What our parents did that wouldn't be seen now

I really enjoyed your post, POGS, some of which I can relate to!

I remember that my Mum had a 'dolly tub' and a scrubbing board, and I remember Robin starch in little packets. Persil and Rinso were the two washing powders. She then progressed to a washing machine which she had to fill with water then light the gas underneath to warm the water! I am sure I remember that - must have been quite dangerous. It had a mangle attached which you used by hand.

I don't think we ever went to the pub. We did go to The Bell in Hurley with Auntie once for lunch, must have been nearly 60 years ago; walked in and it was all white starched tablecloths and silver service. Mum and Auntie looked at the prices on the menu and we had to walk out again and get something from the shop nearby.

Pogs that was such a lovely post I.have just read it twice

I remember that in 1975, when I left hospital with my newborn son, the midwife carried him out of the hospital in.her arms and placed him on my lap in the front passenger seat of the car. Now of course babies are not allowed to be driven home without a car seat. I suppose the roads were much quieter then.

Nice thread Glammy

I have been taken back and remember with so much affection lot's of family and friends 'hay making' and how lovely it was playing and helping out with 'stooking' the hay. Sharing food and drink and going to the pub after for a Vimto and crisps. Disgustingly I used to love dunking my crisp in the Vimto until it went soft and tasted of Vimto . Very happy times and I have a tear visualising mum in her dungarees and knotted head scarf smiling and being so happy.

Yes we did 'play out' and go for miles from a very young age, usually in wellies as our Clarke's shoes were for best. No concept of time and no worries or restraints, unlike the poor kids now. You were afraid of the local policeman and never ever back chatted anyone for fear of a clip round the ear, which never happened but you didn't dare put it to the test.

Women, if they were taken out, used the snug and men used the bar. A meal out for mum and dad was for special occasions only and mum kept a dress and cardigan on a hanger in the wardrobe wrapped in an old sheet to keep the dust off [aagh]. She rarely used makeup so if we saw her in lipstick we thought ooh, it must be something important happening.

Washing was done on scrubbing board and the ringer. Baths were taken in the metal tub,or the 'portable ass cleaner' as my grandad called it. Robin starch was used and sheets were white, white or white, take your pick. Mum used to hitch up her skirt in front of the coal fire or in front of the range in the kitchen and moan because her legs were getting hot, never did work that one out.

Doors were never locked, you made your toys out of anything to hand, milk churns, wood, old scrap and nearly always had an accident which would get the comment' serves you right for being stupid', alongside a big boobed hug that meant your OK and I love you..

I could go on but we all have fond memories and we can only hope our grandchildren can look back at their early years and remember the good things, usually they were the free ones.

The old prams had a harness so that you could strap the babies in and they couldn't lean over and fall out when they got bigger. Today's prams (at least the one we used for DGDs) don't have anywhere to fix a harness so we couldn't use it once they could sit up.

Dingoes - where am I?

Same with our little ones Galen! My mother put some vaseline on us before we left to play in the sun all day!

Glad to say that here in Switzerland it is still common to see little ones play in their birthday suits in the garden or even park.

We used to run around with few or no clothes on in the sun. Darling daughter is scared stiff of skin cancer to DGD are allowed only half an hour exposed then, slathered with sunscreen every ten minutes and covered with sun suits which cover them from head to toe.
I'm more worried about rickets than Ca skin!

Thankfully, no dingos in Birmingham. Foxes never seemed to bother either. Peadophiles couldn't get into the back garden - thankfully. It's why we were happy to put the babies out into the fresh air; you tailor your actions to suit your circumstances.

Dingos, peadophiles and man eating foxes... I suppose. Sad. Happy days indeed.

My dad was a real dare-devil. When our local lake froze (at minus 30 to 40C and to a great depth) he used to drive the 2CV onto the lake, tie ropes at the back with our sledges- drive as fast as he could then do hand-brake turns- throwing us into wild rides. It was great fun- and never had an accident. Totally forbidden now, of course.

I did that with both of my children whenim64 - cat net firmly in place and pram placed in the shade but where I could see it. Maybe it is something to do with modern prams now? I had a coach built pram for my daughter but a more modern one for my son (but it was still quite roomy). Awww, happy days

No-one ever gave a second thought to putting babies outside for a nap. Mine enjoyed watching the laundry flapping on the line. GC all went for a nap in their cots. What they missed out on!

....should have added. This is what our parents did with us.

I thought I was being cautious and responsible when I wheeled my baby's pram into the back garden, catnet on, in the shade of the pear tree, for an hour's nap. My daughters and their friends would never dream of putting their babies out in the garden for a sleep, but I still don't understand why. Not that they have roomy prams to put them in!

Wow. That was incredibly selfish of her.

Let me tell you a story about my childhood. I think it will make your hair curl. When I was 9 (1940) my mother regularly sent me from Harpenden,where we were evacuated, to Tooting in London on my own to buy chicken meal and black-market food. The Blitz was still going on. It was - shall I say - a bit hairy.

J52, no I came to London to work Easter 1970- so my first and only festival was Summer 70. Bob Dylan was there too of course, Joan Baez, Leonard Cohen- as well as all the rockers of the day. For me, a teenager from a small Swiss mountain village- it was sooo exciting.

