This one came over the transom from the mil email string…
I grew up in Louisiana and Arkansas and never once questioned my parents income, it was never a discussion. We didn’t eat a lot of fast food because it was considered a treat, not a food group. We drank Kool-Aid made from water that came from our kitchen sink with real sugar. We ate bologna sandwiches, or even tuna (which was in a can not a pouch), PB&J & grilled cheese sandwiches, hot dogs, but mostly homemade meals consisting of meat, potatoes, and vegetables.
We grew up during a time when we mowed lawns, with a push mower, pulled weeds, babysat, helped neighbors with chores to be able to earn our own money. We by no means were given everything we wanted.
We went outside a lot to play, ride bikes, run with friends, play hide and seek,climb trees, or went swimming. We rarely just sat inside. We drank tap water from the water hose outside, bottled water was unheard of. If we had a coke, it was in a glass bottle, and we didn’t break the bottle when finished. We saved it and cashed it back in at the store for a refund.
We watched TV shows like Leave It To Beaver, Gilligan’s Island, Happy Days, Bewitched, The Brady Bunch, Looney Tunes, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Sanford and Son, Disney on Sunday night, McHales Navy, Andy Griffith, and I Love Lucy. Mom and dad decided everything we watched or didn’t watch. After school, we came home and did homework and chores, before going outside or having friends over. We would ride our bikes for hours. We had to tell our parents where we were going, who we were going with, and be home when the street lights came on!
You LEARNED from your parents instead of disrespecting them, and treating them as if they knew absolutely nothing. What they said was LAW, and you did not question it, and you had better know it!
We watched what we said around our elders because we knew if we DISRESPECTED any grown-up we would get our bottoms beat, it wasn’t called abuse, it was called discipline! We held doors, carried groceries, and gave up our seat for an older person without being asked. You didn’t hear curse words on the radio in songs or TV, and if you cursed and got caught you had a bar of soap stuck in your mouth.
“Please, Thank you, yes please, no thank you, yes ma’am, no ma’am yes sir, and no sir were part of our daily vocabulary!
I will never forget where I came from and only wish children now days had half the chance at the fun and respect for real life we grew up with! And we were never bored!… OH MY… If we even said we were bored, our parents gave us ‘Plenty’ to do, we didn’t say we were bored ever again…:-)
Today, things are quite different… And make me glad I’m not trying to raise kids in today’s environment!!!
I didn’t write that email, but I could have – almost word for word.
Me too (writing the above email). A much more simpler time. We had to do our chores BEFORE we went out to play. Homework was done soon after supper – if help was needed, Mom and/or Dad was there to assist. Dad’s reply to questions was ‘Let’s look it up !’ and we did, a dictionary was handy to keep on hand. He rarely gave me the answer, he helped me find and determine what the correct answer was.
It helped that cable TV was unavailable to our home location until I was an adult. Three TV channels and NBC was very snowy.
Ditto. Word for word for word. I kept waiting for it to veer off into the unfamiliar. 🙂
Sounds like my childhood.
You got it right. Those were the good days. Today I fell sorry for the youngsters. What kind of world are we allowing this society to become?
Ah, yes. And after the homework was done, we went outside with our bikes (or sleds depending on the time of year) and played until the streetlights came on. Kickball, 3-on-a-side football, flying kites, and hunting for frogs. Today’s kids don’t know what they are missing.
My perspective on those ‘good old days’ is different.
And that’s all I have to say about that.
Agree with all points, after graduating from high school the remaining question was what branch of the service were you going to. We didn’t have money for college so the GI Bill was an incentive, going into the services provided a means of learning a trade or in my case a career.
Very much like my experiences and upbringing, except for the TV. We listened to the radio. Big John and Sparky’s “No School Today” on Saturday mornings comes to mind.
Change the TV shows and yes, that could be me. “I”m bored” was greeted with being ushered outdoors to play, or handed a book, or a broom, or dust cloth, or “Do you have any homework?” or . . .
All- So y’all are ALL old farts too… good to know 🙂
Kept waiting for an exception, but it never came. Exactly what I would have written. Also add that on the TV you NEVER saw a married couple sleeping in the same bed — always separate beds. Teachers were an auxiliary to the parents’ union.
Every mother on the block knew the others, had an exquisite information network, and ALL knew which kid did what an hour ago; they administered first aid to all equally and reminded us when it was time to go home. Air conditioning caused closed windows and doors and ruined a lot of that.
But that was an era of F A M I L Y .
Bob- Good points! And they also beat our butts if we acted out, and we got it again when we got home!
Likewise, except we didn’t have any street lights.
Feral- Actually, we didn’t either… too far out on the edge of town… LOL