When I started to understand that some people lived different lives! When did you know and what opened your eyes?

i was allowed to have a paper round when I was twelve and saved up for a bike. A second (or third?) hand bottle green raleigh with sturmey archer gear change was my pride and joy for many years.

We only heated one room and there was often ice on the inside of the bedroom windows in the winter
I remember that! My mother said I was nesh.

I was lucky enough to have a bike; Dad and Mum had Raleigh bikes, mine was blue. My brothers had bikes with racing handlebars.
When my hands used to freeze in late autumn I was allowed to travel to school on the bus.

Callistemon21

A car?!
We had bikes.

There was no central heating to put on. We had a coal fire. There had been a Raeburn type stove in the kitchen but my mother had it removed and a Canon gas cooker put in. However, I think the Raeburn would have heated the kitchen up!

I didn’t even have a bike! I had feet.
My dad had a bike to go to work though.
After my mum went back to work she saved and saved until she had enough to buy a second hand car. I was thirteen.
We were lucky because we lived in a lovely thirties semi with big gardens, made possible because my paternal grandmother had money and gave my parents a substantial sum towards the house. We only heated one room and there was often ice on the inside of the bedroom windows in the winter. We didn’t have an exciting diet, but we had three meals a day every day. We had a holiday every year, at a seaside town in England or Wales. Enough clothes but not enough to satisfy my teenage self so I worked at a wallpaper shop on Saturdays and school holidays.

Sorry if this is rather long, but it's just set off my brain!!

I had a wonderful childhood. We lived in a small village in the Cotswolds which was, even then, a fairly exclusive place to live. My dad was in the forces and as a child lived in South America for two years which was a huge culture shock. There was a plot of land near our house on which lived locals, in shacks made of tin sheets and cardboard. They had barely anything. One day they took my roller skates from outside the gate, where I'd left them. Our immediate neighbours were all Brits and we called them Uncle and Auntie. I went to a local school and was the only blonde child in my class. I had separate RE lessons with Mrs Green. I learnt Spanish fluently and would help my dad if he got stuck! But if I was writing and didn't know the Spanish word, I'd put the English one! We had "maids" (which now absolutely horrifies me!) who were just young girls from the mountains who'd come down looking for work to send money home.
Back in the UK, my dad carried on doing Secret Stuff and we went back to live in our wonderful house. Half a vicarage which had three floors, various Downstairs Rooms and seven bedrooms. The day we returned my grandma was moving the lawn. She'd lived there while we were away.
But we were ALWAYS brought up to learn the value of money and possessions. We were loved beyond measure and my dad would (and probably still would, if he was physically able!) give us wheelbarrow rides up and down the landscaped garden. We had an orchard to pick apples from and Dad grew all his own veg. Every year he'd build the highest bonfire and invite the village round for fireworks and soup, which my mum made. And I don't mean in a Lord Of The Manor way, either. Both my parents are kindness personified and just liked to do these things for others. A big garden helped, too.

And whilst it seems bonkers and impossible to me now, they were staunch Tories back in the day and we'd be invited to our local Tory chair's house, where he had stuffed foxes on the walls. Wild, isn't it?! I still sometimes wonder if my childhood was some kind of bizarre dream.
My friends were envious of my big house. They said I was posh and we must have loads of money. We didn't. Every penny my parents had went back into their house. My clothes came from "cheap" shops. (As they still do!)
I remember when I was about ten going to a friend's house, which was a terraced council house and whilst it was run down and the garden was really untidy, they all loved each other to bits, made the most of everything and her dad lent me his dressing gown because he said I looked cold! I also remember going to a different friend's house and in their kitchen they had a drawer FULL of sweets. We could just help ourselves. We were NEVER allowed that.
I appreciate everything I have and realise that not everyone has been or is as lucky as me, both materialistically or for the love I've always been shown, for which I thank my parents every day.

🤗

I hope this is not a digression. My father’s boss - a knight of the realm, captain of industry and Lord Lieutenant of the county lived in a very large house on the outskirts of the city and my father, a lowly maintenance worker in the firm, was sometimes required to go along in a Saturday to do jobs there. If the family was away, and the weather was fine, he would take me with him and I was allowed to walk around the grounds. I would be about ten or eleven. One day however the housekeeper asked my father if I would like a quick peek inside. I was allowed into the entrance hall, and then to poke my head around the sitting room door and the library. I was dumbstruck that one family could live in such a grand house! It was like something out of a story book. Every time I’ve been to Cragside House in Northumberland, it reminds me very much of that house. It was badly damaged by fire in 1971 and subsequently demolished. The land was given over for some very swish apartments, and part of the grounds made into a wonderful quarry garden that is open to the public at no charge.

I can't remember being the tiniest bit interested in who had more than me.
(Apart from that helter skelter)

I was fortunate enough to go to a good school at the age of eleven, and mixed with girls whose lives were so different from mine. As a child I always had clean clothes, some toys, and food every day. My parents owned the house, but it was a hand to mouth existence, and looking back I realise that I grew up in relative poverty. No new clothes - I wore my cousin's outgrown items, no car, TV, holiday - it was quite a revelation to visit the homes of some school mates and realise that others lived a very different life to mine. My Mother lost her purse once and was distraught - there was no other money to be had. However, as a child you accept what you have - that is the norm.

