For those born between 1930 and 1979

[Crayola13]

I remember chicken pox parties. Before the vaccine, it was inevitable you would catch it. When one neighborhood kids got chicken pox, one of the parents in the neighborhood would offer to take off work for two weeks and and have all the neighborhood kids stay at their home. Parents would say stuff like, "Go give Carrie a hug . . ." so that it you would catch it and get it over with. When I tell my students about this, they think it was criminal.

I also remember when pediatricians would tell parents to give their kids an ounce of whiskey as a last resort when the kid would cough non-stop night after night. These days, a doctor would go to jail.

Holding a cigarette a few feet from a child's ear so that the smoke would stop the pain from an ear infection really helped. Nowadays, that is considered child abuse. My dad did that when I was seven, and it did the trick.

 

[Triedntrue]

Rubbing whisky on babys gums to help with teething would also not be tolerated.

I am sorry other things are gone like playing outside anywhere in the neighborhood until lights go on.

Or being able to walk to the dairy store alone to buy an ice cream.

Or kids having responsibilities like paper routes and babysitting. I was a great babysitter.

 

[Copabanana]

This thread is like an autobiography of my life. Actually, I visualized my backyard, street and block as I read the first post.

I was a latchkey kid. When I got off the streetcar, Paul the barber would wave to me as I descended the steps. I walked 10 steps and bought 15 cents worth of kosher salami or American cheese from the deli, and crossed the street to the dry cleaners owned by my friends a Salvadorian family.

There was no adult at home. But walking one block I had 4 adults watching me and loving me. Sixty years later I still feel that love.

 

[Pink Elephant]

I remember chicken pox parties. Before the vaccine, it was inevitable you would catch it. When one neighborhood kids got chicken pox, one of the parents in the neighborhood would offer to take off work for two weeks and and have all the neighborhood kids stay at their home. Parents would say stuff like, "Go give Carrie a hug . . ." so that it you would catch it and get it over with. When I tell my students about this, they think it was criminal.

I also remember when pediatricians would tell parents to give their kids an ounce of whiskey as a last resort when the kid would cough non-stop night after night. These days, a doctor would go to jail.

Holding a cigarette a few feet from a child's ear so that the smoke would stop the pain from an ear infection really helped. Nowadays, that is considered child abuse. My dad did that when I was seven, and it did the trick.

The Chicken Pox parties sound like fun! We never had them, but I remember dealing with the Pox when my kids were little, and what a nightmare it was. Trying to keep them from scratching was near impossible.

When we kids were sick and coughing, strong homemade wine was warmed and served. Not a large quantity by any means, but a small glass full. That was standard practice in our house back in the day. Probably a whole lot of other houses, too.

I seem to remember something about cigarette smoke, and how when blown in a child's ear helped soothe an ache. I never had it done to me nor did I ever try it with any of my kids, but I do remember the remedy.

 

[Pink Elephant]

Rubbing whisky on babys gums to help with teething would also not be tolerated.

I am sorry other things are gone like playing outside anywhere in the neighborhood until lights go on.

Or being able to walk to the dairy store alone to buy an ice cream.

Or kids having responsibilities like paper routes and babysitting. I was a great babysitter.

So true about the gum-rub remedy today. Sore of like spanking, it's so frowned upon and taboo. As for playing freely from morning until night, how I remember that from my own childhood days. No yard was out of bounds, and our play area encompasses blocks around, yet we were never overly far from a call to come home. Oh, and there were few fences back then as well.

Yep, making regular treks to the corner store for candy/treats. We did that as kids for sure. I remember running to the store to buy cigarettes for my mom starting at age 7. Never was there a question asked when I'd ask the store owner for the brand of cigarettes that mom smoked. Buying cigarettes for your mom was all in a kids daily routine.

