Then and now...

[sumi]

I was reading some threads on another forum I visit and talking with a friend this morning about her internet going down yesterday and thinking back on my childhood. Before technology took over...

Watching kids' programmes on our black and white TV. It had bunny ears. We had a "fancy" model, a combination TV and radio in one…

I also listened to stories and sometimes music on records. Tapes came a bit later. Recording music and songs we loved off the radio.

Reading books, lots and lots of books. If I wanted to know something, I had to go to the library and find a book about it.

Going to school barefoot until I was 12. Except in winter when we had to wear shoes (school uniform rules)

Playing outside in the evenings, trying to catch bats.

When I was VERY young, one night, lying in bed in a spare bedroom in my grandparents' old farm house. My brother in another bed. My grandfather walked in, holding something that TALKED… with a HUMAN voice!!!! Yep, a radio… The broadcaster at the time having no idea how completely fascinated and at the same time freaked out we were, hearing him speak through that mysterious object. I can't remember why my grandfather did that, but I'll probably never forget it.

I resisted the internet and technology as long as I could, I guess I wanted to hang onto that simpler way of life for as long as possible. I'm still the strange person in the waiting room looking at life instead of my "smart phone" which I refuse to use for internet..

What are you all's favourite childhood memories?

 

[MoonShadows]

The beginnings of a great thread!
I have a million memories (don't we all?), but I'd be typing for hours on end, so here's one.

We NEVER played in the house unless it was raining, and it had to be raining hard.
We "lived" outside....baseball, football, dodgeball and wiffleball out in the street...cops & robbers...cowboys...army men...astronauts in our space ship made from a refrigerator box...hide and go seek...tag...running bases...catching fires flies...old roller skates that fit on your shoe (remember skate keys?)...hop scotch...climbing trees....tree swings...sandboxes...riding bikes, scooters, go carts or whatever had wheels...we even organized a neighborhood "carnival" with carnival games....sleigh riding on my flexible flyer down the big hill....snowball fights...snowmen....snow angels....and, this is just a few that come to mind right now.

This is me with my army helmet, cowboy gloves and rifle, Daniel Boone shirt,
and flannel lined pants I got for Christmas...some outfit, huh?

 

[Britesea]

Har! I remember a friend of mine talking about a party she went to at a Sci Fi con where, after a considerable amount of alcohol was consumed, they started trying to top each other's ideas of the silliest superhero. Thunderbunny was born that night, as well as Samurai Panda and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

 

[MoonShadows]

Do you notice that, regardless of the work & hardship, we are all in some way returning to our "roots"? My best memories are of the farming ways, self-sufficient processes. Dolls were not my request for gifts but, a farm set was....I bought a REAL one as soon as I could buy & find one. It is work. It can be so very rewarding. While there are times I feel I have taken one more than I need, just don't want to be without my farm. I cut back but never "stop".

At my house a lot of stuff "still works".

A part of me always wanted to stay behind on my grandparents farm down in Virginia when we visited each summer. My father was born there. My mother was born just outside NYC in New Rochelle. My father was stationed on Fort Slocum off of New Rochelle near the end of the war (He was a waist gunner on a B17 during WWII and flew 50 missions over Africa.). He met my mother at Glen Island Casino. It was where they used to have USO get togethers with the Big Bands at the time (Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Glen Miller, etc.). They married. My father wanted to move back to the farm. My mother wanted to stay in New Rochelle. Since jobs were more readily available near NYC, they decided to stay up north...and, the rest, as they say, is history.

(Can't help it; love posting the pics in this thread.)

Dad in his flight jacket

2nd from right, bottom row

Mom

Fort Slocum

Glenn Miller's 1939 opening at the Glen Island Casino!
(Great video!)

 

[Britesea]

I remember the huge backseat of our 1958 (I think?) Chevy, with the little ropes hanging from the back of the front seats for us to grab in emergency (lol). My little brother would sit in the middle of the seat and force me to sit scrunched up on one side. If I started to whine, he would complain too. It usually ended with my mom reaching around and smacking us both.

I remember hot-stepping on the pavement for the first few days of summer vacation, until our feet toughened up and we could run everywhere barefoot.

I remember the bakery truck that came down the street every morning with fresh bread, pastries and donuts for sale in the back. The donuts were wonderful with the whole milk we drank out of the glass bottles with the paper caps that got delivered twice a week.

I remember wearing a dress as opposed to pants most of the time. The exception was when we went camping.

Me, my brother, and Dad

Christmas morning. By the way, the TV stopped working somewhere around this time, because my mother was annoyed and brother and me arguing over which cartoons to watch. She pulled the plug.... OUT OF THE TV. It didn't get replaced for about 8 years (I was in high school by that time)

 

[milkmansdaughter]

I'm not sure how I ended up on this thread now but it's a good one. Maybe we can revive it?

Here's a picture from when I was a kid (sorry it's sideways.)
I'm third from the left.

