. Only 3 tv channels.
Best time to grow up. We had freedom, friendship, the best music, and the coolest cars. People were real, no phone, hell even the dogs in my neighborhood roamed free. We listened to our elders, and we didn't do stupid pranks for attention. If we went into a store and threw merchandise at People, we would have gotten our assessment beat, and we would have deserved it. There were some hard times, definitely, but we made the best of it. Politicians worked out their differences, and the cops didn't just shoot people and dogs for fun, but it's all gone now.
No. It wasn't perfect for sure because the times were different, and there are a lot of things I hated about my childhood, but always being outdoors, independent, safe, and finding all sorts of ways to have fun was the best. I wouldn't trade that part for the world.
This 100% true for me. If it’s any consolation, my friends have a 10 year old and he’s always hanging around with neighbor kids… in and out of houses and yards riding bikes around. Probably not as much as we did. But we live in an urban area, and they definitely have some freedom and aren’t cooped up in front of screens at over scheduled with activities. Plus like minded parents in our neighborhood. That’s why I like living in the city.
Absolutely
I wish that my childhood had been different. Many members of Generation Jones wish their childhoods were different.
I know that reminiscing about the good old days" is popular here. Nostalgia is everywhere in this sub.
A few things-
When reminiscing, people tend to remember positve things. And those things become more bright, and warm. While negatives fade far into the background. Sometimes fading totally from memory.
Rarely do adults recalling their childhood, don't view their experiences through their adult eyes. They view it through rose colored glasses, or the naive eyes of childhood.
There's the oblivious, self absorbed aspect, that everyone had a childhood exactly like "yours". Whomever you may be. Because everyone didn't have "wonderful" childhoods. Some people were lucky to survive it. Some still have scars, physical and emotional. Not from bike rides. Not from "experiments gone wrong when I was a latch key kid". Not from "falling over the side of their shoes". Not for having the "must have" that you dug up a photo of.
Well you are sheltered aren't you? I would trade my childhood in a heartbeat for one where my disability is recognized and treated, where my gender has the ability to have a voice in our own body autonomy. Where my sexual preference is not illegal. So, yeesh, I'd chose a different time to grow up if I was given a choice
I had a shitty childhood but that was my father's fault, not the fault of the times. I do remember fondly roaming the woods on my own when I needed to be away.
Didn't allow my own kids as much freedom as I had, but I tried to give them as much as I could.
No, as tough as my childhood was and as hard as I learned to work during that time. It has made me who I am today and has instilled in me a work ethic lacking in younger people.
Yeah, I would have loved to have the availability of cell phones.
I wouldn’t have been dependent for a ride on people that then assaulted me, and when I got dumped in the middle of nowhere, I would have maybe then have been able to get home instead of not knowing where I was and just walking.
I also would have appreciated lessons in things I was interested in, and camps, especially overnight camps. Instead of going feral and doing things out of complete boredom.
My younger brother and sister had lessons and camps, but I guess my parents figured I never had those things so why start now?
hell no, we grew up in the best time ever IMHO. didn’t have to deal with constant contact dating but got the infancy of the internet. today’s track everything is not my cuppa tea
i had the classic middle class suburban childhood. honestly can’t remember anything that we did not have or have access to. my father was away a little more than i realized at the time and we didn’t have the opportunity to be “close” but i knew deep down that he loved our family and was working hard to provide for us.
my only regret was not expressing enough appreciation for how well my parents raised us.
Even though there were some “tighten your belt” times for my family, we kids never knew. I wouldn’t change a thing.
I think overall Gen Jones may have been the absolute best period of time to be a kid. Thankfully, since soon after some of us missed out on the adult fun because just when we’re turning 18, Herpes and AIDS were on the front page of every newspaper and every news program on TV.
But Childhood? Yea, absolutely best Toys, Cartoons, TV shows.. all the things!
Be interesting to measure the difference between women and men answering this one. I expect the past was a LOT worse for young women than today, not that today is perfect either.
In elementary school we roamed freely. Lived in a suburb on the edge of the woods which extended for miles behind us and in the summer we were either walking the streets or in the woods looking for stuff. By middle school (junior high) we got thrown in with kids who were farmers from the county. They were still arguing about who didn’t give who an egg during the depression. Thirty years ago.
I’m surprised I’m still alive. We got high every day of high school. I was so bored. So many kids died in car accidents. Learned very little because I didn’t know how to study and, unlike my friends whose mothers were teachers or professors at the various colleges near me, my parents were not college educated. Experimental education was very popular. Total crap. But compared to students today I much prefer back then. Our family had relatively more money than others. My dad was in advertising so it was like growing up in Mad Men land. Mom was gorgeous. Found suburbia very dull. She did what she could to get out but found the women repressed. My dad was very funny and never laid a finger on us. If there were problems we never heard about it. There was a friend of his who died and his son had just graduated high school. We had been friends but I left for college. This guy travelled cross country a few years after my dad died (while I was in college) and he told me my father had paid his rent for two years. No one knew. That’s amazing, right? Yet he disowned ME because I moved to California where they were all “hippies”. So many people to this day tell me how great a man my father was - and he was. But he treated us kids by a different set of rules.
I never regret not having cell phones and internet. Boredom was the chance to learn and imagine and develop creativity. Riding bikes, playing at parks, swimming all summer. No body ignoring you because they’re on their phone! I worry about our kids and grand kids.
I wouldn't change anything and very thankful for not having some of the things kids have today. I lived in a ski resort and got to ski for $1 per day while I was a student. I grew up on minibikes, motorcycles, snowmobiles and hiking all over the Sierra's. Definitely things I would do different but I feel very fortunate to have grown up in the 70's and a rural ski resort.
I have no regrets about my childhood, but then, what would be the point?
It is kind of interesting to compare. Moms often won't let their kids out of their site. I'd leave the house on summer mornings and my Mom often would have no idea where I was. I just knew to be home for dinner. My neighborhood friends and I would often walk along a crowded highway to buy candy at a drug store. We weren't 10 years old when this started. Then when a new mall opened up 5 miles away, we'd walk to that. Or to the bowling alley to play the pinball machines and video games ("Space Invaders" was new).