Yes, I remember both babysitting and paper routes. Boys did papers, girls did diapers. Having grown up helping with the care of baby siblings, I was a hot commodity among all of the neighbourhood mothers looking for a sitter. I landed many-a babysitting job thanks to my mom getting the word out that I fed and changed and did all of the baby things with my siblings. Not only was I well-experienced when it came to preparing a baby's bottle (from scratch)... that's right, homemade baby formula and all, I was well familiar with changing the diapers of old, where folding and pinning was part-and-parcel to the changing process. Maryjane, a next door neighbour of ours when I was in grade 7, was one of my first babysitting jobs. She had three kids, two in diapers, and I folded and changed many-a cloth diaper at her house... complete with old-fashioned white rubber pants and all, just like it was in our home with my baby sibs.

 

[Pink Elephant]

This thread is like an autobiography of my life. Actually, I visualized my backyard, street and block as I read the first post.

I was a latchkey kid. When I got off the streetcar, Paul the barber would wave to me as I descended the steps. I walked 10 steps and bought 15 cents worth of kosher salami or American cheese from the deli, and crossed the street to the dry cleaners owned by my friends a Salvadorian family.

There was no adult at home. But walking one block I had 4 adults watching me and loving me. Sixty years later I still feel that love.

Yes, it had the same effect on me, too, Copa. So true about neighbours and common people who looked out for little ones. The person-ability we had growing up just isn't the same today. In fact, it's pretty much non-existent. How I miss those days.

 

[Pink Elephant]

I was a great babysitter.

Was it good old-fashioned cloth diapers when you babysat, too, TM? With diaper pins and rubber pants?

 

[Triedntrue]

No pampers ruled

 

[Pink Elephant]

No pampers ruled

You know, I only ever remember changing Pampers at one, maybe two homes, and that was in my later babysitting years. Aside from those exceptions, cloth diapers were the norm, just as homemade baby formula was, too.

 

[Triedntrue]

I didnt have many babies mostly older kids

 

[Pink Elephant]

I didnt have many babies mostly older kids

Okay... yep, that would definitely make for the difference between our experiences, because seldom did I babysit older kids. Babies and toddlers made-up the bulk of the age group I always cared for.

 

[Pink Elephant]

I find with thread topics such as these, they really do help remind one of their past. Such a lovely time I've had reading everyone's entries and posting about my own. Sometimes it just seems like yesterday, but when I actually take the time to add-up the many years that have passed, boy-oh-boy... it's been decades.

 

[BusynMember]

This is a very very very old thread. These posters are mostly long gone. But I will respond. I probably did the first time.

I will again disagree that it is okay, in 2018, to let kids go wild and unchecked.

In the olden days...hehe...sure, most kids survived lack of close supervision. I will say this was more true in close small neighborhoods. And the ones who were victims of lack of supervision are not around to tell their stories.

Also, I live near the Amish. They never buckle their kids in to the carriages and believe that whatever happens is God's will, death included. Accidents and deaths of children in carriages are common. But....I degress.

I can only go by where I live today. I can't speak for other areas. I am sure some are safer than others with different dynamics as they always are and were.

Drugs in 2018 in my neck of the woods are rampant, worse than ever before. Crime is almost all drug related. I know this for a fact as my daughter is a Corrections Officer at our local jail. What would a young kid wandering around alone possibly encounter today that he or she didn't thirty years ago?

Well, needles from sick drug addicts and with dangerous drugs still in them are thrown around in woods, parks and regular parking lots. This is a new danger to littles in our area. Drug needles for little ones to pick up and play with. The dangerous drugs in this country are worse than ever. The addiction rate is a crisis and not limited to poor neineighborho or the indoors. I never thought of this, never looked for a discarded needle. I learned a lot from my daughter.

Sexual predators live amongst us. I don't know if they always did. They do now. Many people who survived a lack of supervision were abused in our day and age but I wonder if it was more family then. Now they are stranger predators all over too and everywhere. The difference then is it was taboo to discuss children preyed upon. But it happened. It possibly happens more now.

School used to be safe. Who heard of a school shooting??! Biggest horror was being sent to a scary principal! Right? Well, welcome to school shootings!. Cable news and the internet has now glorified this act in the minds of some disturbed teens and made school shootings bonechillingly common place. They don't shock us when we hear about another one.

