It wouldn’t happen now..

I was sent home, age 7, in disgrace from a friend's house for asking her, obviously pregnant mother, when her baby was coming.

I was subsequently smacked up by my mother for 'showing her up'.

We lived near the main train line into Paddington station and we kids around 8 to 10 yrs would sneak over the wall and put the old style pennies on the rail and they would be completely flattened by the train. Can you even imagine how dangerous that was 🫣

In the 50's, aged 9, I would go out shooting for the pot with one of my father's guns: a .410 shotgun for pigeons, and a .22 rifle for rabbits. You will be relieved to learn that I didn't normally go by myself. I was generally accompanied by an older relative: my big brother, aged 11.

Aged 7 (me) being called out of class, put in a large, white van alone. Van drove off. Stopped after about 20 minutes, doors opened. A woman in a white coat told me to get out of the van, took me into a building where I was, what I now know to be deloused, put back in the van and taken back to class. No explanation. Parents never told. Not that they would be interested.

There was no question of turning your nose up at whatever your mother had cooked - certainly no alternative would be offered.
If you did make a face, my father would say crisply, ‘Eat what you’re given and be thankful you’ve got it.’