Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
So many people smoked. After work cocktails were a given. Kids were put in playpens or left to their own devices, often sent outside to roam the neighborhood, BECAUSE moms and dads didn't have the modern conveniences of today and everything took longer. Nobody was holding their kids while cooking breakfast lunch and dinner and cleaning the house. I'm not saying anything was wrong, it was different from today is all. And in the future what we do today is going to looks weird.
Nobody was holding their kids while cooking breakfast lunch and dinner and cleaning the house.
Families were bigger back then too. Older siblings watched younger siblings. I vividly remember entertaining my little sister while my mother was cooking dinner. I was 6 years older than her. She was probably 1-1/2. I also remember having bathtime responsibility when she was older---she was probably 4, 5, 6 and I was 10, 11, 12. I had to stay with her while she bathed. I'd sit in the upstairs hallway just outside the bathroom door and read a book. She took dreadfully long playing in the bathtub. It was torture for me, but I never complained because I understood that it was my responsibility.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ceece
often sent outside to roam the neighborhood
My older siblings were always watching me when we were outside. They were4 and 6 years older than me. We'd travel around the neighborhood and go into the woods. I remember running down a hill in the woods when I was 7, not being able to stop my momentum and running into a tree. I was with my sisters and other kids from the neighborhood who were my age and with their older sisters and brothers too. Neighborhood kids didn't break off into separate age groups back then because older siblings were responsible for watching younger siblings.
Doctors actually told people to smoke to relieve stress. They also thought it helped ease the symptoms of things like arthritis. Plus there was the whole "coolness" factor.
I'd say among the parents of my fiends the numbers were higher than what you quoted. (Historical note: The one and only time I ever saw my dad smoke was on the night President Kennedy was killed. All the adults also drank a lot that day to help ease the shock.)
Pregnant women who were having premature contractions were told to drink, too.
My grandma and my great auntie Hilba used to watch Bewitched and Gilligan's Island with me after school while sucking on butt loads of ciggies and drinking black tea. Auntie Hilba would take a pin and poke tiny holes all around the filter in order to make them less strong, and I'd have the tea that ended up in the saucer after she'd finished the cup.
So basically I sat there all afternoon inhaling second hand smoke and getting jacked up on caffeine. Didn't seem to have any long term negative affect on me that I can see. (Although some people here might beg to differ).
My aunt and uncle always had "happy hour" after they came home from work. They were my second parents, and I was always at their house. They lived down the street from me. They'd always give me a little glass of beer (I was 6 or 7 at the time) while they were enjoying their afternoon suds and Seagram 7's. Not enough to get me tipsy, and they'd always give me a Certs before I went home. Didn't do me any harm - today I don't really like beer at all. They smoked, also, quite heavily - Winstons. My mother always made comments about the smell of smoke on my clothes when I went home. The smoking ended up killing both of them - my uncle died of lung cancer and my aunt of emphysema. My own mother never smoked OR drank, and my dad quit smoking in his 40's. They were NOT the norm among my friends' parents.
Haven't read the whole thread but has anybody mentioned the fact that VALIUM was way overused? I think my mother stayed in a valium stupor the entire decade.
Women in professional jobs was unusual. I think most (alot) of "housewives" of that era were very unhappy. Alot of pent up frustrations and injustices is what set off the Women's Movement. Divorce was considered something to be ashamed of and I was not allowed to play with children of divorce. Of course my family was very dysfunctional and everybody would have been happier if they had divorced but the stigma was so bad they/we all just suffered in silence.
I graduated high school in 64. At subsequent reunions we found out alchoholism was rampant with our parents. We learned of things going on in families that nobody acknowledged at the time. These things are openly talked about now but kept hidden so much then. Shame plays a big part in ignorance.
Haven't read the whole thread but has anybody mentioned the fact that VALIUM was way overused? I think my mother stayed in a valium stupor the entire decade.
Women in professional jobs was unusual. I think most (alot) of "housewives" of that era were very unhappy. Alot of pent up frustrations and injustices is what set off the Women's Movement. Divorce was considered something to be ashamed of and I was not allowed to play with children of divorce. Of course my family was very dysfunctional and everybody would have been happier if they had divorced but the stigma was so bad they/we all just suffered in silence.
I graduated high school in 64. At subsequent reunions we found out alchoholism was rampant with our parents. We learned of things going on in families that nobody acknowledged at the time. These things are openly talked about now but kept hidden so much then. Shame plays a big part in ignorance.
I forgot about that! My mother was totally addicted to valium. They handed it out like candy back then. She told me when I was older that she'd stopped taking it cold turkey because she didn't know you should never do that and she almost went nuts. She said it was absolutely hell trying to kick it. They had to wean her off it.
I agree that there were a lot more things going on behind closed doors that we're much more open about now. Shame was indeed a great motivator in keeping silent. I think the "we just got on with it" mentality worked great for some things but not so great if you suffered from domestic violence or substance abuse issues in the family.
Don't young mothers use playpens anymore? I don't see how anything would ever get done without one. I was raised in the 50's and had my own kids in the 70's and 80's, and it seemed we parents were more about getting our kids off of us as soon as possible, rather than strapping them to us and treating them like fragile china.
None of my kids turned out warped because of this, by the way.
It's funny that you bring up valium because a doctor friend of mine and I were just discussing that it seems like valium then = lexipro (or an equivalent) now. My mother wasn't addicted to valium, but she was on diet pills off and on throughout my childhood.
Don't young mothers use playpens anymore? I don't see how anything would ever get done without one. I was raised in the 50's and had my own kids in the 70's and 80's, and it seemed we parents were more about getting our kids off of us as soon as possible, rather than strapping them to us and treating them like fragile china.
None of my kids turned out warped because of this, by the way.
Many people will put gates in doorways to contain kids to one room now. They are like the gates people put on stairs.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We always teased her about it. 
