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Daycare Center and Family Home Forum>Remember When....
Laurel 07:02 PM 09-05-2013
If you are 'older' you may want to join in.

-Remember when using 'paper diapers' meant you were a bad mother? Then later in the 70's people thought you were strange if you used cloth and now it is back to cloth (except for me )

-Remember when you would only consider giving your baby 100% apple juice in their bottle? Now people shudder at the thought of juice at all, even for toddlers.

-Remember when there were only two kinds of nipples? One with a hole and a crosscut one. So you either had what is now called a slow nipple or a really fast one. Remember when you used to take a needle and make a slow nipple faster?

-Remember when you had to sterilize bottles?

Anyone else? I tried not to take them all.....

Laurel
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e.j. 07:32 PM 09-05-2013
I hate to admit that I'm one of the "older" providers but...
-Remember when babies rode on their mom's laps instead of in car seats?
-Remember when baby powder was considered to be a good thing to use during diaper changes?
-Remember when blankets and stuffed animals were okay for babies to sleep with?
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Laurel 07:34 PM 09-05-2013
Originally Posted by e.j.:
I hate to admit that I'm one of the "older" providers but...
-Remember when babies rode on their mom's laps instead of in car seats?
-Remember when baby powder was considered to be a good thing to use during diaper changes?
-Remember when blankets and stuffed animals were okay for babies to sleep with?
Oh yeah, I remember when cars didn't have seat belts!

Laurel
Reply
Sunchimes 08:07 PM 09-05-2013
Even after all these years, I feel a little disappointed when I sniff a baby and don't smell baby powder.

I learned to drive throwing out my arm to stop the kid in the seat beside me from pitching in the floor. It took me years to break that habit.
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nanglgrl 08:16 PM 09-05-2013
Remember a little over 20 years ago when we were told to put babies to sleep on their sides if they spit up a lot or had a cold. This was way before the back to bed campaign but I remember when babies slept on their stomachs/sides all of the time.
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caregiver 10:35 PM 09-05-2013
I am older also and remember many of those things!

Remember with the cloth diapers you had to fold them a certain way to put them on and use diaper pins? Those big huge colored pins!

Remember the plastic or rubber pants to use over the diapers.

Pack & plays were called Play Pens and people would use them more back then for baby to play in. Now parents won't use them because they feel like baby needs to be free to Rome and I myself believe too many kids Rome to much and are not watched enough and that is why so many kids get hurt unnecessarily.

Remember the walker that was the cloth seats and had the wheels on them that the child had to push around in with their feet to get the hang of walking.

Remember when your child first was learning to walk, you put "walker shoes" on. The white hard leather ones, usually was made by stride rite that had a lot of support for their feet. Now they say to put tennis shoes on them or let them go barefoot to learn to walk.

Remember tie shoes, there was no such thing as Velcro for shoes, you actually had to tie them.

Remember when you could put juice in their bottle or even use "kool aid" and it was okay. Heaven forbid giving your child any kind of juice or use kool aid today. Remember when giving them a piece of candy or a cookie was a treat,now it is like it is a big sin to even let them have a cookie or even a piece of chocolate.

Remember letting your kids go out in the neighborhood for Halloween and get a huge pillow case of candy and actually letting them eat the candy. Using the plastic character masks for a costume and they were happy, now you have to have a whole outfit for them or they are not happy.

Times sure have changed and I think kids today have been really missing out on a lot of fun traditions that for us older ones, were such a special part of our lives.

Well, even playing outside with other kids and playing games like,well if any of you remember these games, but like "kick the can", capture the flag,red red robin and we would even give little plays and have little carnivals for the neighborhood people,now it is computer games,cell phone talk,ipads and those other electronic games. Remember being able to ride your bike around the block or roller skating around the block with those skates that had a key on them. I could go on, but will stop here.
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Laurel 03:52 AM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by Sunchimes:
Even after all these years, I feel a little disappointed when I sniff a baby and don't smell baby powder.

I learned to drive throwing out my arm to stop the kid in the seat beside me from pitching in the floor. It took me years to break that habit.
All my gosh the learning to drive made me laugh out loud!!