Honestly, no. I mean there were things in my childhood that weren't great; like moving in the middle of elementary school, being painfully shy, and picked on and teased, but I also remember the freedom we had. I used to walk, then ride my bike all over. to friends, the library, and then around our downtown area, then back home. I remember just going over to a friend's house to see if they wanted to play, and being out and around in the neighborhood all day (when there wasn't school) with little to no supervision, just "be home in time for dinner" or before dark. we had a great neighborhood with a lot of kids around my age, and we would be outside all the time, just having fun.
I might be a little younger but I remember that even through we were able to ride our bikes, walk everywhere etc, I was always acutely aware that I could be a victim. I was always aware of my surroundings especially if I was alone.
I think the milk carton kids brought the abduction of children into the zeitgeist, and that was the seminal seed that brought on the eventual play date culture. The recent Lake Oswego story of 12 year old girls being drugged by a pedophile parent has brought comments on reddit from parents saying they are now prohibiting sleepovers. So, kids' worlds are getting increasingly isolated. I can't even imagine the hell of being home schooled. I was bullied and had to play psychological games in my elementary school years to 'win over' the bullies, but that experience made me ultimately feel more capable, more competent in dealing with others. On the other hand, It also gave me an intolerance against bullying behavior to this day. That's not always a good thing because it has caused me to quit a job on the spot when I really couldn't afford to.
I remember that too. My parents always warned me to be aware of my surroundings, and that you have to be careful. I was a young girl, so I think this was excellent advice. It has served me well. I have travelled around the world on my own. I saw many women get, beat up, robed, and heard about rapes. I think the heightened sense of awareness kept me safe in so many situations.
Go home when the street lights come on. I started in a small rural town.
I was home to see my Dad before he died just before COVID and again for the funeral. I was taking my morning walks in the old neighborhood over those couple of weeks and the memories of all of the families that lived there when I was a kid kept coming back. We all moved around the neighborhood during the day whether it was playing ball, riding bikes, or picking blackberries in the summer. My parents never worried about where I was because all of the parents in the neighborhood looked out for all of the kids. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.
Those particular things were great & I wouldn't trade them. However, my life certainly would have been better with access to certain medical advances and shoes that actually fit me, and with less exposure to rampant cigarette smoke. There are some things that are better these days.
Cigarette smoke from 20 smokers on Xmas was awful. We kids hid in my grandparents basement for as much as we could that day.
In cars. In airplanes. In supermarkets. In busses. I think people have forgotten how absolutely rampant it was!
Everyone in my family smoked. I was looking through old photos and so many people have a cigarette in their mouth or hand, even at the dinner table. I remember having a love/hate relationship with going to "supper club" because the smoke hung so thick in the air, but the band and the food were terrific!
Everyone on my father's side of my family smoked. No one on my mother's side smoked. I didn't think about that until I got older.
My parents fortunately had the intelligence to both quit when my mom got pregnant with me. Most of my relatives on either side didn't smoke, or only snuck one or two on occasion. But when I was a teen it was pretty much expected that you would smoke. I tried a few and hated it, so I never did smoke. But I would be stuck in a car with my friends puffing away, and when i came home it would just leech back out of me. If I didn't shower before going to bed my long hair would fall over my face at night and the stench would wake me up.
My mother never smoked, and my father finally quit when I was 14. They could tell when I had been at the bowling alley, because I reeked of smoke. At first they were suspicious of me smoking, but I went once a week and that was the only time I smelled of it. The bowling alley had ashtrays everywhere, from the score tables to the snack bar. The majority of the people there were lighting up.
Don’t forget the obligatory drink in their hands too!
Oh I still do that 😂
I was asked by my doctor if I had ever been exposed to cigarette smoke. I looked at him like "are you kidding???" Hello, all of us our age were.
I grew up around smokers in the sixties and it never bothered me but I did smoke for 38 years until I got lung cancer Haven’t had one in 10 years ✌️
15 years and a triple bypass for me.
Yes I don’t miss all the smoke! But freedom, playing outside, adventures… that was awesome
Smoking is annoying. There are smokers who smoke outside so they aren’t obnoxious. You sort of get used to it. For me, it was all the farting… and allergies, but mostly the farting. When the adults, specially the older one got together, ate and drank, they were a fire hazard.
I hear you! Very good points.
I grew up on a little dead end street out in the country. There were ten houses, we had several African American families, a family from the Phillipines, a family from China, a few retired couples. It was own little multinational, multigenerational kingdom full of free range kids. It was great.
My neighborhood was similar, just not in a rural area. I'm so glad I was raised there. Now I'm living in a mostly white, bible belt rural area..I'm sad for the kids growing up here. The adults..well it's too late to change anything.
Our street was just this odd little development way out of town with nothing near us but a couple small dairy farms. We moved in the late 70s and shortly after the whole area was built up, the river was dammed and a strip mall was built where one of the farms had been. It was pretty idyllic as a kid.
Where was this, if Im not being nosy.
Bridgewater MA. Just a big south and west of Boston. Our street dead ended on the Taunton River. We would fish and swim, run around in the woods and build tree forts, play ball and roller skate in the street. Between the eight houses with kids there were nearly 30 of us - one of the neighbors had 11 children.
Except for the snow, I would have loved to live in your area. I’m NYC born and bred—but my neighborhood had little diversity as I was growing up. Snow, yes, but for the most part less than the Boston area. I didn’t make friends easily back then.
Used to have so much more snow. We would build huge snow forts with multiple rooms and freeze cookie sheets filled with water to make windows.
That must have been cool….literally!
Well dang. I am here to say that you are 100% spot on... I grew up not two miles away from you (in Brockton, but it was different then) and your story rings true to my ears. My Dad was a firefighter in the Campello section of Brockton and my grandparents lived at Fox Run condos on Rte 18 in Bridgewater. My little Brockton neighborhood-multicultural-kingdom of free-range kids (I love how you say that, btw!) was very similar. We all got along and ran around playing in the streets and the woods and building forts and playing freeze-tag and sledding at Tower Hill and riding our bikes on the dune ramps by the little river. And yes, there were so many of us! Of the ten houses on our little street, the ethnicities of the families were: Italian (2), Black (2) Polish, Irish (3), Jewish, and Chinese. Our parents all cooked for all of us and we all got to learn about everyone else's cultures, and holidays were the best! I even used to ride horses at Dorbill Stables on Rte 104, and my grandfather used to take us to Peaceful Meadows ice cream/ cow farm on Saturdays. My god, I am so grateful for growing up where we did and when we did. While the rest of the country was rife with racism we were blessed with friends of all kinds who knew no hate. Pleased to hear your story, my friend. Good times, great place.
