Things about your childhood that would baffle younger people of today

[DawnM]

thought of another one-

for cold lunch at school-drank our juice from a thermos (no juice boxes or pouches), ate our pudding from a pop top can.

At some point our society is going to have to return to reusable containers. And I remember those puddings! I think you can still get them some places.

 

[DawnM]

Anyone remember Space Sticks? I liked the PB ones.

 

[LovesTimone]

Being Polite

Being Respectful

Life did not revolve around me...or my brother, Mom and Dad were in charge... you did what you were told...Kids listened to their parents... or else..

Rules were made to be followed.... no exceptions

Work Hard, Work together, put your head down and go to work...

The majority rules...

Mind your own business...

No such thing as being political correct, not everything was a discussion or needed to be talked to about...at length or over and over again...

Table Manners... (Please let this come back in style)...

No-body cared where you were from, or who your daddy was or how entitled you thought you were... you still had to wait in line or for your turn...

No reality T.V. or reality stars...

You went into the bank to deposit and withdraw money....

Boys and Girls and as well as Adults... kept their pants pulled up, no one wanted to see anyone underwear... ( another thing I hope come back in style)

People respected the police and law enforcement.

When people voted no matter how you voted, once the elections were over, you got got behind the president no matter how you voted.... and stood tall as a American...

The media reported the new ... and unbiased accounting of the local, national and inter-national news... not like today where the media has its own agenda, and basically are bully's and bullying any and everyone who will not bend to there agenda, and will go to any length to sensationalize the the news... no matter what... no matter who it hurts, what kind of lie's that they are telling...

The drive in movies... where a real thing

You kept your business to yourself... none of this look at me... selfie, after selfie, after selfie...

People wrote checks to pay the bills...

 

[jo-jo]

oooo anyone remember making a scooter out of a box, some 2 x4s and a roller skate? How about playing stick ball with a broomstick and a pimple ball?

 

[fla4fun]

# was not a hashtag it was a pound sign.

I thought it still was. When I pay any of my utility bills over the phone, they tell me to enter information “followed by the pound key”, and they mean the key with the # on it. I suppose it depends on the context . . .

 

[longboard55]

5 cent candy bars, a tv with 4 channels, run to get the phone because there were no answering machines, gas at 29 cents a gallon, two college football games on TV per week

 

[jo-jo]

Getting a glass with every fill up.


How come I can remember all this stuff, but not where my keys are?????

 

[UncleMike101]

When I was a kid, we got a polio vaccine on a sugar cube. A SUGAR CUBE. That was such a treat, I wanted to get in line again.

Sending my sister on a bus from Phila to Brooklyn NY. to visit relatives. You think we were sending her across the county on a stage coach the way we acted like we'd never see her again.

I was four when the Salk Vaccine became available.
The line to get the first shots went out of the Doctors office and 1/2 of the way up the block when we got there in the morning.
It got longer throughout the day.
Parents were delirious with joy that a vaccine had been developed for Polio.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Skate keys. Or playing jacks.

 

[barkley]

Anyone remember Space Sticks? I liked the PB ones.

OH YEAH-you were cool if they were in your school lunch.

do you remember shakeapuddin? you had to work for your pudding cup with those.

i really miss jello 1,2,3.

 

[BlueStarryHat]

My two grown daughters didn't know what records were, or record players. When I told them I played side two of the Abbey Road album over and over again as a kid, they had no idea what I was talking about.

I had to explain the concept of a record once to one of my younger cousins when a song came on the radio and I said, "Oo-I had this song on a 45!" She had no idea what I was talking about, and I had to explain that it was a black plastic disc with grooves on it, and you played it on a machine that scratched it with a needle to make the song play. I felt like Fred Flintstone explaining it to her. She wanted to know why I didn't just download songs onto my phone, and we had *another* conversation about there being no such thing as cell phones when I was a kid/teenager. There were no computers, either. I got an electric typewriter for Christmas my freshman year in high school to type reports on, and I had to go to the library to get books to help write the reports.

