When I was your age ....

[Bambam]

When I was a kid, my parents really did tell me about having to walk to school daily and always in the snow (but Illinois, so maybe?). They were old enough they started in a one room school house, and it was not unusual for the girls not to actually graduate.  We rode the bus to school (and have some horror stories about that bus ride too!)

Fast forward to now, when my adult kids and one of their spouses are complaining because they have to go into work. Seriously - from working remotely except for 2 days/month and now they will have to go in more days.  And my DH and I are thinking about our 'when I was your age' horror stories of having to go into to work *every* week day and sometimes on Saturday! Worst yet, when we lived in Houston, DH had to wear a suit and tie to the office *every* single day.  We didn't share these stories with the adult children, we just looked at each other and mentally rolled our eyes and laughed later. 

So I wonder what 'when-I-was-your-age' horror stories our kids will tell their children? 

[Katy]

My DH was complaining about needing to go in more often this week too.

[SKL]

Honestly, I hope my kids "have to" go to work roughly 5 days per week.  I think it's better for most people's mental health.

(Said from my home "office" [the fitdesk next to my bed] where I work 7 days a week] ... but I did WOH until I became a mom at 41 ....)

 

[bookbard]

My 13 yr old was doing 'kids these days' complaints about how hard she had it as a kid vs kids these days. I can't 100% remember what it was, probably that she didn't have an ipad as a preschooler or something. 

[SKL]

And right now my 17yo is going through it because she somehow managed to spend all her Christmas money in 1 month (part of it was a speeding ticket she has to pay) and she decided not to have a job for the rest of the school year.  Poverty sucks!  It's better she learns it now.

Up until they got jobs and drivers' licenses, I used to do a lot to make sure they had social experiences etc ... I would drive them and their friends and pay for their entertainment and food.  Then they had jobs allowing them to spend rather freely on the few things that were their "responsibility."  Now reality is sinking in, LOL.  What's the point of life, says my kid, if it's gonna be like this ??

Well when I was their age ... I walked everywhere except to university ... for that, I shared a car with 7 family members (each of whom had different work and school schedules).  When I wasn't at school or work/volunteer gig, I was in charge of my two youngest siblings (then ages 4 and 8 ) and lots of house chores.   As for snow ... we lived in the "snow belt" ... my chores included shoveling and keeping the woodburner going ... and before college (up to age 16), not only did I walk to and from school through the snow (about a mile each way), I had multiple walking paper routes every day.  Spending money was whatever I earned from my paper routes and babysitting gigs, which wasn't much!

But if I say this to my kids, they will say "but unlike us, you didn't have to ___ and ___ and ___ (which, yes I probably did ...).

Edited February 4 by SKL

[SKL]

Oh yeah, recently my kids were telling me about the problems with "kids these days."  Apparently kids born after about 2012 are just completely undisciplined, which my kids find so weird.  (Most likely, that's what people said about their generation 5 years ago ....)

[KungFuPanda]

DH hasn’t worked in an office in a decade. He very much prefers never leaving the house. I go in 5 days a week, but only half days. If I switch to full time I’ll definitely angle for some work from home days. 
 

Dd has been telling me stories that start with “when I was your age” for years. She’s funny. 

[fairfarmhand]

Being farm kids, mine have plenty of “back In my day…” stories.

in fact, my dd22 works at cfa and she’s been known to say when the teen boys get whiny there “it’s quite clear who has NEVER worked in a tobacco patch”

[Terabith]

31 minutes ago, SKL said:

Oh yeah, recently my kids were telling me about the problems with "kids these days."  Apparently kids born after about 2012 are just completely undisciplined, which my kids find so weird.  (Most likely, that's what people said about their generation 5 years ago ....)

I mean, there is a generational marker between Gen Z and Gen Alpha that has to do with Gen Alpha basically being raised by Ipads.  It's pretty much the definition of the generation.

[KungFuPanda]

11 hours ago, Terabith said:

I mean, there is a generational marker between Gen Z and Gen Alpha that has to do with Gen Alpha basically being raised by Ipads.  It's pretty much the definition of the generation.

I think that the shortened attention spans of Gen Alpha combined with Gen Z women having been raised to value their own financial security, mental health,  and to knock it off with the free labor, is a big contributor to the teacher shortage.

[lmrich]

I had to walk to school twice a day in the snow! We went home for lunch, which was great. 

My kids walked downstairs. 

 

[KatieJ]

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

I literally had to read a book or stare out the window on car trips instead of watching the fifth season of Finding Bigfoot on a tablet with headphones.

My kids don’t believe me.

[MercyA]

49 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

I literally had to read a book or stare out the window on car trips instead of watching the fifth season of Finding Bigfoot on a tablet with headphones.

And if I wanted to watch a particular show on tv, I had to be at home, wait until it came on, hope it was one I especially liked, and run to the bathroom during commercials. 🙂 

[Grace Hopper]

14 hours ago, SKL said:

Honestly, I hope my kids "have to" go to work roughly 5 days per week.  I think it's better for most people's mental health.