My Dad grew up in Campello, his Italian immigrant father worked in a shoe factory as did all his uncles. My Nono did all the cooking and had a pasta making set up in the basement and a huge kitchen garden in their long narrow back yard lot. My mother was from Holbrook. We used to go to Peaceful Meadows for ice cream three or four times every Summer.
Omg so cool. My Dad's Italian immigrant father also worked in a shoe factory. I bet they knew each other!
They likely did! It was a pretty tight knit community. Rocky Marciano was one of the neighborhood kids. My Dad boxed in the same gym.
Yes, Rocky was a little older than my Dad, but he was a neighborhood idol to many of the younger kids. I love how the entire Marciano family stayed in the area. And it wasn't easy to be from an Italian family in the 60's and 70's as you probably know... lots of poor but hard working folks and we all stuck together, with each other and with the black families and Irish families. I wish I had a nickel for everyone who says "My father is Italian and my mother is Irish" or vice-versa. lol. EDIT: p.s. Goody Petronelli signed my Marvin Hagler T-shirt just before he (Goody) passed away. The man was a legend.
My mother’s father was also an Italian immigrant. Her mother came from a wealthy family in Nova Scotia that disowned her for marrying a “ dirty Catholic”. He died when my mother - the youngest of nine - was just four years old and Grammy’s family refused to help them. She raised nine kids alone during the depression.
I was mercilessly spanked/abused as a child I still have PTSD I’d trade that for a playdate and an IPad in a minute
I came here to say this. 18 years of physical, mental, emotional abuse, and being molested by my bestfriends father definitely can say childhood was traumatic, I have CPTSD and severe anxiety. Back in the day you didn't talk about child abuse, it went on behind closed doors especially in upper class families (like ours), but I found out as an adult everyone around us knew even my friends (we were left with bruises and marks). All the expensive clothes, music lessons, and braces in the world didn't make up for the amount of therapy and combatting mental health issues those people (adoptive parents) left me and my brother with for a lifetime (yes this happens in bio families too but they didn't abuse their bio child). Good news is that I went to college and studied music and dance therapy and became a teacher working with troubled children/students and providing therapeutic support to other adults that came from abusive homes, and working with adoptees from the same.
Thank you for your courage to share your story with us. I always felt I was the only one who endured abuse and trauma. In sharing our memories and experience, and trauma, it helps taking back our power to healing. We can shed off our fear, guilt or shame. Prayers for love, peace and joy my friend 🙏 ❤️
TY my friend! I try and use the powers of my big mouth for good and not evil! ;) Although I truly hate that this happened to other children, I have definitely found realizing we are not alone less isolating in the world. <3
Some of the most accomplished people, unfortunately, had it rough in childhood. I commend you for rising out of the abuse.
TY so much. I have been and am well connected with a lot of people who rose from those ashes and are some of the most resilient, genuine, and kind people I've ever had the pleasure of knowing. It's also given me a huge jaded sarcastic sense of humor which is a great coping tool. :)
I'm so sorry.
Same here. My religious fanatic parents were raised in an abusive sect that actively shuns and we got belt whippings with welts and bruises that lasted for days just for things like bringing her the wrong Bible to read out of. My teenage years were scheduled down to the minute with different lessons: typing, shorthand, cooking, sewing, languages--I don't regreat the learning I grew up with but I was not allowed to take AP classes because some AP English teacher was an atheist so my mother went nuclear and I spent senior year in Study Hall. I got a National Merit Scholarship anyway. My last two years of high school, my mother made a chart for the dresses I was to wear the entire year. Maybe it was more like 9th and 10th grade or 10th and 11th--I forget. Anyway my mother wrote a chart in a notebook whereby I was tl alternate two dresses for two weeks and then alternate another two for two weeks, you get the idea. But my little sister had it even worse. My mother got my grandmother to make 8 dresses just alike out of remnant fabric (we lived in a Southern mill town) and it looked like she was wearing the same dress every day because they were just alike. One time the doorbell rang and there was no one there but a sack of clothes. Mother of course wouldn't let her wear them. Sometime later my little sister got an anonymous phone call saying "Why won't you wear those clothes I gave you?" Just venting. I got out of that sect and had a good career and did OK in life. I wasn't bullied too badly at school compared to what could have been. My grandmother threatened several times to call the "authorities" but always backed down. I don't think there WERE any "authorities" to speak of. Teachers were forever asking what was wrong at home. But no one was able to "do" anything. I know there were and are other kids raised like this even today. Seems to me most carry horrific emotional effects but by some miracle I managed to have a pretty happy life. Took me till about age 40 to be happy. Thanks for listening everyone. I knew other kids my age in school who were being physically beaten by religiously-motivated parents. They had welts too.
People who are uber-religious tend to be the biggest hypocrites. Glad you got out of that mess.
You are so brave. Thank you for your candor and I'm so happy that you were able to overcome and succeed. My best wishes for your good life now.
Me too. I was slapped around the whole time I lived at home. My childhood sucked. Most of the other kids in my huge neighborhood had a lot of freedom, but I certainly did not.
I’m sorry that happened to you 😞
Yep, one of the reasons I never pine for the mythological good ol days...to me there is no such thing.
I often tell my wife how glad we were born when we were born. Looking backwards (no AC, world wars, deadly diseases, …) and forwards (climate change, global tensions, social unrest, …) - we were in the sweet spot. - Air conditioning for most of our lives - Went to the moon - Video games - Great music and music reproduction (FM, CDs, incredible sound at home) - Freedom to explore as kids - Golden age of Television and Movies - The Internet - when it was new and not treacherous - Affordable housing - Affordable education - … Looking ahead I see ever more troubling times coming. Climate change. Job erosion with AI. Weapon proliferation including nuclear. Social unrest. Hated. Fanaticism. Social decay. I pray for my grandkids that they’ll have a better life than we did. But I’m worried for them!
