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5 better, 5 worse from when you were a child

(39 Posts)
Salti Thu 11-Jan-24 08:59:05

Better:
1. All the kids walking to local schools
2. Freedom to play outdoors and roam unsupervised.
3. Local markets with local produce
4. Children not sent to breakfast clubs, after school clubs and holiday clubs but actually looked after by their parents.
5. Proper pubs

Worse:
1. Cold homes in Winter
2. More pressure to conform
3. Little access to reliable contraception
4. Outside toilet, bath in kitchen
5. Everything closed on Sunday

Mamissimo Thu 11-Jan-24 08:30:48

Better
Levels of respect for other people and professions
Proper school lunches
Use of public transport
Quality of clothes
Levels of aspiration

Worse
Pollution from coal
Shorter life expectancy
Pension poverty
Housing quality
Coffee 🙂

BlueBelle Thu 11-Jan-24 07:57:56

5 better
1 Smaller school …loved it
2 more shops could spend hours wandering round
3 cooked dinner (at dinner time)
4 less traffic, more cycles
5 less plastic

5 worse
1 no knowledge of accepting differences
2 dogs wandering in packs
3 little mental health help
4 no phones difficult communication queuing at phone box
5 no soft toilet rolls

Grandma70s Thu 11-Jan-24 07:49:36

5 things that were better when I was a child in the 1940s and 50s:

Family life was more stable
Clothes were prettier (for girls)
More unspoilt countryside
Better public transport
Less commercial junk food and music

5 things that were worse:

Attitudes towards minorities of all sorts
Death penalty was still legal
Beating children was still legal
Rigid concepts of gender (how males and females ought to be behave).
Home heating!
Less social mobility

(Sorry, that’s six.)

nanna8 Thu 11-Jan-24 07:30:03

Just to clarify ‘5 good things and 5 bad things from the PAST’ when you were young.

BlueBelle Thu 11-Jan-24 07:22:42

Now I m getting muddled is it now and then or all then

BlueBelle Thu 11-Jan-24 07:21:09

I agree coolcoco I was getting muddled up here
I grew up in the 60 s there were always fights and casualties look at the mod and rocker fights and later the awful football troubles
Hollysteers we don’t have outside loos and 11pluses now this is really muddled

CoolCoco Thu 11-Jan-24 06:54:42

I think people are getting better and worse mixed up here. Surely if it was better to be able to tell jokes without offence then that was worse surely - was it really better to be racist, homophobic, misogynistic etc? ( if that’s what the op means). Plus there certainly was knife crime, gangs etc back in the day - it’s not new.

welbeck Thu 11-Jan-24 01:35:52

aren't there more obese people now ?

hollysteers Thu 11-Jan-24 00:57:35

Missed out two 🙄
Better
Christmas not so commercialised

Worse
Too many obese people

hollysteers Thu 11-Jan-24 00:54:41

Better
Freedom to play outside from morning to night
No tv or computers, so read a lot
Extended family all relatively close by
Many shops on high streets doing good business

Worse
Outside loo
11plus
Dentistry
Harsh teaching

Chestnut Thu 11-Jan-24 00:46:52

Sorry Mistake in Better:
5/ Better clothes!

Chestnut Thu 11-Jan-24 00:42:09

Better:
1/ Everyone was more polite, respectful and friendly
2/ No knife crime, gangs and drugs
3/ No smartphones and computer games
4/ Better music and movies
5/ Better transport

Worse:
1/ No computers
2/ Cars
3/ Food
4/ Medical treatments
5/ Smoking in public places

nanna8 Wed 10-Jan-24 23:42:39

I was thinking after we watched a program on YouTube about London and how the person thought it had deteriorated ( I thought he was wrong ,looked good to me) what are 5 things you look back on fondly and couple that with 5 not so good things from the past . To kick off, here are a few
Better-1. We knew everyone in the road because very few had cars so we would meet walking around
2. All the local shops were local and not chains
3. You could tell any (reasonable ) joke without fear of offence
4. Better music
5.A certain post war camaraderie at that time, not a great deal of crime and certainly no graffiti.
Worse
1. Kids got hit by their parents and schoolteachers
2. Litter, no one seemed to care even in cafes
3. Attitudes towards minority groups and ‘foreigners’not good
4. Poverty , sometimes not enough to eat ( probably still )
5. Smoking everywhere including public transport