(Said from my home "office" [the fitdesk next to my bed] where I work 7 days a week] ... but I did WOH until I became a mom at 41 ....)

 

I’m pretty sure having to get up at 5am to put my hair in rollers, apply full face makeup, struggle into pantyhose and professional 1980s female business attire is a root cause of the appearance anxiety issues I deal with today. So I’m certainly not wishing that for my kids’ generation. 
 

But yes, going into the office a few days a week to interact with others is a good mental boost. 

[Halftime Hope]

We found my pager in a old box a few weeks ago...

[Miss Tick]

6 minutes ago, Halftime Hope said:

We found my pager in a old box a few weeks ago...

"It's like a dedicated texting device, kids! But just numbers, although, of course, sometimes there were secret codes, kind of like emojis, but less humorous. I guess things were more serious before the turn of the century...."

[Halftime Hope]

2 minutes ago, Miss Tick said:

"It's like a dedicated texting device, kids! But just numbers, although, of course, sometimes there were secret codes, kind of like emojis, but less humorous. I guess things were more serious before the turn of the century...."

Not even that, with mine. "It was like a mobile caller ID, kids. You just knew to go to a phone and call that phone number back."

[Miss Tick]

Just now, Halftime Hope said:

Not even that, with mine. "It was like a mobile caller ID, kids. You just knew to go to a phone and call that phone number back."

😀 I had a slightly high-strung boss who liked to add 999 at the end of I needed to call back immediately!!!

[gardenmom5]

2dd can't work remote.  ever.  (she's a hospital pharmacist.)

[gardenmom5]

My kids . . . bandwidth.  They'll talk about how they had to suffer with dial-up modems, and low bandwidth.  (1ds . . specifically looked at apartments that offered FIBER.)

[gardenmom5]

15 hours ago, SKL said:

Honestly, I hope my kids "have to" go to work roughly 5 days per week.  I think it's better for most people's mental health.

(Said from my home "office" [the fitdesk next to my bed] where I work 7 days a week] ... but I did WOH until I became a mom at 41 ....)

 

2dd has gone back full time, mostly for her mental health.  (granted 1dgs is a very difficult child. dudeling was very hard on my mental health.)    dsil works from home on Westcoast time, and she's working graveyard.  But they're going to need someone in there somewhere with all the running around, kids to therapies, schools, etc . . .

[SKL]

2 hours ago, MercyA said:

And if I wanted to watch a particular show on tv, I had to be at home, wait until it came on, hope it was one I especially liked, and run to the bathroom during commercials. 🙂 

And that only worked if your other 7 family members didn't want to watch something else.

[SKL]

2 hours ago, Grace Hopper said:

I’m pretty sure having to get up at 5am to put my hair in rollers, apply full face makeup, struggle into pantyhose and professional 1980s female business attire is a root cause of the appearance anxiety issues I deal with today. So I’m certainly not wishing that for my kids’ generation. 
 

But yes, going into the office a few days a week to interact with others is a good mental boost. 

I hope we're to the point now where only women who want to doll up do so before work.

(I might be a bit younger, age 57, but I never wore make-up, and skirts/pantyhose stopped being required when I was about 27, yay!)

[SKL]

1 hour ago, gardenmom5 said:

My kids . . . bandwidth.  They'll talk about how they had to suffer with dial-up modems, and low bandwidth.  (1ds . . specifically looked at apartments that offered FIBER.)

Imagine having to actually go to the library to do research.

Imagine having only snail mail to keep up with friends who don't live in your current town.

Imagine having to take your mom's word for it if she says something and you have doubts.  😛

[Kassia]

21 minutes ago, SKL said:

Imagine having to actually go to the library to do research.

Imagine having only snail mail to keep up with friends who don't live in your current town.

Imagine having to take your mom's word for it if she says something and you have doubts.  😛

Imagine no online shopping and no Amazon!  

My youngest is the only one who grew up totally with internet and she really can't imagine what life was like without it.  It makes us laugh because she's so baffled on how we survived. 

[fairfarmhand]

Paper mail order catalogs!

[Halftime Hope]

12 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

Paper mail order catalogs!

The October deluge!

[SKL]

Oh and stores closed before bedtime (most at 5pm), so if you forgot that you needed red paper for a school project, oh well!

[gardenmom5]

2 hours ago, Kassia said:

Imagine no online shopping and no Amazon!  

My youngest is the only one who grew up totally with internet and she really can't imagine what life was like without it.  It makes us laugh because she's so baffled on how we survived. 

Or cells phones.    imagine having to look for a payphone, and then hoping you had a quarter - (or a dime)

[Melissa in Australia]

5 hours ago, SKL said:

And that only worked if your other 7 family members didn't want to watch something else.

There were only 2 channels available when I was a child. And we had a black and white TV

[teachermom2834]

9 hours ago, lmrich said:

I had to walk to school twice a day in the snow! We went home for lunch, which was great. 

My kids walked downstairs. 