From elementary school, two things stand out in my memory. One, we would be so excited when we walked into the classroom and saw the huge slide projector. We would raise our hands eagerly to work it. The slide was like a filmstrip, and you stuck it into the projector. When it beeped, it was time to advance the slide to the next photo. We also watched films in the school auditorium when the weather got too hot to have class. I went to an elementary school built in 1902. There were no air conditioners, nor would we expect there to be. My school had three films: Lost Horizon, Old Yeller, and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. EVERYONE wanted Willy Wonka, and we would cheer when it came on. Lost Horizon was boring, and Old Yeller was upsetting.

Second, we had a school assembly once a week in the auditorium, and hear the principal speak about things going on at the school and such. The big deal at Assembly was to be chosen to hold one of the flags when the Pledge of Allegiance was said (and NOBODY thought the pledge was unfair or that it shouldn't be allowed.) Then after the principal spoke, the kids who'd been in trouble the week prior had to line up on the auditorium stage to be paddled. There was no outcry from any of the parents about their kids being paddled, usually they thought that if their kid was being paddled they'd done something to deserve it. This practice stopped when I was in about 3rd grade.

At home, we got one of the first home gaming systems, Intellivision. You had three choices: Pong, Doubles Tennis Pong, or Hockey Pong. We played Pong for hours and hours. When we got an Atari 2600 some years later, we really thought we were hot stuff.

 

[hereyago]

We had fast food places, but it was a treat to go out to eat.


Or having the paddle in school but being more afraid if your parents found out you got paddled, lol.

And maybe this is regional, but if you snitched, it was a given that you would perhaps get a beat down.

 

[Boardwalk Jedi]

Actually lived this the other day...my middle schooler got on the bus and there was a 20 year old substitute driver. He was new to the route so DS sat behind him to help him out. The driver held up a paper and said "they wrote directions on this piece of paper for me. Seriously? It's 2019"

 

[Katie Dawn]

I was four when the Salk Vaccine became available.
The line to get the first shots went out of the Doctors office and 1/2 of the way up the block when we got there in the morning.
It got longer throughout the day.
Parents were delirious with joy that a vaccine had been developed for Polio.

Recently watched a documentary about polio. I can only imagine how deliriously happy parents were. Polio is utterly terrifying.

 

[barkley]

Recently watched a documentary about polio. I can only imagine how deliriously happy parents were. Polio is utterly terrifying.

horrifying. my brother had it. many of the survivors who seemingly appeared to have survived relatively unscathed now suffer from post polio syndrome which is like reliving the nightmare of their childhood illness. scary thing is it's still out there (active outbreaks in 3 countries currently).

 

[Katie Dawn]

horrifying. my brother had it. many of the survivors who seemingly appeared to have survived relatively unscathed now suffer from post polio syndrome which is like reliving the nightmare of their childhood illness. scary thing is it's still out there (active outbreaks in 3 countries currently).

That's terrible. Yes, we have been close to eradicating polio from the earth but we're not there. I have an uncle I never got the chance to meet because he died at the age of 3 due to whooping cough (pertussis.)

How's that for things that would baffle young people today...

 

[barkley]

I have an uncle I never got the chance to meet because he died at the age of 3 due to whooping cough (pertussis.)

How's that for things that would baffle young people today...

what scares me is the resurgence of some of these diseases. who heard of anyone having measles in recent years but here we are in washington state under a state of emergency b/c of the number of cases recently.

 

[lovesmurfs]

I had to explain the concept of a record once to one of my younger cousins when a song came on the radio and I said, "Oo-I had this song on a 45!" She had no idea what I was talking about, and I had to explain that it was a black plastic disc with grooves on it, and you played it on a machine that scratched it with a needle to make the song play. I felt like Fred Flintstone explaining it to her.

LOL. I remember always looking for a little plastic adapter insert for the 45's so that I could play mine on a regular record player.

 

[lovesmurfs]

We had fast food places, but it was a treat to go out to eat.

Yes--and it was the days before value meals, so we would always get it to go -- burgers and fries - no drinks. We'd have soda at home, refilled at a beverage company near our house -- we'd get a 12-pack of what was probably liter bottles.

 

[crazylady]

The other day I shocked my kid by telling them the kids at the high school.could smoke at school when I was in high school.