Also, aside from that, kids from all over seem to have cars, so parents don't know the strangers who drive into town. Are they drug dealers with guns? Predators? Violent? Mrs. Smith who knows everyone who lives in Pleasant City can not know everyone anymore who drives through it. Your child is not watched as closely. by the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Most mothers work. Nobody is home when Sara comes home from school. Nobody can see what she is doing or who is harassing her on her way home. Or what she is smoking.

Do you live in a big city? I lived in Chicago for two years well over twenty years ago. It was unsafe then. I can imagine now. In a big city you don't know your neighbors. You never did. Unstable people you don't know are everywhere. Sorry, but anyone who let a little kid wander around alone in Chicago even twenty years ago was in my opinion very negligent. Today? Forget it. Drive by shootings??

As for the usual banter "I got spanked and I'm okay" many got beaten or whooped and aren't okay. There is a reason we have laws against whooping. Do I think spanking a padded butt is bad? No. Helpful? For the moment, if the kid is three it may stop behavior. In the big picture, only if you escalate to beatings. Heck, these days older kids whoop their parents back. It does not cause your kids to respect you, at least not now.

Are kids more uncontrollable today? Maybe. I'm not so sure. But they are in more danger and the internet allows communication with perfect strangers and most of us allow this by purchasing cell phones and computers for even off the rails kids. Go back to elementary school kids, our grandkids. Take an eight year old on a computer and you can see what future dangers can happen to little kids. Very young kids do computers now. Kids of millennials. They will communicate with strangers too...they are growing up with this skill of computer communication. If Mom is at work and the sitter is lazy...who supervises the internet?

More than ever I feel it is important to watch your little precious kids, although twenty years ago in Chicago you still should not have let six year olds run around the neighborhood. When I lived there I was 21 and I was scared. And I lived in a "good" area in Chicago but still had a few scary encounters. And I did not feel safe. It is NOT safe everywhere. It never was and today it is worse than before. Yet, with divorce and single parenting, more littles are on their own. Many twelve year olds are without supervision after school, free to have sex, do drugs and be assaulted. To me it is scary.

I believe, but not from experience, that years ago small, close-knit towns with mothers and grandmas at home to watch the neighborhood kids it was safer. I still think it is safer in smaller towns. But no longer safe as in SAFE. Safer than Chicago, but not safe.

This is just my opinion. I don't feel we can do what we did fifty years ago or even twenty years ago. in my opinion cars are the biggest problem. Everyone has one. Anyone can visit your town. Drugs are a nightmare. Violence has escalated. If I had a kid now, I would be vigilant. Actually, I always was.

Well, just my .02.

 

[Lil]

Drugs in 2018 in my neck of the woods are rampant, worse than ever before.

The addiction rate is a crisis and not limited to poor neineighborho or the indoors.

Sexual predators live amongst us.

School used to be safe. Who heard of a school shooting??!

, kids from all over seem to have cars, so parents don't know the strangers who drive into town. Are they drug dealers with guns? Predators? Violent?

Unstable people you don't know are everywhere.

But they are in more danger and the internet allows communication with perfect strangers and most of us allow this by purchasing cell phones and computers for even off the rails kids.

I believe, but not from experience, that years ago small, close-knit towns with mothers and grandmas at home to watch the neighborhood kids it was safer. I still think it is safer in smaller towns. But no longer safe as in SAFE. Safer than Chicago, but not safe.

I really think this is the whole point. These kinds of memes/posts that go around are nostalgia. People miss being able to do these things, the regret their kids can no longer play outside until the sun goes down. Did bad things happen then? Of course. But the world has gotten worse. The world has gotten more unsafe. People know this. At times we wish we could just go back to the way it was...hence these types of posts. Nothing wrong with a little nostalgia...that's all this is.

 

[BusynMember]

I think the original poster, long gone, was mocking our vigilance now. Maybe I read it wrong. I do agree life is more dangerous now.

But the original poster actually said mother's used to smoke and drink during pregnancy and the kids were ok?????

Sorry, no. We just did not realize the damage both can do, especially drinking. Back then a child who struggled in school like me or could not behave were labeled as "bad" and written off. Nobody thought "maybe his alcoholic mother drinking during pregnancy affected his brain." But it does.