My sister and I thought it was great fun to get to ride in the back of the station wagon. You had to hang on to the back seat for turns though. It was great for a night at the Drive In (I wonder if there are any of those anymore) because we'd put our blankets and pillows back there and go in our pj's. A mobile slumber party!! We'd fall asleep while our parents watched the movie.

Laurel
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Laurel 03:57 AM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by nanglgrl:
Remember a little over 20 years ago when we were told to put babies to sleep on their sides if they spit up a lot or had a cold. This was way before the back to bed campaign but I remember when babies slept on their stomachs/sides all of the time.
All 3 of mine slept on their stomachs. They sleep way better like that. I wouldn't do it today though as I heard a very compelling training about SIDS and the stats about infant deaths.

Laurel
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Laurel 04:09 AM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by care giver:
I am older also and remember many of those things!

Remember with the cloth diapers you had to fold them a certain way to put them on and use diaper pins? Those big huge colored pins!

Remember the plastic or rubber pants to use over the diapers.

Pack & plays were called Play Pens and people would use them more back then for baby to play in. Now parents won't use them because they feel like baby needs to be free to Rome and I myself believe too many kids Rome to much and are not watched enough and that is why so many kids get hurt unnecessarily.

Remember the walker that was the cloth seats and had the wheels on them that the child had to push around in with their feet to get the hang of walking.

Remember when your child first was learning to walk, you put "walker shoes" on. The white hard leather ones, usually was made by stride rite that had a lot of support for their feet. Now they say to put tennis shoes on them or let them go barefoot to learn to walk.

Remember tie shoes, there was no such thing as Velcro for shoes, you actually had to tie them.

Remember when you could put juice in their bottle or even use "kool aid" and it was okay. Heaven forbid giving your child any kind of juice or use kool aid today. Remember when giving them a piece of candy or a cookie was a treat,now it is like it is a big sin to even let them have a cookie or even a piece of chocolate.

Remember letting your kids go out in the neighborhood for Halloween and get a huge pillow case of candy and actually letting them eat the candy. Using the plastic character masks for a costume and they were happy, now you have to have a whole outfit for them or they are not happy.

Times sure have changed and I think kids today have been really missing out on a lot of fun traditions that for us older ones, were such a special part of our lives.

Well, even playing outside with other kids and playing games like,well if any of you remember these games, but like "kick the can", capture the flag,red red robin and we would even give little plays and have little carnivals for the neighborhood people,now it is computer games,cell phone talk,ipads and those other electronic games. Remember being able to ride your bike around the block or roller skating around the block with those skates that had a key on them. I could go on, but will stop here.
Oh my gosh I remember it all! I was just looking for a 'playpen' like the good old days and they still sell them. I was surprised. I didn't think they did. I was considering it as my 'older' provider friend has one. They are square so you don't feel like they are just sitting in their bed. I'm not buying one because as I recall you had to put them in there before they knew they could roam around on the floor and mine already roams and will crawl soon. There is plenty of room in hers and it is safer especially if you are doing childcare.

Oh those hard white shoes. I remember! They were so expensive and you had to get several pairs as they would outgrow them so fast and you actually had to go to the shoe store and have your child fitted for shoes. No grabbing them off the rack at Target.

Oh I sooo loved having carnivals! We used to have 'rummage sales' too and one summer we took the money ($8.35) and sent it to an orphanage. They sent us a nice letter back and said they would use it buy candy for the holidays (Valentine's Day) for their children and asked us to visit anytime. So, of course, we did and baked cupcakes to take. On a serious note, that is something I will never, ever forget. We stayed a while, had a tour, played a ball game in their gym with them but it will be forever etched in my memory....the sadness of not having a real family and home. The little rows of bathtubs, etc. An institution to live in. Sad.

Laurel
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Laurel 04:13 AM 09-06-2013
Remember when children were actually home during the summer and not at 'camp'? Wow, we had some great times!

Laurel
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coolconfidentme 05:15 AM 09-06-2013
Remember when this job was fun?!?
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caregiver 05:28 AM 09-06-2013
Any of you remember in grade school having to go home for lunch. We had to walk home for lunch and lunch was 1 hour. those were the days when many of the Mom's were home and not working. Remember the flag patrols in grade school. You had to be a sixth grader to be a flag patrol, and yes, those were the days when grade school was k-6th grade.
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Meeko 06:42 AM 09-06-2013
My oldest two slept on their stomachs. The third slept on her side. The last slept on her back. Each one because the experts said it was the right thing to do at the time!!

