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Hopes- yes, yes me too we called it the "way back" and I also was assigned to the seat that faced backwards in the station wagon...although I loved it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hopes
I know! I know! We had to sit on top of each other!
In our station wagon, I road in the seat that faced backwards!
In our Volkswagon, I sat in the little storage area that was in the back window ledge. We called it the "way back."
Mothers would hold babies in their arms for car rides or lay blankets in the foot well, making a little bassinet on the floor of the car for infants.
Does anyone remember chicken pox parties? Or eating mudpies?
I really believe that children's immune systems were exposed to a broader spectrum of pathogens in those days. We rarely got sick unless it was one of the childhood diseases that children are vaccinated against today. We had it all: measles (both kinds), mumps, chicken pox. I remember intentionally exposing my little sister to chicken pox when she was about 4 because I figured it was better to go ahead and get it over with. I was so wise at the age of six!
I don't remember anyone having the allergies that seem to be so common these days, and I wonder if it wasn't all those mudpies that we ate!
Chicken pox parties! Every time a child that we knew got the pox, my mother forced me to go and play with him/her. I never got them. We assumed I was immune until I was 20, when I broke out in chicken pox on Thanksgiving day and had to miss finals week that semester. And here's the funny thing. I had essays and projects due for all of my classes (no exams), and despite being sick and not able to get to campus, I still got all of the work in on time. My sister and friends picked up my work and turned it in for me. Off topic, I know. Sorry.
I think the biggest difference was that back then parents didn't strive to be "cool" for their children. They weren't afraid to tell them no to something. Today, parents have a lot of pressure on them to try to be the coolest parent ever and accept everything a child wants to do, buy the child any thing the child wants. Telling a child "no"? -- that's unheard of today - but certainly wasn't back a couple generations ago.
I think the biggest difference was that back then parents didn't strive to be "cool" for their children. They weren't afraid to tell them no to something. Today, parents have a lot of pressure on them to try to be the coolest parent ever and accept everything a child wants to do, buy the child any thing the child wants. Telling a child "no"? -- that's unheard of today - but certainly wasn't back a couple generations ago.
I don't know who you hang around but I most certainly tell my children no. As does every other parent I know.
In the US, washing machines were normal style washing machines in the suburbs. I swear. And they weren't just starting in the 50s. Our best dryer was from the 50s. It lasted forever. It was so sad to see it die. Nothing dried clothes like that old dryer. It's true that they don't make things like they used to!
Have you ever seen the movie "The Best Years of Our Lives?" If not, I highly recommend it. It's a classic. The story is set at the end of WWII in small town America. It centers on three GIs who have returned home.
There was a military site outside of town where all the beat-up war planes were parked. It was an airplane graveyard. It was the good ol' American ingenuity that started turning the heaps of metal into washing machines and dryers. That's one reason we had so many excellent washers and dryers back in the 50s and 60s. We had a lot of metal and a lot of engines. However, I do remember the wringer-washer. Turning that wringer handle was hard work. I also remember a cork stopper/sprinkler my mother had that fit into the top of a coke bottle. She would put water in the bottle, pop in the sprinkler and sprinkle each item of wet clothing, roll up each piece and then unroll them to iron them. Even as a kid in the 60s I used that contraption to iron pillow cases and my father's cotton hankerchiefs. One penny per hankerchief and a nickle per pillow case. LOL. Dad had hundreds of the hankerchiefs and I still use them as dusting cloths today.
I was a baby in the 50s and I do not ever remember being in a stroller. I was carried by my folks. But, my sister was a child of the 60s and we have a lot of pics of her in a stroller. I was the first grandchild and all the relatives wanted to carry me around. I wasn't spoiled. I was loved. I really think that is why I'm a hugger to this day. When we moved to Hawaii (via ship) I recall wearing a leash contraption. That was really the only safe way to be on deck with a child. I was never scared on deck because I knew one of my parents was at the other end of the leash harness.
Thank you for this thread. It has brought back many wonderful memories.
Have you ever seen the movie "The Best Years of Our Lives?" If not, I highly recommend it. It's a classic. The story is set at the end of WWII in small town America. It centers on three GIs who have returned home.
There was a military site outside of town where all the beat-up war planes were parked. It was an airplane graveyard. It was the good ol' American ingenuity that started turning the heaps of metal into washing machines and dryers. That's one reason we had so many excellent washers and dryers back in the 50s and 60s. We had a lot of metal and a lot of engines. However, I do remember the wringer-washer. Turning that wringer handle was hard work. I also remember a cork stopper/sprinkler my mother had that fit into the top of a coke bottle. She would put water in the bottle, pop in the sprinkler and sprinkle each item of wet clothing, roll up each piece and then unroll them to iron them. Even as a kid in the 60s I used that contraption to iron pillow cases and my father's cotton hankerchiefs. One penny per hankerchief and a nickle per pillow case. LOL. Dad had hundreds of the hankerchiefs and I still use them as dusting cloths today.
