Oh pleeeeeease let me have one!!!

I didn't have any trouble getting a bra when I needed one - my mother was not the sort to feel embarrassed about such things. My bra problem was something completely different...
My self-awareness on reaching puberty meant that I now became aware of other people too, including my mother. She didn't wear a bra, hadn't done for years. In all seriousness, she didn't need to - in her own words her boobs resembled nothing more than a couple of fried eggs on her chest .
But the thought that my friends might notice that my mother - my mother - didn't wear a bra was just too much for me and I put all my efforts into cajoling her into buying one for herself too. Thankfully it worked and I was spared the humiliation

poppy that made me laugh out loud !

I wanted a suspender belt,just a dainty white nylon one like all my friends, My Mother bought me a boned corselet in pale blue satin emroidered with rosebuds. I had to wear it and my "friends" got a lot of fun out of it.

I think I had one of those hats! Or something very like it. Mum made it (she made most of my things). I hated it! The band squeezed my head and my ears got too hot!

Most of you had such modest desires but I'm afraid I join the pony mad ranks. It's all I ever wanted. Not too much to ask was it? After all, although we lived in a small city terrace house, we had an allotment where we could keep it!

I went in for that win a pony competition too - goodness knows what would have happened had I won it!

I did eventually get my pony when I was 40 and enjoyed many years meandering around the countryside with him. He died 15 years ago and I still miss him.

Nope not you Elegran

?????????? ???? %% this should be pound signs Euro and percentage
Testing as I had trouble on another thread with something that cane out as a ?
I don't think it's your device Elegran

Inishowen I think we must have had the same mother!

I had exactly the same experience regarding getting a bra.
My mum was far too embarrassed to even talk about me needing a bra let alone buying me one. I saved pocket money and bought one in Woolworths for half a crown. I doubt it if fitted properly but at least I was no longer teased. This sounds daft but it's good to know I was not the only one in this situation.

There were a number of situations like this where my mum was in a way quite neglectful. She never seemed to understand that a teenager needed decent reasonably fashionable clothes. My dad was not highly paid as a teacher then but they could have done better. It was not something my mum ever though about.
And I would have liked one of those Gondola baskets but I knew better than to ask. I would be told I didn't need one. I think my mum was worried that anything fashionable in about 1962 was very decadent.

Thanks Elegran - though I don't think I could stand the feel of an Alice Band now, especially as I wear glasses!
I do love those vintage patterns though - but I really can't agree with the recommendation on several of them which says 'All knitted in vintage 3ply so try modern 4ply in a tension square.' Modern 4ply would not knit up anything like vintage 3ply. In the days of 'vintage' 3ply we already had 4ply, which has always been a thicker yarn. So I really don't know what they're talking about!

I desperately wanted a bra and a petticoat. My mother told me not to be stupid because I didn't need them. I got so many nasty remarks at school about my lack of a petticoat! I think she thought it was character forming.

Something wrong with my keyboard - three times. Not me!. That should be a pound sign.

No - read ??.

For ? read ??

Indinana and others Three Alice Band hat patterns for sale on this page www.thevintageknittinglady.co.uk/ladieshats.html Search page for "Alice Band" to find them.

PDF to download for ??1.50, photocopy for ??1.99.

Roller skates. From about aged 8 to 15. They were a complete no no.
I broke my collar bone when I was young, and was never the most athletic of types, so that combined made roller skates off limits as far as my mother was concerned.

nightowl Ooooh, lucky you! My cousin's hat was very colourful too... I think it may have been a Fair Isle design. I think they were really quite clever, the way they didn't need ties or ribbons. So, you will let us know if you track down that pattern, won't you...?

Joybloggs and Indinana I suspect that somewhere, in a box of my mum's stuff, is a knitting pattern for the hats you describe. I don't want to provoke envy, and I'm really sorry to admit this, but I did have several of those hats (sorry!) in varying multicoloured shades, all hand knitted by my mum. Not only that, she supplied several of my friends and various neighbours' children with them as well. Now if I could just track down that pattern ......

Indinana Oh, yes, I so longed for one of those bonnet/hat thingies... the ultimate must-have accessory for any fashion-conscious 8 year-old in the 1950s. My younger cousin had one - I was very jealous - but like you, and several others on here, I never had one myself. Strange how so many GNs wanted one, but never had one.
I have a suggestion... perhaps one of the GN knitting experts could come up with an adult-sized pattern and we could each make ourselves one . Then we could have a meet-up where we all wore them and hopefully then we could move on and put our years of deprivation of bonnet/hat thingies behind us...

I longed for a pony. No one in my family was remotely interested in horses and no one had the kind of money that enabled me to have a pony, or even riding lessons. At 11 I got a paper round and used my weekly wages at a local stables where I rode a pony every Saturday afternoon. It seems remarkable now, to think I cycled or walked around delivering papers, often in the dark and then walked or cycled 2 or 3 miles to the stables, which I found with no parental help, to ride a pony. No hard hat or parental supervision. A couple of friends longed to join me, but their parents refused either to let them get a paper round or to ride a dangerous wild animal.

I was desperate for a doll's pram. A neighbour's kid had a coach built one with lift- out interior base where she kept the doll's clothes, which I was very envious of. She never allowed me to play with it.There was no point in asking for one as my mother was an invalid, bringing up two children alone, after being deserted by my selfish father. We were poor, but proud. It does teach you though, that you don't always get what you want. In fact, after marrying a stingy husband I was determined to be able to reward myself, so having been forced to leave school at 16 to earn, I studied hard as a mature student to gain qualifications so as have earning capacity. Oh, the joy of having enough pension income to be able to treat myself to, no, not a doll's pram but a blingy watch or an expensive garment. I hope I don't sound smug, but everything I have I have earned, no inheritances, my ma, a brave woman, just left enough to pay for her funeral.

I had piano lessons, which I managed to get out of after 3 years.

How I wish my mother had made me continue them!

Nanacat, I had the ballet lessons, and tap dancing, and piano lessons, none of which I wanted, I wanted singing lessons, which were always denied me.

I longed to have ballet lessons but we couldn't afford them. I had to spend a lot of time at church as my mother was very involved in many of the activities there. I was SO jealous of all the girls who passed me on the stairs of the church rooms attending the Ballet school on the top floor, wiith their hair in tight little buns and their crossover cardigans.. I can still remember the agony!

I don't know wh5 that came out as ??600 - ??700 - it was meant to be pounds!

When I passed the 11+ DM bought me a satchel with two short straps which was meant to be worn on my back - I longed for one with one long strap like my friends' satchels.

I saw a group of schoolchildren on the tv recently (I think it was the Ann Robinson programme about spending habits).
They were comparing mobiles - one boy casually said his had cost ??600 - ??700 he said his dad had had to work extra hours to pay for it. His dad was a gardener.

I blame the stupid parents - they will create a generation of greedy self-absorbed spoilt brats.

I wanted a Gondola basket when I was about eleven. These were a craze for carrying school books at the time. My friend had one, and I was not allowed one because mum said they were common! I also longed for, and needed a bra when i was fourteen. Mum never mentioned getting me one so my friend and I went to a little shop that had a sale on. We bought a bra each for half a crown. They were really old fashioned and had pointy cups. When we wore them we were so embarrassed. It was at least a year later that mum let me buy a proper bra from Bhs!