I remember no seat belts in cars. My brother and I just played in the back seat or the very back of our station wagon without a care in the world!

One year we went on vacation with another family...all in one car. Four adults, five kids and two large dogs. All crammed in like sardines and not one seatbelt! My dad put a small bench in the back of the station wagon to make a "third row" for the smallest kids. The dogs wound around our feet. Nobody though for a second it was unsafe.

Oh...and my father's job? County road safety officer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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butterfly 08:16 AM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by Meeko:
My oldest two slept on their stomachs. The third slept on her side. The last slept on her back. Each one because the experts said it was the right thing to do at the time!!

I remember no seat belts in cars. My brother and I just played in the back seat or the very back of our station wagon without a care in the world!

One year we went on vacation with another family...all in one car. Four adults, five kids and two large dogs. All crammed in like sardines and not one seatbelt! My dad put a small bench in the back of the station wagon to make a "third row" for the smallest kids. The dogs wound around our feet. Nobody though for a second it was unsafe.

Oh...and my father's job? County road safety officer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Remember when there were station wagons?

This thread is making me feel really old.
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DaisyMamma 08:19 AM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by Sunchimes:
Even after all these years, I feel a little disappointed when I sniff a baby and don't smell baby powder.

I learned to drive throwing out my arm to stop the kid in the seat beside me from pitching in the floor. It took me years to break that habit.
Haha I remember my mom doing that! And she too did it for years after the first seatbelt law!
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Blackcat31 08:19 AM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by Meeko:
My oldest two slept on their stomachs. The third slept on her side. The last slept on her back. Each one because the experts said it was the right thing to do at the time!!

I remember no seat belts in cars. My brother and I just played in the back seat or the very back of our station wagon without a care in the world!

One year we went on vacation with another family...all in one car. Four adults, five kids and two large dogs. All crammed in like sardines and not one seatbelt! My dad put a small bench in the back of the station wagon to make a "third row" for the smallest kids. The dogs wound around our feet. Nobody though for a second it was unsafe.

Oh...and my father's job? County road safety officer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My family traveled extensively during my early years and ALL of our travels were done in either a station wagon or a pick up truck with a topper.

Myself and my 2 younger brothers rode in the back of the station wagon or pick up truck topper with a big blanket and lots of pillows! In the pick up truck, I remember my mom handing snacks back to us through the rear window....

I remember knowing we were close to a familiar area by the looks of the tree tops or shape of the landscape around us. BEST DVD ever!!!!!

I have a DCG right now who watches cartoons in the mini-van on the way to daycare.....she lives 6 blocks away.
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butterfly 08:33 AM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
My family traveled extensively during my early years and ALL of our travels were done in either a station wagon or a pick up truck with a topper.

Myself and my 2 younger brothers rode in the back of the station wagon or pick up truck topper with a big blanket and lots of pillows! In the pick up truck, I remember my mom handing snacks back to us through the rear window....

I remember knowing we were close to a familiar area by the looks of the tree tops or shape of the landscape around us. BEST DVD ever!!!!!

I have a DCG right now who watches cartoons in the mini-van on the way to daycare.....she lives 6 blocks away.
I rode this way in a pickup too. Oh man you guys are making me homesick!!
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momofsix 11:26 AM 09-06-2013
I remember bringing so many rolls of film to the store-and I had no idea what was on half of them until they were developed and I could pick them up! Most of the time half of the pictures didn't even turn out!
Heating up leftovers on the stove or oven only-no microwave.
I remember playing outside ALL DAY LONG in the summertime There was nothing fun to do inside...no cable, internet, video games...however did we survive!?!
I remember calling grown-ups Mr. and Mrs. I would never have called an adult by their first name!
Ugh, do you remember how awful the sanitary pads used to be!!!!???
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butterfly 11:42 AM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by momofsix:
!
Ugh, do you remember how awful the sanitary pads used to be!!!!???

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ABCDaycareMN 11:42 AM 09-06-2013
Although I'm not older like many of you but I do love hearing stories like this from my mom...