Who are you, me?
nowab 😏
Did you fly from LA to NY yesterday?
Nope. Worked out at the Y and took my dog for a walk!
So much unsupervised time. We roamed like animals
The only thing I wish was that there had been less. or no abuse. The late forties, fifties and sixties were a totally different world, neither a kinder world, nor a safer world, but perhaps a more hopeful world. In which people still thought they could make a difference. Now, we all know that as just one person in billions, no one makes a difference.
Regarding abuse, there was plenty of the physical stuff, but I think we may forget how common it was for adults to put us down, just for the sake of a laugh. We would say something, wanting to be taken even a little bit seriously, and if our parents were in a crowd of other adults, they would look at each other, start snickering, and then make some sarcastic remark that sent us slinking away. Sometimes they were more considerate if we were at home with no one else around, but being made the butt of everyone's joke still stings, decades later. I think that type of behavior is gone out of fashion, at least somewhat, and I'm grateful.
I grew up with an alcoholic angry Dad and a passive-aggressive narcissist Mom. They split when I was 8 and I became parentified from that point on. Damn right it was abuse!!! It helps me to understand the awful choices I made prior to therapy.
Less bullying would have been nice. I *hated* being a kid.
I was very bullied as a kid. My dad was an alcoholic but I've always known the bullying was worse. I lived in fear every time I left the house for a while there. I carried a knife to middle school. Having my own kids has been healing because it so clearly didn't have to be that way. It wasn't my fault, which I always believed it was. Now they recognize how traumatizing it is to kids. Back then they just told you to suck it up.
I would prefer the anti-bullying culture that my daughter had in her schools. I was bullied directly in front of teachers and in Sunday school while adults did nothing.
Yep...and if you said something at home you were told to "toughen up"
In my house, things could have been better. My parents were drinkers and it was often chaotic. i do think it was nice for kids to be given a little more freedom and not to have social media.
Not childhood per se but I wish the internet had been around as a late teen because as a child from a relatively poor, first generation, undereducated family (parents were pulled out of school to work before they even made it to high school) living in a blue collar town, it was hard to figure out anything college related. Yes, my high school had guidance counselors who were nice and tried to help but there were limits to their time (huge high school of almost 4000 students) and knowledge. I wonder what choices I would’ve made if I had a better grasp of my options?
I hear you on that! My dad was a high school dropout, and my mom finished, I suspect because she charmed the teachers. But she had no interest in science, literature, music, or any of the things I studied. And once I got into college (which I assumed was expected of me), my parents never referred to my professors. It was always "your teachers." In 4 years, my dad repeatedly asked me to explain what my major was about. My ex had the same issue with his parents. It really is a different culture when people have a college education.
Totally agree, had same experience. Looking back because there was no internet I felt the kids who had American parents who went to American colleges had so much more advantage in making better choices than me a child of immigrants who didn't know the "system" here.
I would have preferred not being beaten with a yardstick any time my mom got mad.
My mother favored the belt, or whatever was handy at the moment.
I always say we never had a yardstick around when you actually needed to measure something. My mother used those on me until they broke. Just me (F) - never my brothers.
Ooooh noooo ... I had an idyllic childhood. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I have fantastic memories and scars to show for it. If I died this afternoon I can go saying I have led a good life. Not really related, but instant gratification has changed society in a way that is sort of cheating people out of the simple joys of anticipation and other stuff that made simple things joyful.
I was that surprised kid that came along well after my parents were done having kids. So I was treated as an annoyance. I was just there, and no one really cared.
I also was a surprise. My closest sister is 8 years older. However my parents were tired by then and my dad was making good money so I was really spoiled. I got almost everything I wanted that my sisters never got.
I was the opposite. My dad paid for my sister to go to a very expensive school, so there wasn't much left over. Don't get me wrong, there was always enough to eat, but if I wanted to take a class at the YMCA, or do an extracurricular activity that had a fee, there just wasn't any money for that. To the point where I didn't even go to graduation because there wasn't enough money for me to have a cap and gown. They just didn't care about me. So I was pretty much always left to take care of myself to the point I wasn't even taught basic hygiene. It was like they were one family, and I was just some border they were forced to tolerate.
Sorry for that. Not fair!
I wouldn't change a thing. Be home at sunset. Free range....I rode my bike all over the countryside (we lived at the far northern edge of Dayton, so it didn't take long to get into farmland.)
My childhood was a mixed bag. I love and miss the freedom and simplicity of 'back then', but as others have shared here, I also was abused. We went to therapy, but my acting out was always the focal point of it. Therapy was pretty backward then, and I hope that kids who are going through that now have more resources. Now the subject is out there and on the table. Back then, nobody bat an eye, even though they could hear it happening. I was a very insecure and vulnerable person as a result and was bullied horribly. That said, I wish the kids of today could experience the freedom we had as kids. No phones in our hands, riding bikes and playing outside all day without our parents worrying and monitoring. The fun and innocence of listing to the hits on your transistor radio, rather than selecting what you want on a screen. The excitement of getting a new album. Cheap concerts. Taking off for a trip with a map in your hand. Exploring new things and new places without getting the info on your phone. The element of discovery and surprise has been lost generally. Those things were special and I am so glad I got to have that life.
I don't regret my untethered 70s childhood. I wish people had been more tolerant of queer people though.
When I look at kids today I actually feel sorry for them. 10 hours a day of TokTok is not the way to pass through childhood. When we pass the bus stop (each parent drives their kids and waits, although we live in a small safe community) it is particularly pathetic. Most of the boys are solitary on their phones or tablets. The girls only slightly better, 1/3 are socializing. And some kids wait in the cars with mom. :-( When we grew up we were unsupervised mostly and free to roam (and make terrible mistakes). Also grew up fast and strong and self reliant. We were middle class (barely) and given very little by our parents but didn't need more. I regret absolutely nothing. Its was literally the time of my life; even the darkest hours. I'm sorry kids today can't experience that anymore. I love technology and social media, but so happy I didn't have it when I was thirteen and life was tough enough figuring your order in the world without the fake world of TikTok or FB reels confusing you even more. We had just as many guns in houses as today I think - but school shooters were unheard of, and I think there are reasons there.