Lots of in my opinion silliness in original post. JMO.

 

[Pink Elephant]

This is a very very very old thread. These posters are mostly long gone. But I will respond. I probably did the first time.

I will again disagree that it is okay, in 2018, to let kids go wild and unchecked.

In the olden days...hehe...sure, most kids survived lack of close supervision. I will say this was more true in close small neighborhoods. And the ones who were victims of lack of supervision are not around to tell their stories.

Also, I live near the Amish. They never buckle their kids in to the carriages and believe that whatever happens is God's will, death included. Accidents and deaths of children in carriages are common. But....I degress.

I can only go by where I live today. I can't speak for other areas. I am sure some are safer than others with different dynamics as they always are and were.

Drugs in 2018 in my neck of the woods are rampant, worse than ever before. Crime is almost all drug related. I know this for a fact as my daughter is a Corrections Officer at our local jail. What would a young kid wandering around alone possibly encounter today that he or she didn't thirty years ago?

Well, needles from sick drug addicts and with dangerous drugs still in them are thrown around in woods, parks and regular parking lots. This is a new danger to littles in our area. Drug needles for little ones to pick up and play with. The dangerous drugs in this country are worse than ever. The addiction rate is a crisis and not limited to poor neineighborho or the indoors. I never thought of this, never looked for a discarded needle. I learned a lot from my daughter.

Sexual predators live amongst us. I don't know if they always did. They do now. Many people who survived a lack of supervision were abused in our day and age but I wonder if it was more family then. Now they are stranger predators all over too and everywhere. The difference then is it was taboo to discuss children preyed upon. But it happened. It possibly happens more now.

School used to be safe. Who heard of a school shooting??! Biggest horror was being sent to a scary principal! Right? Well, welcome to school shootings!. Cable news and the internet has now glorified this act in the minds of some disturbed teens and made school shootings bonechillingly common place. They don't shock us when we hear about another one.

Also, aside from that, kids from all over seem to have cars, so parents don't know the strangers who drive into town. Are they drug dealers with guns? Predators? Violent? Mrs. Smith who knows everyone who lives in Pleasant City can not know everyone anymore who drives through it. Your child is not watched as closely. by the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Most mothers work. Nobody is home when Sara comes home from school. Nobody can see what she is doing or who is harassing her on her way home. Or what she is smoking.

Do you live in a big city? I lived in Chicago for two years well over twenty years ago. It was unsafe then. I can imagine now. In a big city you don't know your neighbors. You never did. Unstable people you don't know are everywhere. Sorry, but anyone who let a little kid wander around alone in Chicago even twenty years ago was in my opinion very negligent. Today? Forget it. Drive by shootings??

As for the usual banter "I got spanked and I'm okay" many got beaten or whooped and aren't okay. There is a reason we have laws against whooping. Do I think spanking a padded butt is bad? No. Helpful? For the moment, if the kid is three it may stop behavior. In the big picture, only if you escalate to beatings. Heck, these days older kids whoop their parents back. It does not cause your kids to respect you, at least not now.

Are kids more uncontrollable today? Maybe. I'm not so sure. But they are in more danger and the internet allows communication with perfect strangers and most of us allow this by purchasing cell phones and computers for even off the rails kids. Go back to elementary school kids, our grandkids. Take an eight year old on a computer and you can see what future dangers can happen to little kids. Very young kids do computers now. Kids of millennials. They will communicate with strangers too...they are growing up with this skill of computer communication. If Mom is at work and the sitter is lazy...who supervises the internet?

More than ever I feel it is important to watch your little precious kids, although twenty years ago in Chicago you still should not have let six year olds run around the neighborhood. When I lived there I was 21 and I was scared. And I lived in a "good" area in Chicago but still had a few scary encounters. And I did not feel safe. It is NOT safe everywhere. It never was and today it is worse than before. Yet, with divorce and single parenting, more littles are on their own. Many twelve year olds are without supervision after school, free to have sex, do drugs and be assaulted. To me it is scary.

I believe, but not from experience, that years ago small, close-knit towns with mothers and grandmas at home to watch the neighborhood kids it was safer. I still think it is safer in smaller towns. But no longer safe as in SAFE. Safer than Chicago, but not safe.

