Do you remember when...?

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Old Hands awesome post inspired me to start a thread about what we remember as a kid vs. what its like now. As an oldster here, i go back farther than some.

I remember:

Black and white TV

No FM radio

Record players that were not necessarily stereo. I had one.

Black dial phones attached to the walls.

Handwriting class at school

Cadillacs being the biggest status symbol in cars.

Segregation in the south and open bigotry in the north (your parents would literally disown you for dating a person who was not white. I find this very sad.

Girls had tp wear skirts to school (until my high school junior year).

We had a smoking lounge at school.

We would be charged with a felony for even being around a weed smoker.

Long straight hair parted in the middle for girls AND boys.

Richard Nixons resignation

These are but a few things I thought of that dont exist today.

You?
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Awww... you are so sweet, SomewhereOutThere! Thank you! :)

I remember all the above!

Also remember when baby bottles were glass

Diapers were cloth, not disposable! Remember how we used to dunk those dirty diapers up and down in the toilet to rinse them after a child went poop?

Diaper pins (used for fastening those old-fashioned cloth diapers on with)! And poking ourselves with them when changing diapers! LOL!

Rubber pants! All kids that wore diapers wore these!

Plastic diaper pails for those old cloth diapers! Phew, stinky!

Spoolies (rubber hair curlers)

Vinyl rain bonnets that tied on! ROFL! So ugly and unfashionable!

Smoking was allowed everywhere! Stores (clothing, hardware, all stores)

Spanking (everyone spanked their children back in the day)! Not like today, where spanking is taboo.

Cloth training pants for toilet training your child, not disposable Pullups and things like today!

No eating out at Fast Food places! At least we never did as kids! Mom and dad never had the money, not would mom have stood for anything but homemade meals.

Clackers! Remember them? They were glass balls that were connected with a string that you'd snap back and forth with the movement of your wrist to get them clacking. Ouch! Boy did they ever smart when you hit a knuckle!

What a fun thread SomewhereOutThere!
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Thanks :)

My mom used cloth diapers and rubber pants. I barely remember. And I never got spanked and in my area I dont think spanking was that much an every day thing. Not sure. Schools did not ever spank here, but I had some VERY abusive teachers who could never act like they did today. I got picked on by teachers and kids which brings us too...

Bullying was considered a normal thing.

If you went to a psychiatrist you kept it a big secret. It meant you were crazy.

If you got pregnant in high school you could no longer attend and family often sent the girls to live with an aunt due to the shame.

Dr. Spock!!!

The list goes on
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Thanks :)

My mom used cloth diapers and rubber pants. I barely remember. And I never got spanked and in my area I dont think spanking was that much an every day thing. Not sure. Schools did not ever spank here, but I had some VERY abusive teachers who could never act like they did today. I got picked on by teachers and kids which brings us too...

Bullying was considered a normal thing.

If you went to a psychiatrist you kept it a big secret. It meant you were crazy.

If you got pregnant in high school you could no longer attend and family often sent the girls to live with an aunt due to the shame.

Dr. Spock!!!

The list goes on
Yep, it was cloth diapers and rubber pants in our home, too, with all of my baby siblings. I would have been around age 8, when I started changing diapers, so I well remember them. Also changed cloth diapers and rubber pants when I used to babysit outside of our home (around the neighbourhood), and as a mom I used cloth diapers and rubber pants. In fact, just about everyone in our family (both immediate and extended) used cloth diapers and rubber pants.

I totally remember bullying, and what a blessing THAT has all but come to an end!

Yes, very true, even mentioning a Psychiatrist back in the day earned one an odd look.

Also remember when my first school ground was a segregated school ground, boys on one side, girls on the other.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
I remember when Diaper Services were common

Also remember going to the Laundromat as a child, because my parents couldn't afford a washing machine and dryer yet!

Anyone remember wringer washing machines? I do!

And who could forget visiting Woolworth's Department Store! Woolworth's was the best!

Most everyone I knew as a child owned a single family vehicle and lived in a small, quaint home. Nothing fancy. Most everyone lived within their means... not like today
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I grew up i a rich suburb of Chicago. Most of the houses on my block were bigger than ours, i believe. Some were huge. I found this suburb very materialistic and in my opinion snobby. Not only could we not keep up, I didnt like materialistic snobby people from a very young age. I grew to hate my neighborhood. Hate is a strong word I dont ever like to use, but I did. I was learning disabled and got badly picked on at home, by the teachers and by my peers.