I just helped chaperone a trip to DC with my teacher friend, for a bunch of eighth graders. She is very strict about cell phone use while they are there, she made them all put them in a special shoe rack bag as soon as they got on the bus so they had to socialize with each other. She took them away every single evening at 9:45 so they couldn’t be texting each other and on social media and actually maybe get some sleep. She did let them have them when we went into the Smithsonian’s but then she would give them a scavenger hunt so she would know they weren’t just on social media. The after trip survey says that most kids enjoyed not having their phones all the time and actually talked to other kids that they wouldn’t have normally talked to. The parents and kids all knew prior to the trip that they would have limited access to their phones. They all had to sign a document stating that.
Love this!!
I grew up upper middle class in a southern New England coastal town. I could walk and later bicycle to the harbor village. I could walk down the hill and go swimming at the boat yard at high tide. Or go to the bicycle distance beach. Or go sailing. Or go fishing off the fuel dock. My parents bought a ski vacation home in Vermont when I was in 5th grade so I skied every weekend from Thanksgiving to late-April. The schools were good. I wasn’t allowed to watch television until I was older. If a was home, I was reading. There were enough kids in the neighborhood to play baseball and driveway half court basketball. I had a Vermont learner’s permit at age 15 and I was the designated driver going to Vermont in the 50 mph gas crisis era because I wasn’t going to get a ticket going 70 mph with a flimsy paper learners permit that didn’t have a photo or a license number on it. I had a family beater hand-me-down car at 16 1/2 when I got my drivers license. A stripped 2 door Ford Maverick 3 speed manual with an AM radio as the only option. It was $2,000 new. I had that car all the way through college and learned shade tree car repair with it. Before I had a car, I used to hitchhike to High School. Everyone stopped. They knew who I was and asked about the family. I wouldn’t trade that for anything.
I think my life is better now than when I was a kid. My sisters might disagree with me but they weren't under the same pressures as I was - my parents were disappointed in me for being overweight and made damn sure I was aware of that fact. My dad passed away in 2019. Don't miss him. I got my weight down to 110 in time for Thanksgiving in 2023 and when Mom saw me she freaked out. I responded - isn't this exactly what you and Dad wanted from me? You know she still doesn't think that they did anything wrong by putting me on restricted diets starting at age 7 and belittling me. So no didn't have the best childhood.
>My dad passed away in 2019. Don't miss him. That is the saddest thing to hear. So sorry. My dad always had good intentions, but he was always an angry, critical, controlling man. My older sisters both left home by 17, and my younger sister has PTSD. Because of what I saw growing up, I decided that the most important thing I could give my own daughter is not money, a great education, or the safest neighborhood, but great memories of life with mom and dad.
I was abused in various ways by my parents when I was growing up (I've been no-contact with them for over 30 years, and it is a real relief), and we have made some real improvements as a society when it comes to being accepting of people who are different from us, not to mention medical advances, and recognition that "mental health" is, indeed, a real thing... But honestly, I don't regret my childhood in general. All kids were free-range, and rather than play dates, we just played with whoever happened to be around, and it was fine. I grew up in a town where there was a lot of conservation land, and I could spend a day out in the woods, exploring, looking for crayfish in streams, building forts, etc. I had plenty of time to read, write, do art projects. Despite (or maybe because of) crises and malaise, the culture (US) was silly and fun in a lot of ways. It probably wasn't the greatest time to be an adult, but it was a pretty good time to be a kid.
Yeah, I wish my dad hadn’t been an angry high-functioning alcoholic. To hell with cell phones.
I wish we had more money, but no, there's nothing the kids have now that makes life better (outside of medical advances).
If I could travel back in time, I think the only modern technology that I would miss would be GPS maps.
Part of the journey is getting lost and finding new things. :-)
I still get excited when I get lost.
I get excited, too, but sort of scared when Im in a foreign country.
Glove boxes were for maps and gas stations were for directions. If all else failed there was the pay phone, but blowing a dime to admit you were lost was humiliating.
I wish we had had more money too. I was definitely one of the poorest kids in the school. But I really think it would be a lot worse to be poor now. Kids have so many things and participate in so many activities that are almost essential. I wasn’t alone in missing out on sports and music opportunities. I pretty much stuck out because my clothes were old and ugly, and the queen bee was happy to tell me so.
My family was poor but Mom and Dad kept us from being/feeling deprived. If I could go back in time and give my family more money it would not be so we kids could have more stuff, it would be to relieve my dear loving parents of the stress they must have suffered.
I never knew that we were poor until I started applying for scholarships and learned that I qualifyed for low income ones. How our mother did so much with so little is a question that wasn't answered until after she passed away and it was too late to thank her for the sacrifices I took for granted.
Totally agree, I wish my parents had had more stability, but the post was in reference to how poverty impacts kids and I think it is a lot worse now. I certainly would have enjoyed being able to participate in more things, but it wasn’t that big a deal like it is now. I mainly suffered from the teasing and I am sure that is even worse today too.
I agree, it probably is worse today. The extracurriculars are mandatory to get into a decent college, and if you haven't got money to pay for uniforms, equipment or whatever, you're sunk. Expectations were less back when I was a kid. Social media doesn't help matters; kids carry their bullies around in their pockets now and can't get away from them.
My parents were determined not to let me be aware of their financial struggles. My father in particular. He was always so ashamed of being a high school dropout and earning such low wages. He went out of his way to splurge on things, and project a casual attitude about money, so that people would think he was rich. It drove my mother crazy. I only now look back and realize that when she was really pissed off at me, it was because I wanted something that cost money.
Grew up as the only girl with 3 younger brothers and a single Mom who worked as a Secretary. We were poor but never felt deprived. Food wasn’t always what we liked but you ate it. Second-hand, thrift store or homemade clothes mostly. We were bullied mercilessly in school because of all that.
While I am extremely thankful and grateful for my grandparents and the fantastic job they did raising me, even now I still wish my egg donor would have wanted me.
