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Over Christmas I was telling my 8 year old daughter that I would make Barbie beds out of my dad's shoe boxes and I would sew clothes for the dolls from scraps from my grandmothers house when I was little and my daughter looked at me as if I had three heads! We went into the attic and I found the Barbie clothes and my daughter was so excited. She immediately went to the basement and rummaged through the fabric, grabbed some needles and thread and I spent an afternoon teaching her to sew doll clothes...
I don't rail my kids about how much I went through and how lucky they are to live the way they do....
We had to get up from the couch to change the channel.
We had no idea who was calling us, we took our chances.
Sunday was a day of rest.
We used to go out and play rather than sit inside all day playing video games. Yes you had to actually physically get up, go outside, walk to your friends house to see if he could come out to play.
We made up games using our imagination. No batteries were included, no one to tell us what to play, how to play and when to play.
I remember all of these! My cousins and I used to love to "walk around the block". We thought we were so cool, plus we'd have to walk past my bf's house...lol.
I remembering hearing all the time, "Close the door! I'm not paying to air condition the outside!" "Stay in, or stay out!"
Remember playing barbies, house, school, etc? Or knowing it was time to go in for the night when the street lights came on?
Over Christmas I was telling my 8 year old daughter that I would make Barbie beds out of my dad's shoe boxes and I would sew clothes for the dolls from scraps from my grandmothers house when I was little and my daughter looked at me as if I had three heads! We went into the attic and I found the Barbie clothes and my daughter was so excited. She immediately went to the basement and rummaged through the fabric, grabbed some needles and thread and I spent an afternoon teaching her to sew doll clothes...
I don't rail my kids about how much I went through and how lucky they are to live the way they do....
And the comforter was a washcloth! Or how about taking a toilet paper roll, and folding in part of the top, to make a high chair for the baby?
My first "tent" was four friends' bicycles and some blankets. We spent the afternoon setting this up just so, then we pooled our pocket change and bought some hot dogs and chips (had to walk to the store, our bikes were holding up a bunch of blankets).
We spent the night out there -- or tried to, because we scared each other and went in the house to watch late-night television on the 13-inch black-and-white screen when you had to use rabbit-ears with bits of tinfoil on them to find anything UHF.
It was the first time we tried to stay up all night long because that's what grownups did. Two of us made it but I was struggling the whole way, until real dawn came and my circadian rhythm pushed me back into wakefulness.
"...what grownups did" -- heh, this grownup PRAYS for the opportunity for a nap once in a while! How little we knew about what grownups did!
When we wanted to watch a movie, we had to wait for it to be on TV. Things like The Wizard of Oz and the Sound of Music were on once a year. You miss it or have to go to bed early, too bad. No flying monkeys until next year.
And a road trip meant staring out the window for hours. None of this built-in DVD/iPod/laptop nonsense.
Over Christmas I was telling my 8 year old daughter that I would make Barbie beds out of my dad's shoe boxes and I would sew clothes for the dolls from scraps from my grandmothers house when I was little and my daughter looked at me as if I had three heads!
And I didn't even have a Barbie! That's why I'll be scarred for life!
Seriously, I had a few dolls and I knew them by name. None of this "pile of toys" BS. The "talking" dolls were such a novelty (brought from other countries) that their owners gained celebrity status!
You have a good point there, and also that applies to latch key kids who are dumped off to spend too much time home alone, so mommy and daddy can afford a great vacation, nice car, or eat out twice a week!
Yes, there seems to be a whole mentality of people these days which expects the state to provide childcare for them, so they can both work, and pay their mortgages, overdrafts, and loans, to keep up your flashy, and false lifestyle.
If you can't afford to have kids, and can't afford childcare, then don't have them.
simple as that.
I needed to respond to this. I realize there are people as you describe but it is not simple as that.
For a time my kids were latch key kids. I actually did a paper on it while I was going to college and working two jobs to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table without being a burden on the taxpayers. There were no vacations or flashy cars and no daddy because he committed suicide and left us with very little.
"I walked 10 miles in the snow" and according to my parents barefoot, uphill, both ways, means sometimes times are real hard, you may not have the things other people have, but you buck up, do what you have to and keep moving forward and be thankful for what you do have. Kind of like, "I complained because I had no shoes until I saw a man that had no feet".
Btw, my parents did walk several miles to school and most times barefoot. Shoes were spared for church and special occasions because you only got one pair a year if you were lucky. I walked to school also but had shoes, my kids got to ride the bus. Now I see kids being dropped off and picked up by their parents in 40,000$ SUVs even if they only live a few blocks from the school.
I've no idea! Guess nobody having them might've helped.
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