But I remember when everything wasn't so clean! There was no such thing as disinfectant wips or hand sanitizer. I actually don't like my kids using it. What happened to teaching kids to wash their hands at a sink with soap and water.
2 things on my sons 1st grade school list this year.

I remember when licking the bowl or spoon when baking a cake or brownies was a treat now it is frowned upon for the fear of sommella. I'm guilty, my kids and I still lick the bowls!

As a child through teen years we rode in the bed of my dads truck with a mattress and lots of pillows and blankets. We even crawled through the windows during long trips.

I remember when there was no such thing as a buster seat. Now my kids have to use them til they are 8!!!!!
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Laurel 11:51 AM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by momofsix:
I remember bringing so many rolls of film to the store-and I had no idea what was on half of them until they were developed and I could pick them up! Most of the time half of the pictures didn't even turn out!
Heating up leftovers on the stove or oven only-no microwave.
I remember playing outside ALL DAY LONG in the summertime There was nothing fun to do inside...no cable, internet, video games...however did we survive!?!
I remember calling grown-ups Mr. and Mrs. I would never have called an adult by their first name!
Ugh, do you remember how awful the sanitary pads used to be!!!!???
But now we have air conditioning inside. I think it is harder to be used to being cool and then going out into the heat. But then again, I live in Florida and take the children out and they don't seem to mind the heat at all.

Omg, those sanitary pads. Remember you had to wear them with that belt thingy? It went around your waist (for you young whippersnappers who are reading this ) and then the pad had a tab in the front and back that you had to hook them into this thing around your waist. It was horrible! Well I haven't had a period in years so there are some good things about getting old!

Laurel

Edited to add: Check this out! http://www.mum.org/beltclass.htm
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Josiegirl 11:51 AM 09-06-2013
I remember purchasing my first playpen with books of Green Stamps.
The drive-in theaters had 'jacks' you could hang over your window, not something you could tune your radio into.
For Halloween costumes, we'd fish through our parents drawers and closets and put something together. Didn't have to have mom and dad check out our stash either.
I remember the first 2 dcks I took in, siblings for a total of $40 a week.
Do they have 'room mothers' anymore? I was one when my ds went to kindergarten.
Speaking of kindergarten, I never went to kindergarten and no one knew anything about preschools back then.
I remember having drills in school, they called them air-raid drills and they always scared me to death.
OMG Laurel, those pad things were horrible!!
I remember when group showers were a must-do thing after gym and we all got undressed right by our gym lockers. Somehow I went all through middle school either being excused(had a lot of periods LOL) or something. Talk about humiliating when you're 12 and terribly shy.
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Leigh 12:04 PM 09-06-2013
This thread makes me smile! Much as I agree with using car seats, I feel terrible that my own kid won't go driving around the neighborhood "driving" on Dad's lap (I did it in my dad's PATROL CAR!), it's one of my favorite childhood memories!

Seat belts? I didn't use them until I started driving. We had a sharp right and a sharp left leaving our driveway (both 90 degrees), and one day on the way to church, I rolled right out of the backseat into the street on that second corner!

We never ate raw cookie dough, though, my mom controlled us by telling us that raw foods would give us worms-I still wear gloves when I handle raw meat, I just can't force myself to touch it! This same lady told us that "boogers" were made of bugs to keep our fingers out of our nose!
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Familycare71 12:12 PM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by Leigh:
This thread makes me smile! Much as I agree with using car seats, I feel terrible that my own kid won't go driving around the neighborhood "driving" on Dad's lap (I did it in my dad's PATROL CAR!), it's one of my favorite childhood memories!

Seat belts? I didn't use them until I started driving. We had a sharp right and a sharp left leaving our driveway (both 90 degrees), and one day on the way to church, I rolled right out of the backseat into the street on that second corner!

We never ate raw cookie dough, though, my mom controlled us by telling us that raw foods would give us worms-I still wear gloves when I handle raw meat, I just can't force myself to touch it! This same lady told us that "boogers" were made of bugs to keep our fingers out of our nose!

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Familycare71 12:14 PM 09-06-2013
I do remember riding in the back of pick up trucks with or with out a cap! Or in the way back of my dads blazer waving at everyone through the back window. I also remember the floor of the back seat being a fun place to sit
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preschoolteacher 12:14 PM 09-06-2013
I grew up in the 80's and 90's, so I'm a bit younger, but I still remember a lot!