I was very happy to leave that place behind and to this day have very modest needs and wants and dont get jealous of rich people with nice "things."

When people start to talk about money, jobs and posessions I space out in boredom. I just dont care.

But that is definitely the place I grew up in. I couldnt wait to bolt and never went back and didnt keep in contact with anybody from there.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
I grew up i a rich suur of Chicago. Most of the hoes on my block were bigger than ours, i believe. Sone were huge. I found this suburb very materialistic and in my opinion snobby. Not only could we not keep up, I didnt like materialistic snobby people from a very young age. I grew to hate my neighborhood. Hate is a strong word I dont e er like to use, buf I did. I was learni g disabled and got badly picked on at home, by the teachers and by my peers.

I was very happy to leave that plae behind and to this day hae very modest eeds and wants and dont get jealous of rich people with nice "things."

When people start to talk aiut mo ey, jobs and pisessions I space out in boredom. I just dont care.
I hate materialism something awful, SOT. Seems nearly everyone is sold on living that way nowadays. Right to the last drop! Ever penny spent!

We grew up in a tiny little home, with some of us doubling up in each others bedrooms due to a lack of space. I also shared my room with two baby siblings at one time, not two babies at once, but one sibling for a year or two, then another after.

Can't stand snobbery!
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I dont have tons of friends but the ones I like are not like that. Nothing more challenging to me than than having to tour somebodys supposed great house and my having to be polite and nod and oooh and aaah about how great it is when I would actually rather be someplace else. Same for cars. Zilch interest as long as they run. Cant tell a Camaro from a Cavilier and disinterested in learning.

I would like to buy a used hybrid so I can save money on gas. I never buy new ;)
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
I dont have tons of friends but the ones I like are not like that. Nothing more challenging to me than than having to tour somebodys supposed great house and my having to be polite and nod and oooh and aaah about how great it is when I would actually rather be someplace else. Same for cars. Zilch interest as long as they run. Cant tell a Camaro from a Cavilier and disinterested in learning.

I would like to buy a used hybrid so I can save money on gas. I never buy new ;)
Same with us, all friends are down to earth, real, and care about us, as we care about them. Totally dedication and honesty, something that doesn't exist among false friends.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
So so agree. And I see many friends as rivals to one another with jealousy galore. So I pick carefully.

I do not believe I could be friends with a snob. I have always been attracted to down to earth, regular folks.

And I dont like parties ..the one upsmanship game is really rampant when a lot of people get together. When forced to go to large gathering I stuff book in purse and take frequent restroom breaks ;)

I like this about myself. It must be awful to always wish you had nicer stuff.
 

ksm

Well-Known Member
Party lines... A wooden phone box on the wall. 8 homes on the party line, you had to lift the part you listen to, and then talk into the box on the wall. The operator had to connect you, you couldn't dial. Our ring was "long short long short". We lived in a rural area... Other friends who lived in town had the black rotary phones.

My mother sprinkling clothes by filling up a pop bottle filled with water with a little metal sprinkler lid. Beer came in cans...and when pop first started being sold in cans, we couldn't drink it in our yard, as my mom was worried that people would think it was beer. Also, the pop coolers had cold ice water, and you put in a nickel or a dime, choose the flavor, and move the bottle thru the maze to get it out of the cooler.

I don't know if we were extremely poor...but we never had a bottle of glue...mom would make a paste of flour and water. (Or was it cornstarch and water? It looked like flour to me!) Just the way her mom did when she was in school.

Long distance calls were expensive, so when my brother left for the Air Force, he would call home collect, and when the operator would say who was calling, my parents would not accept the call. But it was a way for them to know he made it safely there. They were so happy, even though they couldn't afford to take a collect call.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
So so agree. And I see many friends as rivals toone another with jealousy galore. So I pick carefully.

I do not believe I could be friends with a snob. I have always been attracted to down to earth, regular folks.

And I dont like parties ..the one upsmanship game is really rampant when a lot of people get together.

I like this about myself. It must be awful to always wish you had nicer stuff.
I'm the same as you, SOT. I'm really an introvert by nature, so not at all into crowds and lots of people. Don't care for bad gossip either.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Party lines... A wooden phone box on the wall. 8 homes on the party line, you had to lift the part you listen to, and then talk into the box on the wall. The operator had to connect you, you couldn't dial. Our ring was "long short long short". We lived in a rural area... Other friends who lived in town had the black rotary phones.