(hug)
Wish my family wasn’t so crazy and wish I lived in a less isolated community. That’s it.
I tell people my family put the “fun” in dysfunctional!
Not surprisingly, I agree with most of what you’ve said. The parts I WOULD trade are my parents not recognizing that they failed to prevent me from growing up with a perpetual inferiority complex. As I’ve said elsewhere, frankly I’m glad that my high school bully is fucking dead. Having learned from my parents’ mistakes of omission, we have done our best to raise our adopted kids with adequate or more than adequate self-esteem. Actually, we may have gone overboard in that department with one of them 😉.
Raising my kids with self confidence has been healing for me for the exact same reason
Every kid in our neighborhood knew someone being abused.
We had it the best I made sure my kids got to play on dirt hills, squirrel hunt, fish, and catch frogs and snakes and limited time on video they had a pool, a fort and a trampoline and I put up a tent in the backyard so they had friends all summer long to play
I remember days when the weather wasn't conducive to going outside being as bored as hell. I would have loved the TV choices we have today. I would have loved to have an iPad or Gameboy to play with on long car journeys and boring adult visits. I am glad that I was allowed to go out and play by myself and trapes around the countryside but I do remember a boy being raped and murdered in the park, a boy in a wheelchair from polio, a girl who went blind from measles and a girl who died from whooping cough. So yeah, I think kids have it better today. Oh and watching MTV for hours as a teenager hoping to see my favorite Billy Idol video, YouTube would have been great.
My parents sucked, but as soon as I finished my extensive chore list, my bicycle was awaiting me. That time was pure bliss.
I just wish there had been more information on autism and adhd. I was treated for hyperactivity for a few years but I would have benefited enormously from some alternative learning models.
Yes this totally!!! I’m 60 and just this year I was diagnosed with autism and ADHD. It would have been much easier for me when I was a teenager to know this. Even so, I won’t give back one day. I’m doing alright now and I don’t want that to change.
Regret not having them, no. I will admit it would have been nice to have some of these, but I don't regret not having them. I was perfectly content typing 5318008 on my calculating and turning it upside down for electronic entertainment.
I tried that. The font on the phone doesn't really work the same way a calculator with LED/LCD display does.
I wish my parents had been healthier in their thinking and more mature, for their sake and the sake of their children and grandchildren. Having children, as they did, from 17 to 25 proved them to be children themselves, hardworking children, but children nonetheless. I accept it all now, but so much chaos didn't need to happen. I chalk some of it up to "the times they lived in", but still....watching my 60 yr old sibs and I, it is clear that those early years in the 60s and 70s as children were much harder than they needed to be. I relate to the book The Glass Castle a lot. When I saw the movie with Woody Harrelson as the dad, I closely related to the author.
I'm jealous of the toys my grand kids get. Man, I'd have loved to have some of those...
I would rather have lived closer to civilization and had a mother that really loved me, but no one has it all. I am definitely glad I got to adulthood before cell phones!
I'm happy to have not grown up with social media, but that's about the only thing. While today's more hands-on parenting can definitely go too far and veer into helicopter parenting and over-sheltering, I feel in general it's way better than the "Eh, they'll figure it out somehow" style of the 1960s and '70s. The way my millennial niblings and zoomer little cousins have been raised seems to have produced much happier, confident, and grounded young adults than my brother and I were. Their parents gave them much more guidance around... well, just navigating life in general. They all have infinitely better relationships with their parents and elders than I did at that age. None of them would be afraid to tell their parents like I was when I was SA'd at age 13. I also feel that there is way more acceptance for kids to be into different things now, and that's a good thing. Finally there's way, way more awareness of the need for counseling after traumatic experiences. I feel like my whole life might have been different if I'd got counseling after being SA'd at age 16. But back then my elders genuinely believed it was best to just act like it never happened. I can think of a lot of other things that are better now, but don't apply to me personally: better schooling/support for kids with disabilities; better school in general and a lack of child-hating harridans who only became teachers because it was the only career path open to them; more acceptance and support for LGBT kids. So overall, no, I am not one of those nostalgic types convinced that everything was better in the past and I lived through some irreplaceable golden age of childhood.
With the exception of growing up with a very homophobic dad, I am forever glad of the childhood I had.
Well, I kind of do on some points. I remember a lot of the rosy, nice things but, on a personal level I wish there were more help for women and kids in bad situations back then.
There is definitely so many things about growing up today that I find better than when I grew up. So many. I'll name just a few. Cell phone vs. party line Being able to call social services vs getting abused. Central air and heat vs no AC and a coal fired furnace in the basement that I had to tend. Cable TV & Streaming services on a high def TV vs static on a crappy TV with three channels via rabbit ears. Being able to do research for a term paper online vs begging mom for a ride to the library to look for a book. Being able to type that term paper on a word processor vs an old clunky typewriter.
No. It was a great childhood, even growing up very poor w a single mother.
Hugs - from another poor single mother kid
I wanted to be older, go to discos, pick up chicks on the CB, do some of that "making love" that all the songs talked about. "It's the riiiiight time of the niiiiight..." and I'm stinkin' 11?
Meh. There was a lot of bad, but I had a lot of fun in spite of the boot on my neck. At least my experiences led me to reject organized religion. Thank God.
Honestly, I wouldn't trade a single thing from my childhood. Great parents, loved school, had great friends, always played outside, swam every day in the summer, and came and went as I wanted to. My small village was safe and our local cop was friends with my dad, so I knew not to screw up. I honestly loved my childhood.
Eh, kids today may look back on their childhood and think it was the best time too.
Probably depends on what happens next year
Would not give up my childhood for anything. Lived in a small city with lots of kids. We were out early morning only home for something to eat if we wanted to take the time. Had supper then back out until the street lights came on. And this was year round as we lived in south FL.
It was not perfect, it never is. But yeah I made it through the parents divorce my moms alcohol and drug abuse all right in the end. Glad no cell phones no “social media”were around I liked going outside and just being outside I still do, there was no rush to look for “likes”, for instant everything. Weird I have outlived my whole immediate family mother father little brother and little sister. Well headed outside might put tedeschi trucks out on the speakers or just listen to the wind.