When I hitchhiked back to London, having not eaten properly, or washed or slept much for 4 days- the couple who'd given me a lift all the way to Roehampton dropped me at a pub from where I rang future OH. He was working, but managed to get someone to cover so he could come and pick me up. By the time he arrived, I was asleep with my head on the pub table- he parked his sports car with open top in the car-park near that table, got out in his white coat, stethoscope round his neck- picked me up and put me in the car- whilst everyone there starred - they must have thought I was an escapee from a mental asylum or drug addict!!! He dropped me back to my digs, I had a shower then slept until 12 the next day... when I was supposed to be at work. My boss was very worried as he knew where I was- but was lovely when I turned up the next day and explained- bless him.

Mine always went outside for a sleep in their prams except in rainy or foggy weather.

I walked to school on my own from the age of five, there were three busy main roads to cross. From the age of seven I used to cross two main roads to reach a bus stop where I would travel into town and visit the cinema for Saturday morning shows.
My sister was born, at home, when I was ten and I did the shopping, washing and cooking. My father didn't take any time off work and he felt confident that I would manage the day to day things like carrying the kettle of boiled water upstairs to the midwife.
During the school holidays we spent all of the daylight hours outside, we went to the park which was nearby but again across a busy road. When we got bored with the park we went to play in the quarry which was about 500 yards from our house.
At fifteen I organised a walking holiday with four friends and we hitch hiked around the Yorkshire Dales staying in Youth hostels. I am amazed that my parents did not raise any objections.
My young life was probably pretty much the same as my parents, quite a lot of freedom the only difference being 1950s instead of the 1910s.
My DC had a little freedom but I always liked to know where they were, GC go nowhere because I won't let them out of my sight

Granjura you brought back memories. Isle of Wight festival with Bob Dylan 1969?
Hitched with My then boyfriend, now husband! My mother never knew I'd been there. She thought I was holidaying with school friends in Hampshire! X

My mum was a modern woman before her time- she went to study in London and Hastings and then Munich, in the early 30s- always was the main breadwinner and drove a long time before my dad. She commuted to the main town, about 30 miles in all weathers, up and over the moutain in heavy snow and ice, etc, in her 2CV- leaving at 7am and returning about 18.30. So we got our own breakfast and got ourselves to school- and had lunch with dad at home- and then were latch-key kids- did our homework and then went out to play with friends in the woods or the park. Other kids thought we were so lucky- and all piled into our house when teenagers as we could have rock music on loud and talk about anything with mum.

Many friends have told me recently how much they admired her- as she was so different from their stay at home mums- and also was so vivacious and always so elegant in an understated classy way.

We were put out at the bottom of the garden in our prams in all weathers- even heavy frost- and slept like babes. I did the same with mine in the UK- but in good weather only- and attached Christmas baubbles and toys in the branches of the tree above- neighbours thought I was nuts- but they slept so well and obviously thrived on it.

My mum was the opposite to me and my DiLs. A stay-at-home-mum, she cycled out for afternoon tea with friends, baked lovely cakes, even when rationing was in force, made all our clothes, apart from coats and blazers and, having, before her marriage, trained as a hairdresser, always cut our hair. She never learnt to drive. And she smoked - not heavily - until she was in her 50s when, after a bad dose of flu, she went right off it.

In the early/mid fifties, living in the back of nowhere in a small community in Scotland, I remember my mother sending off and receiving each week, freshly laundered sheets and towels as we did not have a washing machine.

Once a week we had a grocer come with horse and cart and my mother used to pick up the droppings from the horse for our garden.

I was a latch key kid from a very early age but my dad worked locally so came home when I did in early winter to light the gas mantle and also the coal fire. The dog and I were left until my parents finished work. My mother was a nurse so she worked shifts. None of that would happen now.

I always put my DC in the garden to nap while they still fitted in the pram. We had a small willow tree and you could see them watching the leaves moving. In 2010, I suggested same to DD who was living with us at the time. She was dubious, but as DGS1 was a terrible sleeper, she was willing to try anything and it worked like a charm. Later when she took him back to Barbados, he used to go on the balcony in his pram with two fans trained on him. Worked there too! Hurrah for old style mothering Her friends were horrified though!

I was born in 1944 and so spent the greater part of my childhood in the 1950s.
Both my parents and most of the adults I knew the smoked in the house. I have a strong memory of my chain smoking grandmother cradling my newly born sister in one arm, while she puffed away on a cigarette held in her other hand. My sister is 56 now and healthy.
I was the oldest of five children and my mother often left me alone in the house to mind the others while she popped to the local shops.
In the summer school holidays we were sent out of the house in dry weather and only came back for meals, but were warned about not to speak to strangers.
We all, as babies slept outside in a pram and were also left in a pram outside shops.
My mother put a drop of whiskey in our last bottle feed of the day so we would sleep all night. We were weaned from about three months on rusks in milk, then mashed potato in gravy.My mother swore she had me potty trained just after my first birthday and I can remember her holding my younger siblings on a tiny potty from a few weeks old ''to catch what came''.
I was never a latch key child but my DH was. He started school at age 5 his mother got a job, and put the key round his neck on a bit of string so he could let himself into the house as his elder sister got home from school later.

Those were the days, eh? Our tent was a two-man one - in the end about 12 were trying to sleep in it!