One of the things I remember the most about childhood is KIDS. There were ALWAYS kids to play with. Every family had lots of kids. 6 kids was a small family. A car would stop someplace and 11 kids and two adults might climb out from every possible opening. When getting in, the adults got in front with a baby between them. The big kids all had little kids on their laps and extras crawled in wherever they found room. Little kids were freely passed back and forth over the seats during the drive. And we'd be little and still walked or rode bikes for a long way (miles) to play with friends, play in the woods, go sledding, build a treehouse, climb trees, build racetracks, and even for work. Every fall we went to the county fair, and if you had an animal, you got free tickets. If you had a horse, you got to stay overnight. Neighbor parents could spank you if you misbehaved and if they did you got it again when you got home. Kids got spanked in public schools, and then again at home. We prayed and sang patriotic songs every day in public school. No cell phones. Cars were left in the driveway with the keys in the ignition, houses were never locked, guns were left leaning in the corner or over a fireplace and no kids ever messed with them. Kids worked. We cut lawn, bailed hay, babysat, shoveled snow, washed and dried dishes, drove the tractor as soon as we were tall enough to reach the (blocks on the) pedals (often driving tractors while half standing half sitting on the very front of the seat to reach), cut and stacked wood, cared for animals, milked cows, and worked in the garden. A swing was a marvelous toy. We made our own kites and flew them. There was NO swearing on tv or on the radio and no one said the words "pregnant" (It was "pg") or "divorced". A family was a dad, mom, and kids. Most of the moms stayed home with the kids.
I remember quilting bees and card parties, women getting together to can, and my mom ironing piles and piles of clothes while watching some of the first soap operas (As the World Turns and Days of Our Lives??) Clothes dried outside on the line summer and winter. In the winter they would freeze solid and the pants could stand up on their own. We built snowmen and forts and flooded the low area to make a hockey rink. We froze water on the sled trails to make bumps and faster trails.

For fun on hot summer nights, we'd sleep outside and watch the stars and play night games. If we fell asleep in the car, we'd be left there in the car until we woke up.
We could go to a saw mill, potato farm, mechanic, maple syrup farm, paper mill or any other kind of factory to go see how things were done or made without worrying about injuries or lawsuits. If we got hurt, it was our fault.

There were no private phone calls, and no eating between meals. Everyone shared a room and clothes, bathroom, bathwater, etc. There was one bathroom for a family of 10. (We also had an outhouse until i was a teenager.) We found things to do or mom would find things (work) for us to do.
When anyone in the community had problems (like a barn fire or tornado damage) people from all over the community showed up to help or sent food.
We had a local dump, and kids freely climbed all over the piles to drag things home to make things. We once had a bike for 4 people from old parts. We build a clubhouse with parts from an old burned out barn. Nails were pounded straight and used over and over. We FIXED things or made them ourselves.

Cameras used film that cost money and took weeks to develop (that cost money) and often many of the pictures were blurry when we got them back. (I do love my current cameras.)

People wrote letters and used stamps.

Enough for now. Anyone else??

 

[MoonShadows]

Oh, I am probably going to take a lot of kidding over that picture!

We had one rotary phone in the kitchen (and it was a party line) with a cord that might stretch 10-12 feet if you pulled real hard (and my father didn't see you doing that and yell, "You're going to break that!"), forget about any real privacy in a house with 7 people.

My grandparents in Virginia had a party line phone that had distinctive rings so you knew if the call was for them or someone else sharing the line.

Another pic...me out for a walk in front of our house with one of my sisters. circa 1957.
I was chubby from day 1, and still am today.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Great idea, Sumi!

We must be siblings @MoonShadows , lol. We had the same old rotary phone...a black desk model. And, yep - party line! Same story... kids left the house in the morning...came home for a quick peanut butter sammich at lunch, back outside and not back inside until dinner. We drank out of the water hose or hoped that somebody's mama made some purple Kool-Aid! Summers were for catching fireflies, playing 'kick-the-can' and hide and go seek with all the neighborhood kids. Oh...and our neighborhood wasn't the typical neighborhood. We lived way down at the end of a long dead-end road in the middle of the woods, next to the plant that all our dads worked at. It was 'company housing' and it was a great place to grow up. Lots of trails and forts and tree houses. We had a neighborhood base ball field and a volleyball court. We even had a small private lake. All the kids had go carts, mini bikes, and horses. We played tag on the horses and made up our own rules. You had to ride 'double' on the horse....the object of the game was to pull all the backseat riders off of the horse. Last horse to still have two riders was the team that won. We were brutal, lol! Only one broken arm and one concussion that summer before the grown folks nixed that game!

We didn't have a neighborhood 'carnival' we had a circus! Oh man, those were the good ol' days!

 

[lcertuche]

One of my "Now and Then Memories" is how we would smoke when going to visit people in the hospital. My kids can't believe people would smoke while in the hospital, grocery store, laundry, etc. What a different world it is today. I won't even let anyone smoke in my house these days! This isn't really a good memory, just a memory.

Speaking of "Now and Then" every time my kids see something from a show like Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman or Little House ofn the Prairie, they ask me "Is that how you really..." lol.

 

[sumi]

Excuse you all, I'm in my 30's too I'm 36. Much have changed since I was a child… Too much!