I was brought up in considerable poverty - outside toilet, no bath etc but I was so surrounded by love that I wasn't aware of any differences to others. Time marched on and I joined the WRNS. There I met my best friend and, in due course, she invited me to her home. Well..... as mansions go.... Anyway, we entered by the kitchen which led me to believe her parents may be in service. Wrong! Now, apart from her accent, I would never have believed or guessed at her opulent background. I think I shrunk into a confused silence. I will never forget her anguished look when she said 'if you had known, would you have come? We celebrate 65 years in June and it's been a wonderful journey. Our progress through life and our differing circumstances have been very testing and interesting. Unfortunately she's not so well now but I make the journey (IoW) to meet up with her as often as possible.

I think it’s really interesting that so many of us went to grammar school! There were about 30 houses in our road the majority with children my age but I was the only one who got to grammar school. I was very pleased when I passed the 11+ exam as were my parents, then we received the uniform list which was extensive and could only be bought from a school outfitters who came to the school to measure you before you started. Tennis racquets, hockey sticks, leather satchels, winter and summer uniforms bumped the cost up too.

There was much discussion as to how we could afford all that then a miracle happened! A man from the Labour party used to come every week selling what I was told was The Tote. You paid a small amount to go in it and my Dad won £100 which in 1965 was a lot of money and bought all my school stuff.

Prior to that at our village school there was no uniform but I wore my two cousins convent uniforms which they had outgrown. Very strange but the teacher told my Mum I looked very smart. 🤣 outside of school I always had nice knitwear because Mum knitted it but just about everything else was from jumble sales. I used to love it when my Mum came home with stuff for me and also books. They were like new and I could not understand why wealthy kids did not want them.

A car?!
We had bikes.

There was no central heating to put on. We had a coal fire. There had been a Raeburn type stove in the kitchen but my mother had it removed and a Canon gas cooker put in. However, I think the Raeburn would have heated the kitchen up!

We would be classed as poor by today’s standards, but most other children round us in the village were the same. No holidays, or days out but we never went hungry.
Home made clothes, except for DB who had shop bought trousers and shirts. My cousin was different. I used to get her hand-me-downs such fun to open the bag.
Grammar school really brought it home though. Suddenly surrounded by children who had parents with cars, who went on holidays, and school trips, I realised the difference.
About the same time I was aware of how my mum struggled at the end of the month. We had a closer relationship after that as I would sit up late with her as she went through the bills.

My father was a GP struggling to support wife and two children on the very inadequate NHS salary as he only had a very small practice, having been de-mobbed in 1947 along with hundreds of other young doctors all looking for work.

My parents sent me to the local council school, not realising that in the west of Scotland no working class child would be allowed to play with "the doctor's daughter" as if she did, her friends in the street she lived in would consider her "Stuck-up" and refuse to play with her. So my parents were forced to find the cheapest private school in the area to send my sister and me to.

There I discovered how poor we were - we lived in a barn of a house, the only warm room was the dining-room where we had a Raeburn stove, everything else had parafin heaters only turned on in the coldest weather. We had enough to eat and clothes to wear, but nothing like my school-friends whose fathers were business men in good well-paid jobs. Centrally heated homes, clothes galore, dessert for dinner every day - a completely different world. Parents of school friends drove NEW cars - not the 1920s models that were all my parents could afford,

I was surprised, but not envious, as my parents made it clear to us both that they loved us and had time for us, which was not necessarily the case for the "rich girls".

And of course my mother was a "Bl...y foreigner" which made us different too.

I was born in 1960 but my parents emigrated to Australia in 1962 as £10 poms. We came back in 1965. My dad worked full time as a jointer and my mum as a wallpaper shop manager. We always had good homemade food but money was tight. Up until I left home at 23 I was still wearing a cardigan to bed and the windows had ice on the inside because they wouldn’t put the central heating on. The only warm room was the living room because she would put the gas fire on.

Shelflife

In primary school I went to my friends house for tea, I assumed they were very posh / wealthy, because her parents kept referring to the ' salt cellar' I really wanted to go and see it but dare' nt ask - just as well really!!

😂😂😂

Oh lovely!!

I lived not far from a place called Salt 😁

Like others here I only realised the differences when I went to grammar school. I came from a working class family, dad worked, mother stayed at home, cooked, cleaned and made all our clothes. Struggled to buy me a uniform for school, could only go to certain shop to buy as used what were called club checks which were then repaid weekly. My uniform etc was always clean and pressed but I had to refuse outing with other girls as only had uniform and some very basic, well worn 'house clothes'. Consequently had few friends. The girls I grew up with all went to the local secondary modern school and we soon lost touch. Never forgot my past life and the struggles my parents had and am always grateful for what I have now.