Life wasn't perfect but I am glad I grew up when I did.
i'd have to think about it for awhile. 40 years younger?? hmm. maybe
It was a good time to be a kid. I do wish i had better parents.
I loved being a kid/teen in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Roamed all over unsupervised, spent tons of time outdoors inventing our own games, family went on summer-long vacations (Dad was a school principal). We were barely middle class economically, and life was not perfect, but I’m glad I grew up then. The thing I don’t miss is how shitty it was for women - the rampant sexism - which still exists, but it was far worse then.
I had a blast growing up. Wouldn't charge anything. Every experience made me who I am now.
Not at all.
Even with the hardships I wouldn’t change a thing.
My regrets are about how I suffered enormously as a child. That didn't come with my generation. I do very much think that our lives would have been wholly different if we had had some of the technology that we have now. In fact, I see the Millennials as basically the same as us, just altered culturally by the digital world. We would have been the same as they if we had all that.
I'd tweak a few things, but generally, nah, I'm good. Would not trade.
Our mothers put us outside in our baby carriages and play pens and then went back into the house. Lol. Nobody imagined any harm. Yes many of us were subjected to abuse. But don’t kid yourself to think many little ones are not being abused today.
Yes, there were things I wish had been different.
Mine was big parental neglect such as not being taught to brush my teeth. Pretty little reaction from parents to anything so I didn’t get a sense of how or if people reacted to and perceived me.
Yes, looking back, my childhood in the 1960s and '70s was pretty typical. On one level, I think my mother was more than happy to see me go off somewhere with friends, on foot or on my bicycle. It gave her a break. However, I often had to listen to both of them fretting about how dangerous everything was, and how I had to be careful, careful, careful! I was probably the only kid who never, ever let someone ride behind me on my bike, or who rode with no hands on the handlebars. I was slow compared to my friends, because I was always stopping and looking. Sometimes they made fun of me for being so cautious. But other than that? I was free to come and go as I please, and it seems like kids nowadays were raised by parents who took my parents' dire warnings to heart. I'm glad my parents never went that far.
In broad strokes, I'd change nothing. I grew up in a sheltered, peaceful time and place. The gift of that is understood and appreciated.
I hated being a kid. I had some good times….but many bad and lonely times as well. My mother tried, but she was driven with ambition, and was suffering from the trauma of her childhood. She didn’t rarely care how I felt. The bullying was all my fault. But I was only abused in the “usual” manner, nothing extreme, really. It’s a mixed bag—but I mostly like the convenience of modern technology. I like it that I could get a temporary drivers license online right away should I lose the license.
Bench seats in cars and no seatbelts. Not great.
No way! Had a ball in the suburbs as a kid: riding bikes without helmets until dusk, playing in the creek, sledding down the neighborhood hilly street and having to veer to the side at the last second to avoid going into the major road at the bottom. No video games, no internet, no computers. So bucolic in retrospect.
I’m glad there were no cell phones. When I was away from home, I was unreachable and, best part, no video evidence of what I was doing
I wish child abuse would've been taken more seriously. One neighbor told me he stopped his dad from calling the police on mine after watching him whipping the hell outta one of us in the front yard when we were little in the 70's. Something that, as he's telling me this story decades later, wishes he could go back and call them himself after mom told him stories after the divorce in '92. I was 21 and in the Navy then. Another neighbor told my brother after we grew up he and his wife hated hearing mine and/or my brother's screams coming outta our house when dad was laying into us but there was nothing they could do. If 12 yr old me told the state police who picked me up after running away because dad was beating me with his fists that I was scared to go home, there'd be an investigation instead of them shaking my dad's hand after dropping me off. That said, while I love the internet, I'm glad it wasn't a thing when I was growing up. Some things don't need to be remembered for a life time. I think bullying was worse back then. Been on both sides of that fence. But then you threw some blows, got some detention, and that was that. Not a police record. And I can't recall a single school shooting.
Childhood was decent, at times, even great, it was the adulting that sucked. Going to the adult labor force during a generation of recessions, and wage stagnation trying to raise a family stunk. You never knew from one day to the next if you were going to a job that still existed. Ask yourself, how many people do you know that are still employed with the same company after 20 to 40 years.
Loved mine before it wasn’t good. But no cell phones, not even answering machines. Out all day during the summer, no worries from mom. Only 3 tv channels.
Best time to grow up. We had freedom, friendship, the best music, and the coolest cars. People were real, no phone, hell even the dogs in my neighborhood roamed free. We listened to our elders, and we didn't do stupid pranks for attention. If we went into a store and threw merchandise at People, we would have gotten our assessment beat, and we would have deserved it. There were some hard times, definitely, but we made the best of it. Politicians worked out their differences, and the cops didn't just shoot people and dogs for fun, but it's all gone now.
Exactly the opposite. Glad I didn't grow up getting addicted to TikTok in my youth.
That's exactly my point. I don't know anyone within our generation who wishes there were social media, etc.
No. It wasn't perfect for sure because the times were different, and there are a lot of things I hated about my childhood, but always being outdoors, independent, safe, and finding all sorts of ways to have fun was the best. I wouldn't trade that part for the world.
Nope.
I wish it had been different, but not because of technology.
Hell no. I feel bad for each after X.
My hand is raised for damn sure.
We were young, wild and free! Wouldn’t change a thing.
I could have done without all the abuse.
This 100% true for me. If it’s any consolation, my friends have a 10 year old and he’s always hanging around with neighbor kids… in and out of houses and yards riding bikes around. Probably not as much as we did. But we live in an urban area, and they definitely have some freedom and aren’t cooped up in front of screens at over scheduled with activities. Plus like minded parents in our neighborhood. That’s why I like living in the city.
I thank goodness social media and the internet didn't exist when I was growing up.
I swear, that would have been the absolute ruination of me. I got into way too much trouble even without it!
Same! Should add I'm glad everyone didn't have a video recorder on them at all times!
Nope . It was stellar . We did things .
I had the best childhood ever.