Remember when there were latch-key kids? I came home from school on the bus and "watched" my 6-year-old brother when I was 8-years-old until my parents came home from work. One time I lost the key and we were locked outside... No cell phones. We were resilient little kids though--I made my brother crawl through the doggy door and let me in! I would even make him dinner (sandwiches, cut up fruit). Now parents panic over leaving 12 year olds alone for an hour.

Remember when kids could roam the neighborhood? Our parents had no clue where we were, just around... and we knew it was time for dinner when we heard Mom yelling from the deck!

Remember when there was NO diversity in food? At least where I lived. I heard of sushi for the first time in high school, avocado for the first time a few years before that. My son is 1 and has had Ethiopian food, for heaven's sake!

Fun thread!!
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Blackcat31 12:18 PM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by momofsix:
I remember bringing so many rolls of film to the store-and I had no idea what was on half of them until they were developed and I could pick them up! Most of the time half of the pictures didn't even turn out!
I still own and use a 35 mm camera. I cannot be convinced the digital takes better quality photos.

I am a huge lover of B&W and actual film processing just can't be beat.

Originally Posted by momofsix:
I remember calling grown-ups Mr. and Mrs. I would never have called an adult by their first name!
I just ran into my BFF from elementary school's mom. I greeted her by saying "hello Mrs J"......I just couldn't bring myself to refer to her by her first name only....it would have felt really awkward.

Originally Posted by ABCDaycareMN:
I remember when licking the bowl or spoon when baking a cake or brownies was a treat now it is frowned upon for the fear of sommella. I'm guilty, my kids and I still lick the bowls!!
One of my fondest memories with my grandma was staying with her in the summer time and making a batch of brownies....just so we could eat the WHOLE bowl of batter and not cook a single one.

Originally Posted by Josiegirl:
I remember purchasing my first playpen with books of Green Stamps.
My mother bought every thing she needed for me as a baby with Green Stamps!

My DH and I spend a lot of time going to antique stores. I came across an old S&H Green Stamp sign one day and bought it for my mom for nothing more than the memories.

Originally Posted by Josiegirl:
I remember when group showers were a must-do thing after gym and we all got undressed right by our gym lockers. Somehow I went all through middle school either being excused(had a lot of periods LOL) or something. Talk about humiliating when you're 12 and terribly shy.
I remember swimming class in gym. The school provided the swim suits...color coded of course for your size....xs, s, m, l, xl..... I cringe at how embarrassing that must have been for some....
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MyAngels 12:26 PM 09-06-2013
I remember using a bottle that had a plunger type thing so that we could feed my nephew cereal with his formula .

I remember driving 5 hours to relatives in Indiana with my infant nephew on my lap in the front seat, no seat belts for anyone in the car. We laughed and laughed because every time we'd go over a hill his little hands would fly up and he'd giggle. This was 1981

I remember riding down the highway with my cousins in the open bed of a pickup truck.

I remember riding in my dad's camper (on the back of his pickup) all the way across the country. Every time we'd turn a corner or merge onto the highway we'd all go flying everywhere, since we couldn't really see where we were going. My sister and I would open up the side windows as we drove along and throw small things out just to see what they'd do. My mom always wondered where all of my Barbie clothes disappeared to .
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nanglgrl 12:44 PM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
My family traveled extensively during my early years and ALL of our travels were done in either a station wagon or a pick up truck with a topper.

Myself and my 2 younger brothers rode in the back of the station wagon or pick up truck topper with a big blanket and lots of pillows! In the pick up truck, I remember my mom handing snacks back to us through the rear window....

I remember knowing we were close to a familiar area by the looks of the tree tops or shape of the landscape around us. BEST DVD ever!!!!!