My mother sprinkling clothes by filling up a pop bottle filled with water with a little metal sprinkler lid. Beer came in cans...and when pop first started being sold in cans, we couldn't drink it in our yard, as my mom was worried that people would think it was beer. Also, the pop coolers had cold ice water, and you put in a nickel or a dime, choose the flavor, and move the bottle thru the maze to get it out of the cooler.

I don't know if we were extremely poor...but we never had a bottle of glue...mom would make a paste of flour and water. (Or was it cornstarch and water? It looked like flour to me!) Just the way her mom did when she was in school.

Long distance calls were expensive, so when my brother left for the Air Force, he would call home collect, and when the operator would say who was calling, my parents would not accept the call. But it was a way for them to know he made it safely there. They were so happy, even though they couldn't afford to take a collect call.
OMG, party lines were so much fun! We kids would pick up the phone and listen in on neighbours talking, then we'd snicker and chuckle, and the people on the line would say, "I think someone else is one the line with us", which made us laugh even more! :)

Gosh, how many calls I took to go babysitting using a rotary telephone! Loved those old rotary telephones!

I think you're right Ksm, about the cornstarch and water. I seem to remember that recipe from somewhere.

Yep, the bottle with the little sprinkler head on it when ironing! My mom used one!

I remember most families had a wooden spoon hanging outside their main bathroom door, and it wasn't used for stirring! LOL!
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Ksm, thank you! Prieless!

Old hand, i need to be with people for a while. Then I need to recover and be alone. I think I am an ambivert (part introert/part extrivert)...more introverted I think.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Ksm, thank you! Prieless!

Old hand, i need to be with people for a while. Then I need to recover and be alone. I think I am an ambivert (part introert/part extrivert)...more introverted I think.
Makes perfect sense. Down-time has been something I have always needed. Without my down-time, I start getting depressed and tired. I need "ME" time occasionally to recharge.
 

ksm

Well-Known Member
A few more memories...

All the girls had a sewing and a cooking class. Many of the girls sewed their own clothes. Most were very simple skirts with elastic and I remember making a reversible vest. Also made a weird wrap dress that had three arm holes. Lol!

Typing class was very hard! You had to use white out...and the teacher marked you down for corrections. By end of high school we did have electric typewriters.

We used empty tin cans with the bottoms cut out as curlers...so we could try to force our curly hair to be straight! I don't know how we slept!

We had to wear skirts and dresses until my sophomore year...but it couldn't be "jeans". I was sent home once to change, because my tan pants with a small navy stripe had a double stitched inseam...thus, I was wearing jeans!

I think the world was kinder then. I know that I wasn't friends with every one, we just didn't hang out, but no one was rude to me. I never felt that I was picked on. Wish my granddaughters had the same experience.

Ksm
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
A few more memories...

All the girls had a sewing and a cooking class. Many of the girls sewed their own clothes. Most were very simple skirts with elastic and I remember making a reversible vest. Also made a weird wrap dress that had three arm holes. Lol!

Typing class was very hard! You had to use white out...and the teacher marked you down for corrections. By end of high school we did have electric typewriters.

We used empty tin cans with the bottoms cut out as curlers...so we could try to force our curly hair to be straight! I don't know how we slept!

We had to wear skirts and dresses until my sophomore year...but it couldn't be "jeans". I was sent home once to change, because my tan pants with a small navy stripe had a double stitched inseam...thus, I was wearing jeans!

I think the world was kinder then. I know that I wasn't friends with every one, we just didn't hang out, but no one was rude to me. I never felt that I was picked on. Wish my granddaughters had the same experience.

Ksm
Yes, yes, yes, Home Easy Child (Economics)! I remember! I took it!

Totally remember plain simple skirts with elastic! I wore pants the most, but definitely remember the plain skirt days.

ROFL, about the pop cans! I was lucky, as my mom had actual true plastic rollers.
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Does anyone else remember how overpowering those old hair perms used to smell? OMG! SO BAD! Like diapers in a diaper pail! Used to burn your nose and eyes!
 

Pink Elephant

Well-Known Member
Also remember the early disposable diapers with the plastic outer waterproof backing. The diaper always tore when you tried to undo it to do a diaper check or when changing, and there were no elastic gathers around the legs.

I've changed few disposable diapers in my day, but the fit was terrible with the old-fashioned ones! Lots of leaks!
 
Top