Why Im glad I was a child in the 70s/80s

[Shy_pretty_Angela]

I feel my childhood was much more innocent than the children of today. We didnt have computers growing up. We went outside to play . My parents never worried about me being kidnapped!
I feel like I was allowed to be a child. I never carried a mobile phone around the playground!!

[Jen.]

Originally Posted by Shy_pretty_Angela

I never carried a mobile phone around the playground!!

It would have been difficult if they didn't even exist back then If they did you probably would have done.

The irony is you would have been at far greater risk of being kidnapped back then than children are these day. Weren't the 70s and 80s known for all those public information videos about kids being taken by paedophiles or dying in horrific ways? I guess people were somewhat worried about that stuff for those warnings to be prevalent, even if paedophilia was often excused or blamed on the victim.

I always see kids playing outside or riding around on their bikes or going for walks with their families, but maybe that's just the area I live in. I think they get an unfair criticism when it comes to what they should or shouldn't be doing. As if kids a hundred years ago wouldn't have been spending time watching the Charleston on TikTok if they could, and people over 40 now seem just as hooked to their phones as any other generation. Did they turn out to be better adults because they played outside relatively more when they were young? No, definitely not.

People have been thinking for thousands of years that their generation had it best, that the one above them is ignorant and the one below them are unlucky.

[Mo34]

I'm glad too, there was far less pressure and a slower pace of life for most people. Maybe that's from living in the country when I was a kid and/or having older parents.
But yeah we were a lot more innocent in some ways.

[Shy_pretty_Angela]

I might think differently if I had children but Im probably stuck in a time warp. We only did the group year photo too it seems properly weird now. We got milk in cartons at school too...do you remember? I loved it

[humphrey]

We used to get the 1/3 of a pint of milk in the morning, and the spare ones in the afternoon at room temperature.

I knew all my friends phone numbers off the top of my head, but weren't allowed to use the phone until after 6pm.

You could cycle off to anywhere in the holidays and nobody knew where you were, but you always got back for your tea.

[Rocket Spud]

Was it Thatcher that put an end to the milk? I remember having it for 2-3 years maybe and then it stopped. I wouldn't have minded if it were replaced with something. Had a right little strop on for some months afterward.

[Appear]

^ Yep. Thatcher milk snatcher.

[Rocket Spud]

Tut, what a fool. No doubt the pivotal moment of her fall from power.


I've just had a look and it was '71 that she made that move I definitely was served milk at school in the 80's. What's the deal.. ?


Further reading and Labour made the bigger plays on the milk removal. I'm stunned. Just...

[Mo34]

^ maybe they still did it but it wasn't free it was the 'free' part she seemed to abolish (I think?).

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I remember good old fashioned school meals - not out sourced flipping catering companies serving shite. We had proper dinner ladies and we'd queue up down a corridor to the kitchen to be served proper meals and puds.
It was when I got to secondary school where it all seemed to change.

[Percy]

Originally Posted by Rocket Spud

Was it Thatcher that put an end to the milk? I remember having it for 2-3 years maybe and then it stopped. I wouldn't have minded if it were replaced with something. Had a right little strop on for some months afterward.

Originally Posted by Appear

^ Yep. Thatcher milk snatcher.

I'm wearing an anti thatcher t-shirt today.

[Shy_pretty_Angela]

Originally Posted by Mo34

^ maybe they still did it but it wasn't free it was the 'free' part she seemed to abolish (I think?).

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I remember good old fashioned school meals - not out sourced flipping catering companies serving shite. We had proper dinner ladies and we'd queue up down a corridor to the kitchen to be served proper meals and puds.
It was when I got to secondary school where it all seemed to change.

Yes I was about 11 or 12 in the 80s and got free school milk . Or maybe it wasnt free I really cant remember!

[Chess&Junkfood]

I loved growing up in the 80s! Especially watching TV! There were other great memories of course, but I just loved watching TV back then! It all started with Button Moon. I only have to listen to that theme tune and I start craving a rusk Then there was The A Team, Knight Rider and The Fall Guy. And not forgetting He Man, Transformers and The Care Bears. I loved the Care Bears! They were just so caring you see.

Oh and I nearly forgot about my favourite adverts

Anyway, I'm gonna get me some rusks!!

[humphrey]

When I was in middle school we had proper school meals until the third year and then the changed to cafeteria system and every body had chips, hot dogs and burgers, except the ones on free school meals and they had to have only certain items. I like school meals then as a family friend/neighbour across the street was the head cook in charge, so I always did well sometimes getting free extras.

We got the milk until I left primary school in about 1976, you didn't get it in middle school.

The best thing was that their was only about 6 people in our street had cars so you play football and cricket etc in the middle of the road for hours without worrying about getting knocked over.