I was a baby in the 50s and I do not ever remember being in a stroller. I was carried by my folks. But, my sister was a child of the 60s and we have a lot of pics of her in a stroller. I was the first grandchild and all the relatives wanted to carry me around. I wasn't spoiled. I was loved. I really think that is why I'm a hugger to this day. When we moved to Hawaii (via ship) I recall wearing a leash contraption. That was really the only safe way to be on deck with a child. I was never scared on deck because I knew one of my parents was at the other end of the leash harness.
Thank you for this thread. It has brought back many wonderful memories.
My mother "loved" through food. LOL She baked, grew a garden, prepared wonderful meals, canned our foods. Yes, it saved money, but the foods we grew up on were much better than store bought. To this day, when she knows someone is coming up, she cooks a marvelous feast, complete with wonderful desserts that she knows they love. My older sisters....they were where I got the "contact" loving. I remember them dancing with me in their arms, giving me shoulder rides, piggy back rides. They had the luxury of "time", that my mother didn't have. She was always busy.....that's just the way it was back then.
It's funny, you hear so much about how "busy" parents are these days. They're not any busier than they used to be. They are busy with "different" things.
Peeing behind bushes is a great skill to have learned. And people will probably start throwing rotten pineapples at me if I dare mention that we didn't have inside toilets when I was a small child either.
I think my husband's parents only installed an inside toilet when he was around 10 years old. They had a party-line telephone until the early 80s!
Quote:
Originally Posted by liloulou
Hopes- yes, yes me too we called it the "way back" and I also was assigned to the seat that faced backwards in the station wagon...although I loved it.
I loved the wayback! It was like I had my own little world!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ketabcha
Have you ever seen the movie "The Best Years of Our Lives?" If not, I highly recommend it. It's a classic. The story is set at the end of WWII in small town America. It centers on three GIs who have returned home.
There was a military site outside of town where all the beat-up war planes were parked. It was an airplane graveyard. It was the good ol' American ingenuity that started turning the heaps of metal into washing machines and dryers. That's one reason we had so many excellent washers and dryers back in the 50s and 60s. We had a lot of metal and a lot of engines.
That's interesting information! It makes perfect sense! We were recycling war parts!
Quote:
Originally Posted by beachmel
My mother "loved" through food. LOL She baked, grew a garden, prepared wonderful meals, canned our foods. Yes, it saved money, but the foods we grew up on were much better than store bought.
My husband's family was impoverished and lived in a semi-rural area. Huge family---lots of brothers and sisters. They'd take a pickup truck to a nearby farm and the entire family (even the little todders) would spend the day in the field picking their own crops and filling the entire back of the pickup truck with whatever was ready for harvest at the moment. It took the entire family working in the kitchen for over a week to can everything. And they'd do it all over again when the next vegetable was ready to harvest. Apparently, it was cheaper to pick-your-own at the farm. They didn't have their own farm. Their yard was rather small, but they still managed to have their own chickens and turkeys.
Does anyone remember chicken pox parties? Or eating mudpies?
I really believe that children's immune systems were exposed to a broader spectrum of pathogens in those days. We rarely got sick unless it was one of the childhood diseases that children are vaccinated against today. We had it all: measles (both kinds), mumps, chicken pox. I remember intentionally exposing my little sister to chicken pox when she was about 4 because I figured it was better to go ahead and get it over with. I was so wise at the age of six!
I don't remember anyone having the allergies that seem to be so common these days, and I wonder if it wasn't all those mudpies that we ate!
My kids (except my oldest daughter, who had chicken pox) have no idea what it is like to endure those childhood illnesses! I'm still asked what it was like to have mumps - or measles. No, it was NOT like that Brady Bunch episode where they all had measles and sat around in bed and played games. I got sick Christmas Eve afternoon and was so ill by Christmas morning, I couldn't lift my head let alone open presents. My mother actually called the doctor at his house on Christmas morning. After it was determined what I was sick with, she made me lie in a dark room for days so the light wouldn't hurt my eyes. I wasn't even allowed to read. Bummer, I was well by the time Christmas vacation was over, so I didn't miss any school.
I think, regardless, we were all healthier than kids are today. I agree it must have been those mudpies and community drinks from the garden hose! (Are kids even ALLOWED to get dirty anymore?)
Yes, the smoking and sticking kids in "containers" seemed to go together . . . also, as I think the OP said, the main focus was on the house, not the kids. The floors were more important than the kids . . .
I think posters are just using this thread for nostalgia, regardless of the time they are remembering . . .there were much different sensibilities in each decade: the fifties, the sixties, the seventies, the eighties . . .all different . . . some things were the same in some decades (like kids rolling around in the back seat without seatbelts before seatbelts were mandatory) . . .
I have definitely noticed that now people carry their babies around without devices. It seems so striking to me that a person will actually hold a baby outside of a container.
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