This is just my opinion. I don't feel we can do what we did fifty years ago or even twenty years ago. in my opinion cars are the biggest problem. Everyone has one. Anyone can visit your town. Drugs are a nightmare. Violence has escalated. If I had a kid now, I would be vigilant. Actually, I always was.

Well, just my .02.

SOT. I'm with you on not agreeing with allowing kids nowadays to run freely. It's definitely a changed world compared to way back when, when many of us were little ones.

As for spanking, I got my fair-share, too, as did my kids. I never spanked to hurt, but rather, to startle. A quick spanking often helped redirect my children's focus from what they were doing... whether it be something bad or something they knew was wrong. A few smart and well-placed pops on their rubber pants, which made for a loud plastic popping sound, always got their attention quickly, and with two fluffy diapers under, I'm certain they never felt a thing. The plastic popping sound made the spanking sound far more severe than it actually was, getting everyone's attention all around.

As for myself and my kids surviving being spanked, we did, and just fine may I add, but like yourself, there are plenty that didn't. Mind you there's a BIG difference between a simple spanking compared to a proper hiding. I practiced dusting bottoms! LOL!

 

[Pink Elephant]

I really think this is the whole point. These kinds of memes/posts that go around are nostalgia. People miss being able to do these things, the regret their kids can no longer play outside until the sun goes down. Did bad things happen then? Of course. But the world has gotten worse. The world has gotten more unsafe. People know this. At times we wish we could just go back to the way it was...hence these types of posts. Nothing wrong with a little nostalgia...that's all this is.

So true, it really does conjure warm thoughts of the past.

 

[BusynMember]

Sorry. Pink. A proper hiding is abuse and in today's world you are lucky if your kid doesn't hide you back and you get into trouble for putting marks on your child first. And I agree with that. Nobody should pull down a child's pants and beat them with a brush or belt so that the kids can't sit down. If you beat your teen I feel it is justified if he fights back in self defense.

Kids survive a lot of abuse including being beaten or sexually abused. But it can cause major problems even if they survive it.

Also, where I lived as a child most kids didn't run around unsupervised. Not even forty years ago. Nor were the parents like second mothers to all. Nor were kids allowed to run from one yard to the next. As always, every section of the world is different. Just like our area was finished with cloth diapers when my son was born, even though I am ten years older than you are. And just like as a child, smokers, and 80 percent did not smoke...maybe 50 percent, were not sloppy smokers. People owned beautiful expensive homes and did not dump cigatrette ashes on their expensive carpets and floors and furniture...ashtrays only. And many quit smoking once the dangers became news. My Dad and Grandma quit. Nobody else in my family smoked, even forty years ago. Not everyone did here.

The socioecomic and academic flavor of each neighborhood played a part and still does. The wealthy never lived like the rural working class,where I live today. Two different cultures/worlds. If you own a house that is worth half a million you are careful of your home and landscaped yard. So it's going to be and is different.

I just heard Goneboy is building a house in Northbrook IL. It figures as his self esteem comes from what he owns and he is a millionaire. Northbrook IL is the elite of the Chicago suburbs and you better believe little kids don't run around their yards. The main goal for kids there is to EXCEL in school and go to college. Way different than the laid back atmosphere here in semi rural Wisconsin where the kids fish, hunt, bike ride and can survive at home even if they don't get straight A's. There are inconsiderate smokers here who throw butts all over. But we don't hang with smokers so it doesn't affect us. When I worked at Applebee's though I had to put on rubber gloves and clean up the icky butts tossed in the parking lot. Not a fun job. When people are more middle class they are not as prideful of the neighborhood's appearance. I love it here but there are some things I wish were different. This is a nice area and I wish the people pampered it more.

 

[Pink Elephant]

Sorry. Pink. A proper hiding is abuse and in today's world you are lucky if your kid doesn't hide you back and you get into trouble for putting marks on your child first. And I agree with that. Nobody should pull down a child's pants and beat them with a brush or belt so that the kids can't sit down.