[Shy_pretty_Angela]

Nanuq I used to collect scented rubbers! I had a massive jar! I used to love school dinners but dont really remember much about them! They were better in secondary school!

[Percy]

The school dinners I had in junior school were amazing.

[Shy_pretty_Angela]

I used to love the milk warm. We had a carton that was blue I think and someone used to come round with this massive plastic covered crate. I used to love the sound of the tearing of the plastic. I must have been the first ASMR kid!

[Chess&Junkfood]

I forgot about that green custard! Minty custard! And I remember that brownish cake was very difficult to bite into. Although it probably helped to build character I suppose. I don't remember the milk part. Possibly, maybe?

I also remember one of my friends at school was boasting about the time he got to sit in the Knight Rider car. I remember feeling jealous about that. Although looking back, he might have lied about it.

And this part belongs in another thread, where I got to see Darth Vader! Although I didn't know it was Darth Vader at the time. It was when David Prowse was doing his green cross code gig. It's just a shame that James Earl Jones couldn't do the same gig with him.

I also have one last memorable memory at primary school. It was the time we got to hold a snake in assembly. Looking back, it must have been 50ft! Well, give or take. Where 2 people lowered this snake onto our laps. Now I might be overly sensitive about this, but it just seemed a bit too much back then. Could they have been 100% sure that the snake wasn't going to snap! I can only imagine what else was going on in other school assemblies:

Well kids, today we've got a special guest! Let's give a very loud hello to Ernie The Lion!!!!

ROAR!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know, I'm probably being too sensitive. Especially about that minty custard!

[genovese]

Originally Posted by Jen.

People have been thinking for thousands of years that their generation had it best, .

Socrates circa 470BC

[Mo34]

I'd forgotten about mint custard too
I've never seen in anywhere except when I was at school. Wonder who thought it up.

[biscuits]

The idea of being made to drink milk would have been my nightmare as a child. Bleugh. I could not drink a glass of milk as an adult either.

[Shy_pretty_Angela]

School memories are strange sometimes though. I remember our music teacher very vividly. He was crazy and used to jump on top of desk tops and start air drumming. He was also very much into 13 and 14 year old girls. Especially my friend Amanda who he used to wait for at the bottom of the stairs so he could look up her skirt!
Sometimes I do wonder if the teaching profession attracts that type? There was certainly an element of that in the schools that I went to

[Chess&Junkfood]

Originally Posted by Mo34

I'd forgotten about mint custard too
I've never seen in anywhere except when I was at school. Wonder who thought it up.

I would imagine it was a dinner lady, Mo. Maybe in her mid 30s. Where her husband had become more distant in the marriage. Probably spending his spare time on the allotment. Then the quality time that they did spend together consisted mostly of uncomfortable silence and a yearning for yesteryear. Then one day at the school canteen, a new dinner lady had arrived in the kitchen. Who just radiated happiness. Her marriage was amazing. Her children was amazing. Even her cat tibbles was amazing. And then one day, this unhappy dinner lady had started to become green with envy. And a new custard recipe was born!

I do like mint, but I just remember it tasting different. I remember the chips. I enjoyed them! I also remember when the sports teacher walked past my table and realised I didn't finish my beatruit. So he encouraged me to eat it. Which wasn't fun. Although in comparison, it started to give me a new appreciation for the mint custard.

Talking/typing about that sports teacher has reminded me of another memory. Where for 3 consecutive years I came first in the school sports day sack races. I was unbeatable! Although my school education had faltered somewhat back then, but at least I excelled at those races! I only wish I had put those sack race wins on my CV! Although there's still time I suppose.

[Chess&Junkfood]

Originally Posted by biscuits

The idea of being made to drink milk would have been my nightmare as a child. Bleugh. I could not drink a glass of milk as an adult either.

Biscuit!!! I've just seen you!!!

Welcome to God's waiting room!

Now I think you should be ok in here. But if anyone asks

You still listen to music on your walkman

The Care Bears movie was the greatest movie of all time!

And maybe mention something about Margaret and the milk

Anyway, I would stop, but I'm feeling tuckered out. All the best!

[choirgirl]

I remember being freaked out by those murdered child stories! I personally got to be a kid and I'm happy about that but it was the luck of the draw. As a teenager though, particularly as a 'sexually confused' teenager, having the noughties Internet would have been great, the entertainment, the information, less isolation on the sexual deviance front. Another thing I like is the emphasis on how to earn money outside of a job. In my day it was all about the jobs, or have no money.

I've just remembered how annoying it was to miss a favourite TV programme because if you missed it, you missed it. Mymum made me miss the last episode of Dogtanian! The last episode, I tell you.

[Bluebear]

[anewyear]

Originally Posted by Jen.