Like MOnica I grew up in the forces. I remember hot and cold running water, separate bedrooms for boys and girls, seeing various parts of the world and speaking different languages.
Again found it difficult to make friends outside of other forces children as people were not interested in the newbie that might only stick around for less than 3 months.
In Dunkeld we bussed it to school in Perth as that was the nearest secondary school, up until then we had always walked despite the distance and weather.
In Campbeltown I found it weird that most of the kids parents and grandparents had never left there, in the 70's it was a long road to civilisation.
In Edinburgh my 15 yr old female friend shared a bedroom with her 18 yr old brother as parents had bought a 2 bed flat many years before.
We never got hit by the 3 day working week cut in wages as dad still worked full time being in the RAF. I remember more of the children having free school dinners at the time.
When I had my second daughter in 1980 one of the other women lived in a tenement in Glasgow and was not allowed a home birth as they had no hot running water.
Everybodies normal is different I suppose. We never had much in the line of toys or luxuries and tea my not have been what you fancied but we never went hungry.

I had the happiest of childhoods and although we didn’t have much money I always had a good clean home and clothes and was loved. We lived at the back of one of the shops where my Dad worked at the factory and the bathroom was cold and large. My first foray into other people’s world was a visit to a bathroom at my Mums friends home, small, warm and beautiful, my Mum used to say do not ask to use the bathroom of course I always did. The other was a Sunday tea time I think tin of fruit salad, carnation cream and bread and butter. I was always shocked by this as a child when invited to a friends home. Sounds a bit snobby now!

I like this post….its made me think about my childhood and I just assumed everyone had a childhood like mine …a brother four years older than me, living all my childhood years in nice semi detached house with a garden ….after the war ended dad became a sales director for a soft toy company, and mum was his ‘part time secretary’ ….she worked about 2 or 3 days a week in his office in London but had a sewing machine on her desk as well as a typewriter and would make lots of dresses for me when she wasn’t typing dad’s business letters! Looking back I guess that was a perk for being married to the boss! I would walk home from junior school with my friend .Jill who’s mum didn’t work, and stayed at her house if my mum wasn’t picking me up from school on those days she was working. I went to ballet classes from about the age of 4 - which I hated because the teacher was so strict she made me cry….then over the years went to piano lessons after school, then to elocution lessons and singing lessons…..all after school activities ……and I just thought everyone did this!

We went on holiday every summer ….firstly to caravan holidays and then to holiday camps in Devon. One Christmas we even went and stayed in a hotel and I can remember how festive and colourful and jolly it was. My only regret is not knowing how at that time how fortunate I was to have had such a secure and somewhat privileged start to life because my parents worked so hard and believed in me …..and I know that it has given me the confidence to tackle life’s problems and challenges with an optimistic outlook on life

Right. That was my phone.
Not me!!!
Who even cares what they called themselves anyway.

I meant snowmen.
The old brain is a bit befuddled.

Yes this is an interesting thread.
Very little money in my childhood, but all the children were the same in the junior school. Slightly different in the grammar school. But it was a fairly low income seaside area.
My eye opener was really at the teacher training college when I made good friends with a girl whose father was in insurance. As was my Dad. Only he collected insurance money for the Co op at the door and her father was a Lloyds name. I had no idea!!
Still she was a good friend and we had fun. I had a student allowance and she had a family monthly allowance. I think hers was somewhat more ££££ than mine!!

MissAdventure

Oh bloody sod it.
A family of Snowmen!?!?!
I suppose I could say our friendship melted away....

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

I saw that and was totally mystified until I worked it out!

By the time I was about 9. We spent most of our lives until I was 14 being posted from country to country. In the short time periods between postings we moved back to DMs family in a small Welsh town. I was unmercifully bullied by the locals because my clothes were different (bought mainly in Germany), my accent was 'posh' i.e. not local, I didn't speak the same English and everyone else had known each other since they were born. I was taunted for being a 'Hun' or a 'Kraut' by the people who didn't realise we had only spent three years in Germany and this was in the 1960s. At the time I wasn't really aware that others didn't do the same as us because I was used to living near RAF families. I was really happy to move away again but every time we moved back I went through the same again. It taught me to tough it out and smile and ignore what other people said and just get on with my own life.

I grew up in Singapore when Singapore was a third world country and has just gained her independence from Britain.

We live in a village in a wooden house on stilts with a zinc roof built by my dad. There was no sanitation as such, there was a shared outside toilet with a bucket and once a week, a Chinese man will load the bucket to the back of a lorry.

We were extremely poor. My dad had two jobs, a delivery man for a supermarket in the day and in the evenings, he rode a trishaw and picked up passengers. We eat meat only once a week.

All we had was a black and white television which was very temperamental, a big radio, a stove and mosquito nets for the beds. Every year in December, the whole village was flooded.

My dad forgot to register us for nearby schools, so to go to school, we had to walk one hour each way in the hot sun to the bus stop. The school was at the bottom of the hill, and at times, the bus could not make it to the top of the hill. All passengers had to alight the bus and some of the passengers helped to push the bus to the top of the hill.

One of our neighbours was a bit of a show off and I remembered she was given a doll house as a present. To us village children having a doll house is the ultimate luxury. We all stood outside her window just to watch her played with her doll house.

Oh bloody sod it.
A family of Snowmen!?!?!
I suppose I could say our friendship melted away....