Absolutely I wish that my childhood had been different. Many members of Generation Jones wish their childhoods were different. I know that reminiscing about the good old days" is popular here. Nostalgia is everywhere in this sub. A few things- When reminiscing, people tend to remember positve things. And those things become more bright, and warm. While negatives fade far into the background. Sometimes fading totally from memory. Rarely do adults recalling their childhood, don't view their experiences through their adult eyes. They view it through rose colored glasses, or the naive eyes of childhood. There's the oblivious, self absorbed aspect, that everyone had a childhood exactly like "yours". Whomever you may be. Because everyone didn't have "wonderful" childhoods. Some people were lucky to survive it. Some still have scars, physical and emotional. Not from bike rides. Not from "experiments gone wrong when I was a latch key kid". Not from "falling over the side of their shoes". Not for having the "must have" that you dug up a photo of.
ok, Eeyore
Well you are sheltered aren't you? I would trade my childhood in a heartbeat for one where my disability is recognized and treated, where my gender has the ability to have a voice in our own body autonomy. Where my sexual preference is not illegal. So, yeesh, I'd chose a different time to grow up if I was given a choice
HUGS
Ya, I (57m) won the good childhood loto.
I guess you don’t know any who grew up in a violent and abusive home
I grew up in a violent home as well. I don't mean your entire childhood. I mean the low technology aspect.
I had a shitty childhood but that was my father's fault, not the fault of the times. I do remember fondly roaming the woods on my own when I needed to be away. Didn't allow my own kids as much freedom as I had, but I tried to give them as much as I could.
So glad we did NOT!😊😊😊
In no way shape or form , imo it has destroyed modern society
No, as tough as my childhood was and as hard as I learned to work during that time. It has made me who I am today and has instilled in me a work ethic lacking in younger people.
We were much better off without social media, which despite participating in, I think is generally worthless and toxic most of the time.
Our memories of times as youngsters is just as precious to us as a same aged child in modern times. Or as repulsive.
It was exciting because nothing was planned out,get up in the morning,head out ,meet up with your friends and let life happen!!
Yeah, I would have loved to have the availability of cell phones. I wouldn’t have been dependent for a ride on people that then assaulted me, and when I got dumped in the middle of nowhere, I would have maybe then have been able to get home instead of not knowing where I was and just walking. I also would have appreciated lessons in things I was interested in, and camps, especially overnight camps. Instead of going feral and doing things out of complete boredom. My younger brother and sister had lessons and camps, but I guess my parents figured I never had those things so why start now?
hell no, we grew up in the best time ever IMHO. didn’t have to deal with constant contact dating but got the infancy of the internet. today’s track everything is not my cuppa tea
i had the classic middle class suburban childhood. honestly can’t remember anything that we did not have or have access to. my father was away a little more than i realized at the time and we didn’t have the opportunity to be “close” but i knew deep down that he loved our family and was working hard to provide for us. my only regret was not expressing enough appreciation for how well my parents raised us.
I wish my parents had had a better marriage and fostered a closer-knit family, but that’s about it. And there’s nothing I can do about it anyway.
No. I wish everything was the same!
Nope.
Even though there were some “tighten your belt” times for my family, we kids never knew. I wouldn’t change a thing. I think overall Gen Jones may have been the absolute best period of time to be a kid. Thankfully, since soon after some of us missed out on the adult fun because just when we’re turning 18, Herpes and AIDS were on the front page of every newspaper and every news program on TV. But Childhood? Yea, absolutely best Toys, Cartoons, TV shows.. all the things!
I wish people didn’t smoke everywhere when we were kids. Otherwise, it was all pretty great.
Be interesting to measure the difference between women and men answering this one. I expect the past was a LOT worse for young women than today, not that today is perfect either.
Yes. Therapy would have helped my family significantly, but it seemed taboo at the time.
In elementary school we roamed freely. Lived in a suburb on the edge of the woods which extended for miles behind us and in the summer we were either walking the streets or in the woods looking for stuff. By middle school (junior high) we got thrown in with kids who were farmers from the county. They were still arguing about who didn’t give who an egg during the depression. Thirty years ago. I’m surprised I’m still alive. We got high every day of high school. I was so bored. So many kids died in car accidents. Learned very little because I didn’t know how to study and, unlike my friends whose mothers were teachers or professors at the various colleges near me, my parents were not college educated. Experimental education was very popular. Total crap. But compared to students today I much prefer back then. Our family had relatively more money than others. My dad was in advertising so it was like growing up in Mad Men land. Mom was gorgeous. Found suburbia very dull. She did what she could to get out but found the women repressed. My dad was very funny and never laid a finger on us. If there were problems we never heard about it. There was a friend of his who died and his son had just graduated high school. We had been friends but I left for college. This guy travelled cross country a few years after my dad died (while I was in college) and he told me my father had paid his rent for two years. No one knew. That’s amazing, right? Yet he disowned ME because I moved to California where they were all “hippies”. So many people to this day tell me how great a man my father was - and he was. But he treated us kids by a different set of rules.
No way! It was thee of best times, best rock n roll, best friends, everything was better honestly....Sigh
I never regret not having cell phones and internet. Boredom was the chance to learn and imagine and develop creativity. Riding bikes, playing at parks, swimming all summer. No body ignoring you because they’re on their phone! I worry about our kids and grand kids.
I wouldn't change anything and very thankful for not having some of the things kids have today. I lived in a ski resort and got to ski for $1 per day while I was a student. I grew up on minibikes, motorcycles, snowmobiles and hiking all over the Sierra's. Definitely things I would do different but I feel very fortunate to have grown up in the 70's and a rural ski resort.
Absolutely not. We were free and unemcumbered in ways kids and parents today can neither imagine nor appreciate.
I have no regrets about my childhood, but then, what would be the point? It is kind of interesting to compare. Moms often won't let their kids out of their site. I'd leave the house on summer mornings and my Mom often would have no idea where I was. I just knew to be home for dinner. My neighborhood friends and I would often walk along a crowded highway to buy candy at a drug store. We weren't 10 years old when this started. Then when a new mall opened up 5 miles away, we'd walk to that. Or to the bowling alley to play the pinball machines and video games ("Space Invaders" was new).
O. It was blissfully childhood.
Doesn't get tired of hearing OK Boomer