Kids survive a lot of abuse including being beaten or sexually abused. But it can cause major problems even if they survive it.

Also, where I lived most kids didn't run around unsupervised. Not even forty years ago. Nor were the parents like second mother's. Nor were kids allowed to run from one yard to the next. As always, every section of the world is different. Just like our area was done with cloth diapers when my son was born, even though I am ten years older than you are. And just like as a child even smokers, and 80 percent did not smoke...maybe 50 percent, we're not sloppy smokers. People owned beautiful expensive homes and did not dump cigatrette ashes on their expensive rugs and floors and furniture...ashtrays only. And many quit smoking once the dangers became news. My Dad and Grandma quit. Nobody else in my family smoked, e en forty years ago.

The socioecomic and academic flavor of each neighborhood layed a part and still does. The wealthy never lived like the rural working class,where I live today. Two different cultures/worlds. If you own a house that is worth half a million you are careful of your home and landscaped yard. So it's going to be and is different.

I just heard Goneboy is building a house in Northbrook. It figures as his self esteem comes from what he owns and he is a millionaire. Northbrook IL is the elite of the Chicago suburbs and you better believe little kids don't run around their yards. The main goal for kids there is to EXCEL in school and go to college. Way different than the laid back atmosphere here in semi rural Wisconsin where the kids fish, hunt and can survive at home even if they don't get straight As. There are inconsiderate smokers here who throw butts all over. But we don't hang with smokers so it doesn't affect us.

A proper hiding was abuse back in the day, too, SOT, but because it was (for the most part) a standardized method of discipline, it was accepted. Makes me cringe just thinking about it now. Shameful.

Every single household I babysat at, I always brought my cigarettes. All the moms smoked. My parents, my friends parents, aunts & uncles, family (both immediate & extended)... they all smoked.

One thing I remember about cloth diapers (later part of the 80's), a lot of mothers moved away from clothesline drying, so the sight of diapers hanging on clotheslines wasn't as common as it was just a handful of years earlier, but that doesn't go to say that the same non-clothesline drying moms had moved away from using cloth diapers. Many simply dried their children's diapers in electric tumble dryers, which may have helped feed the perception that everyone had switched over to using disposable diapers. Just saying.

 

[BusynMember]

pink, I have no doubt that you are accurately describing where you lived. As am I. Nobody got a hiding in my area or else they kept it a secret. Hidings and even spankings were considered "lower class." Nobody in Rich, IL wanted to be considered lower class. It was a terrible insult lol! Jewish people in particular tend to not spank at that level. Or any level. I never heard of a hiding until I got away from Rich IL. And then, right or wrong, I associated it mostly with farmers from the south.

I visited other homes too as a kid. Often there were maids, one had a butler. Nobody smoked around the house. Many didn't smoke at all.

I believe you. You are going to have to believe me too. Your area of the world and mine were very different. It is what it is, as my dear Dad always said. Wealthy people are different. You think Donald Trump let's people ruin his fine homes with ashes on the floor?

Well off people want their homes and cars to stay pristine. Where I live now, it is more relaxed.

Let me tell you another funny different thing about where I grew up. My own family did not do this because we did not have elite furniture.

Most of the homes I visited had plastic covering over the furniture and you really weren't supposed to sit on it. I am trying hard to remember but if I recall it was as if the plastic covered furniture was for show and there was other furniture not in the living room to sit in. I thought it was normal.

And you had better take off your shoes so you don't get the rugs dirty! Goneboy and Princess are both neat freaks and you must take your shoes off before entering their homes. And Princess isn't rich. I digress.

I believe you when you tell us something. I am also telling the truth about my childhood in one of the richer areas in suburban Chicago and it was not at all like the working class area that I love and live in now. Night and day. Apples and oranges. Although the people here in Wisconsin would not tolerate whoopings. You'd get turned in for child abuse. I saw a woman slap her little girl across her face and stared in shock. Two men quickly rushed over to confront her. That dog dont hunt, even in small town Wisconsin.

As for smoking, it is banned now even in taverns. You have to go outside. Now in California, you face a big fine for throwing butts on the ground. I wish they had that here.