 

I can’t believe this when I think about it. We got all geared up in snow wear, trudged to school, left boots and coats and mittens in the hallway to dry (don’t forget the lay out the plastic bread bags) and then did it all again to trudge home to eat lunch and back again.

What is even crazier to me is that fourth graders were the safety patrol in charge of stopping traffic for the little kids to cross the street. So everyday they set all these little kids loose in the middle of the day but no worries…the fourth graders have the safety on lock.

Different times for sure. 

[kbutton]

5 hours ago, SKL said:

 

Imagine having only snail mail to keep up with friends who don't live in your current town.

How about setting up dates via postcard? We found a postcard from my great-grandfather doing just that. My existence hinged on snail mail, lol! 

[gardenmom5]

5 hours ago, Halftime Hope said:

The October deluge!

The Sears wishbook!

[Starr]

And planning. We had to plan ahead for meeting times, rides, and no being late. Mom could be late but not us!

[teachermom2834]

15 minutes ago, Starr said:

And planning. We had to plan ahead for meeting times, rides, and no being late. Mom could be late but not us!

Yeah you would carry a quarter to call home in an emergency. But you were only calling in an emergency. The ride etc was already planned in advance. No just calling when you were done or for a change of plans. That was all prearranged. 

[Laura Corin]

14 hours ago, SKL said:

Imagine having to actually go to the library to do research.

On the flip side - I am taking undergraduate university classes for fun at present and it's a much more satisfying experience than forty years ago.  In the same amount of time, using the library's online resources,  I can dive so much deeper and investigate such thrilling corners. It's so exciting. Rather than begrudging today's students their easier study, I'm delighted that they can achieve so much with today's tools.

Edited February 5 by Laura Corin

[Elizabeth86]

17 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

2dd can't work remote.  ever.  (she's a hospital pharmacist.)

Haha that’s like my husband’s work. He thankfully cannot bring his work home with him.

[Elizabeth86]

15 hours ago, Kassia said:

Imagine no online shopping and no Amazon!  

My youngest is the only one who grew up totally with internet and she really can't imagine what life was like without it.  It makes us laugh because she's so baffled on how we survived. 

Yes! All my kids have grown up with internet. It cracks us up when something doesn’t load instantly and they get impatient and then we share the stories of how it was having dial up internet. They also think it is is hilarious Netflix used to mail dvd’s. 

[HomeAgain]

Oldest and youngest ds (10years apart) have had vastly different childhoods.  Things I've already heard oldest ds say:

"Mom and dad used to let me roam around wherever I wanted.  I could even ride my bike down the highway" (technically true, but many did there)

"We only had 8 channels on the tv, and one of them was the airport status.  If I missed a show, that was it." (true, in Portugal.  No tv in Italy except videos)

"I didn't get my first smart phone until I graduated high school."

"If I wanted something, I had to wait for months.  Mail only came every other week."

 

LOL, he thinks youngest ds is so spoiled.  And he is, in comparison.  He's also more restricted and has less privileges than oldest ds did at the same age. There's also less spontaneity - oldest ds had so many little things he got to do because right place/right time, and youngest ds plans everything to within an inch.

[SKL]

5 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

On the flip side - I am taking undergraduate university classes for fun at present and it's a much more satisfying experience than forty years ago.  In the same amount of time, using the library's online resources,  I can dive so much deeper and investigate such thrilling corners. It's so exciting. Rather than begrudging today's students their easier study, I'm delighted that they can achieve so much with today's tools.

Oh I am thrilled with today's technology.  Not just for my kids, but for me.  But why do my kids think their life is so much harder than previous generations'?  😛

Also ... there's something nice and nostalgic about my library memories, whether I was in KG or grad school.  Of course my kids have libraries they can go to, but it's not as special to them.

[Lady Marmalade]

17 hours ago, gardenmom5 said:

Or cells phones.    imagine having to look for a payphone, and then hoping you had a quarter - (or a dime)

When I was in high school, my parents didn't want to waste any time waiting outside of the school for me when my after school activities were done. So every day when I was completely ready to go, I would drop a quarter in the pay phone, call the home number, let it ring once and then quickly hang up so that I would get my quarter back.  That one ring of the phone was the signal for someone from home to head to the school to pick me up. When I didn't have a quarter, I would have to find someone who did, always assuring them that I would give the quarter right back.  

We had a house rule that we never answered the phone on the first ring. For some reason it was considered more polite to let it ring at least twice before picking up. 

[gardenmom5]

6 hours ago, Elizabeth86 said:

Haha that’s like my husband’s work. He thankfully cannot bring his work home with him.

dh has been working from home for 20 years . . . .  There were days I had to be explicit - you can't bring clients home in the am and use the dining room, I'm trying to homeschool!

dsil now works from home (from a different state), though he does have to travel out of state for several days/week every month . . . courtesy of his accident. (which is kind of ironic. in his last position at this company, they were preparing to fire someone who refused to return to work).   He's on west coast time (they live in central time zone) so he starts later,  he's on the phone A LOT.  But 1dgs can climb up on his lap when he's having a hard time.  (usually).