If things get tougher?

mardatha

I can remember a knitted 60s gold mini dress that did that. ended up round my ankles with huge wide holes all over that showed my underskirt !
I do agree re the isolation now... I try to warn & guide my kids (all in their 30s) about hard times coming..but they aren't really listening./ Daughter has 5 kids and the house is full of electrical gadgets and they all eat different meals so she wastes tons of food. One son has just bought a car and a house and is self employed...I seem to be the obnly one who cares about things.

meanmarie

kittie...do I ever remember the knitted swimsuit that stretched when wet...I was about 5, at the sea with my mother, at least 3 aunts and their broods, a much loved only child not used to being laughed at by siblings...not sure which was worse, the laughter or the fact that I couldn't get back into the sea!

Marie

Toonie

I am very conscious of how my parents were brought up (in the 40s and 50s) and how my grandparents lived during the war. I have a slightly different perspective though as my mum is German, so she had different hardships than my dad.

Growing up I remember that come the end of the month my mum would make scones and cakes and its only now that I realise that it was done because we didn't have much money and scones were cheaper to make then to get bread and sandwich fillings. I never realised at the time because I loved having scones-it was a treat, especially straight from the oven. Now though, I feel prepared to face any problems because I can cook and I know that I can make filling food from a few ingredients.

My dads mum was a single mother in the 50s and had a tough time bringing up my dad, but there was always friends, neighbours and relatives around them who helped out. When my Grandma died when I was ten we went up to village she lived in Northumberland and found that her neighbours and friends had already started to arrange everything. Everyone pulled together to help out. But in the 15 years since then a lot has changed and its shame that that same community spirit has gone in many places.

I certainly look back at my Grandma and think how hard she must have found everything, but she always had so much love for everyone around her which is how I try to live.

jamanda

Quote: Mardartha - [I try to warn & guide my kids (all in their 30s) about hard times coming..but they aren't really listening./ Daughter has 5 kids and the house is full of electrical gadgets and they all eat different meals so she wastes tons of food.

Very similar here, although daughter has 3 kids (I hope no more - I asked for a golden retriever last time).

sammyjig

mardatha wrote: »

... I try to warn & guide my kids (all in their 30s) about hard times coming..but they aren't really listening.

I am in my 30's and I think the problem is that when you can't remember dealing with the hard times it's difficult to know what to expect. My mum warns me and I am listening to her and trying to cut back etc and I am certainly less wateful but I don't really know how we will cope... just hope all you lovely people will be on hand to help :A

Primrose

I think it's probably a hard thing to say, but perhaps every generation should experience "hard times" at least in one period of their life, perhaps in the early congnaisant years, so that the lessons can be learned and carried with you through life. As a wartime baby, all my formative years were spent against against a background of hardship and "making do and mend", so living my adult life against that kind of lifestyle came fairly naturally. The generation who must be finding it particularly difficult now are the early 20's who were bought up in a time of plenty and economic growth and who are now finding it a struggle to pay off their student loan and struggle to find affordable mortgages, possibly against a background of resentment that they have to give up their takeaways, regular nights out, electronic gadgets and foreign holidays. We all take our high lifestyles forgranted and most of us work hard for them, but we should never forget that good times don't continue forever, and that after the "Seven Good Years", there are normally "Seven Bad Years".

mary43

I wonder what some of the younger generation would do if suddenly they had to cope without their ps2's, tele's, dvd's etc. Its bad enough now with youngsters moping around saying 'I'm bored' and somehow not knowing what to do if they don't have a button to push that provides instant entertainment.
I remember in the 70's when our little black and white tele packed up and for 6 months we were without it. After a week of moaning my two boys started to make their own enjoyment -built a puppet theatre out of an old cardboard box, made the puppets and put on shows for us. Mind you, soon as the tele was back it became the norm to sit and stare at the screen again.
Wiill they know how to socialise with people ? I've tried to instill in the kids we care for the need to do something other than switch a machine on and they're currently out playing football and making the most of the sunshine between showers thank goodness.
I've also tried to teach them that money doesn't shoot out of my purse at every request made and they sometimes seem to think.
Our oldest one is 18 next week and will be 'signing on'. In preparation for his independance we're going to show him how he can feed and clothe himself on the amount of money ! That'll be a real test for him.

jessicamb

Primrose wrote: »

I think it's probably a hard thing to say, but perhaps every generation should experience "hard times" at least in one period of their life, perhaps in the early congnaisant years, so that the lessons can be learned and carried with you through life. As a wartime baby, all my formative years were spent against against a background of hardship and "making do and mend", so living my adult life against that kind of lifestyle came fairly naturally. The generation who must be finding it particularly difficult now are the early 20's who were bought up in a time of plenty and economic growth and who are now finding it a struggle to pay off their student loan and struggle to find affordable mortgages, possibly against a background of resentment that they have to give up their takeaways, regular nights out, electronic gadgets and foreign holidays. We all take our high lifestyles forgranted and most of us work hard for them, but we should never forget that good times don't continue forever, and that after the "Seven Good Years", there are normally "Seven Bad Years".

I agree with that and I am one of those in their 20s. We have had it good for several years and probably waste so much that a period of enforced cost cutting will probably do us all good.

That said I have (and hope to keep) quite a good job so for me its more a case of tightening belts than desperate hardship

Charis

kittie wrote: »

How to explain what I feel: mmm


Does anyone remember the knitted swimming costumes that sank to the knees when they got wet? :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

Oh yes! I had a new swimming costume when I started secondary school, which unfortunately was stolen, still wet from the first wearing, in the changing room. My punishment for being careless in 'losing' it was a second hand woolly costume (all my mother could afford) which stretched in the water but at the same time was curiously stiff and very prickly. Ah, the memories! :rotfl:

Beccatje

Reading through another thread I was thinking:

Remember back when many of us were kids, in the winter we'd find ice flowers on the windows?.. bedrooms and bathrooms would often be affected. It was so cold the damp on the windows would freeze.

My kids today cannot imagine this! Just like they can't imagine eating bread with just butter, or getting suger on your sandwich being a treat!
They think crisps are an everyday food and think I'm a terrible stick in the mud for restricting them. Cakes, biscuits, sweets, fizzy drinks are all 'normal' to them even though I am quite restrictive compared to their peers.

But if energy prices are on the rise, and petrol prices don't come down (I'm not holding my breath) and food prices keep rising like they are doing now...
I can see all of the old times coming back again.

So the real question is, HOW do you get kids 'on board'? How do we take a big step back without making them feel deprived?
Mine are 4, 10, 12, 15.
The eldest three are in the "as long as I'm happy" puberty stage.

The littlest just takes it as it comes for now.

Becca