It would have been difficult if they didn't even exist back then If they did you probably would have done.

The irony is you would have been at far greater risk of being kidnapped back then than children are these day. Weren't the 70s and 80s known for all those public information videos about kids being taken by paedophiles or dying in horrific ways? I guess people were somewhat worried about that stuff for those warnings to be prevalent, even if paedophilia was often excused or blamed on the victim.

I always see kids playing outside or riding around on their bikes or going for walks with their families, but maybe that's just the area I live in. I think they get an unfair criticism when it comes to what they should or shouldn't be doing. As if kids a hundred years ago wouldn't have been spending time watching the Charleston on TikTok if they could, and people over 40 now seem just as hooked to their phones as any other generation. Did they turn out to be better adults because they played outside relatively more when they were young? No, definitely not.

People have been thinking for thousands of years that their generation had it best, that the one above them is ignorant and the one below them are unlucky.

My mum obviously didn't get the memo.. she used to leave me standing on my own outside the bank when she went in in case there was an armed robbery. Who knows what logic she used for that one.

I'm with Jen on this one. I'd say it's less to do with generations, more to do with environments and how resilient an individual (child) is in those particular environments. It's like saying how would a modern Prem footballer perform in a 1980s team, pretty badly probably and vice versa.

Parts of the current culture are appalling (cyber bullying, TikTok, knife crime), and parts of the 70s/80s were appalling (people such as Bernard Manning being mainstream for example).

I didn't really have many mates and wasn't doing the playing in the street thing so don't really have that rose tinted view. And the warm milk thing was gross lol. Nowadays, if you have mates and somewhere to kick a ball then that's still a thing.

The whole "always connected" thing can be both good and bad. It can potentially make a kid feel alone and isolated but, it also gives them an outlet to find like minded people. As an example, this site wouldn't have been a thing in the 80s.. if you were alone in the playground then you wouldn't have social anxiety.. you'd have just been a weirdo.

[Tembo]

Quality of life is probably much better now.

However, working in education myself, I’m seeing the deeply damaging effect of WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook, online games and the useless parents who let their primary-aged children have unlimited access to this un-supervised.

I’m glad when I was growing up, I was only at the beginning of this social media BS. MySpace, MSN messenger, and Facebook was only just taking off. I’m grateful I grew up then, otherwise the vile bullying I suffered throughout my school life would have been significantly worse, and there would be no escape when going home.
All the social media was on my computer, rather than my phone.

One positive is that the majority of kids are taught how to use technology much better than my generation. The awareness for abuse is significantly improved too, so I think kids are so much safer from abuse now (still a lot to work on though). Improved age-appropriate sex education and PSHE lessons, which a minority of parents (often religious) don’t like, has helped with this .

[Amara 94]

I notice in recent years in my neighbourhood it seems kids play outside more than say 5 years ago. I think maybe there is more awareness on the importance of physical play?

The last few days I have been limiting my online time. When I do this I always notice there being much more time to do stuff and a clearer head. Those must have been some advantages to growing up in the 70's/80's. I think the problem with the internet nowadays is that we don't just use it like a tool, which it is, instead we use it to take over different aspects of life, I think most people lack boundaries with the internet.

When I was 13 the iPhone came out and it wasn't popular at least to peers around me until 2010 as we thought the touchscreen wouldn't be as easy to use as it was, most pre-iphone touchscreens didn't support multi touch and required force to use. And for sdome it wasn't until 2012 when the smartphone became seen as superior by most peers.

Even though I think internet addiction was something becoming normal in my upper teen years it was nowhere as bad as now because the shift to smartphones, more exspensive data prices, wifi not being availiable everywhere meant that there was a bit more boundary between real life and the internet then, in the very early 10's. 2010,12,13.

[Amara 94]

Originally Posted by Tembo

Quality of life is probably much better now.

However, working in education myself, I’m seeing the deeply damaging effect of WhatsApp, TikTok, Facebook, online games and the useless parents who let their primary-aged children have unlimited access to this un-supervised.

I’m glad when I was growing up, I was only at the beginning of this social media BS. MySpace, MSN messenger, and Facebook was only just taking off. I’m grateful I grew up then, otherwise the vile bullying I suffered throughout my school life would have been significantly worse, and there would be no escape when going home.
All the social media was on my computer, rather than my phone.

One positive is that the majority of kids are taught how to use technology much better than my generation. The awareness for abuse is significantly improved too, so I think kids are so much safer from abuse now (still a lot to work on though). Improved age-appropriate sex education and PSHE lessons, which a minority of parents (often religious) don’t like, has helped with this .

I actually think there is still more to learn when it comes to how we use the internet.

My whole semester at uni last term was accessible online. The benefits of the internet is that you can store so much information however it isn't the most efficient means of learning.