I have a DCG right now who watches cartoons in the mini-van on the way to daycare.....she lives 6 blocks away.
We traveled from Texas to Iowa in the back of our pick up truck with a topper. Our parents threw a mattress in back and when we got bored we would do sick puppet shows out the back window for the people behind us!
Remember when kids could climb trees, run around barefoot and be filthy without an adult giving their parent a judemental stare?
Remember when "liability" wasn't such a huge issue because accidents happen? Now I hate to even let the neighbor kids play in our yard for fear of them getting hurt and being sued!
I remember building tree forts with every piece if spare wood I could find and putting so many nails in them they could outlast a tornado. Actually I still have a treefort, it was our first improvement when we bought this house. Lol.
I remember being able to roam freely at summer camp and we even buried one of our counselors in the sand and shaved his beard!
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nanglgrl 12:46 PM 09-06-2013
And another...remember when barbies didn't have so many cool accessories and furniture, well they probably did but we couldn't afford them? My Barbie car was my roller skate and her furniture was folded up towels!
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itlw8 02:36 PM 09-06-2013
remember when the girl down the street had polio and was in an iron lung and now is in a wheel chair.

Remember when the whole town lined up to get the polio vaccine on a sugar cube in the school gym

remember when you got mumps measles or chickenpox before the vaccines.

Remember when those disposable diapers were no more absorbant than the cloth diapers ( you had to fold)

remember when school got out before Memorial Day and did not go back until after Labor DAy

Remember drinking Kool Aid out of colored aluminum cups in the summer.

Remember when you attended preschool you were one of the Rare ones and the parents were all Drs, Dentists and Lawyers.

Remember when on a Friday night saying to the man who pumped your gas. 50 cents please.. And will you check the oil please.


Going to the drive in on a Saturday night. going to the movies that was fancy and only had one screen in the building.

Calling all adults buy Mrs Mr Rev Dr unless they were good family friends and told you you could call them by their first name.

Remember getting your first job for $3 an hour. or babysitting for 50 cents an hour.
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Laurel 03:26 PM 09-06-2013
I remember when a girl wouldn't be admitted into the movie theatre with slacks. She had to wear a dress or skirt. I was a preteen then.

There were not restaurants on every corner and no McDonald's. The first fast food restaurant near us was like a McDonalds but it was called the Teddy Bear. I was in high school then. A date would take you to the Teddy Bear. There were restaurants but they were few and far between in populated areas.

I remember when my mom sent me to the neighborhood store for a loaf of bread and was upset when they raised the price from 25 cents to 26 cents. Then we'd get bored on the way home and swing the bread around over our heads. Can we say crooked toast?

These are GREAT everyone. I'm having so much fun reading them!

Besides green stamps, my mother in law smoked and she redeemed cigarette points for a high chair for our first child. Can you imagine that happening now with all the anti smoking campaigns?

Oh and boxes of laundry detergent used to have things in them. You could collect a whole set of glasses (one by one) or bath towels. My mom sewed the striped bath towels into swim cover ups for my sister and I.

Laurel

Oh and when we loaded up our wagon with 'pop' bottles and they paid a penny for each bottle. We got to keep the money and spent it on penny candy.
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Laurel 03:29 PM 09-06-2013
Did anybody have a full set of Funk and Wagnalls encyclopedias? You would buy them at the grocery store. Each week they had a new one. We collected the whole set.

Laurel
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Laurel 03:34 PM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by preschoolteacher:
I grew up in the 80's and 90's, so I'm a bit younger, but I still remember a lot!

Remember when there were latch-key kids? I came home from school on the bus and "watched" my 6-year-old brother when I was 8-years-old until my parents came home from work. One time I lost the key and we were locked outside... No cell phones. We were resilient little kids though--I made my brother crawl through the doggy door and let me in! I would even make him dinner (sandwiches, cut up fruit). Now parents panic over leaving 12 year olds alone for an hour.

Remember when kids could roam the neighborhood? Our parents had no clue where we were, just around... and we knew it was time for dinner when we heard Mom yelling from the deck!

Remember when there was NO diversity in food? At least where I lived. I heard of sushi for the first time in high school, avocado for the first time a few years before that. My son is 1 and has had Ethiopian food, for heaven's sake!

Fun thread!!
My mom and dad got tired of yelling from the back porch so my dad, being somewhat of a do it yourselfer, mounted some kind of really loud buzzer on top of the house. All four family members had a beep code. When I'd hear two buzzes it meant time to go home for dinner.

Laurel
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Cradle2crayons 07:42 PM 09-06-2013
Originally Posted by Sunchimes:
Even after all these years, I feel a little disappointed when I sniff a baby and don't smell baby powder.

I learned to drive throwing out my arm to stop the kid in the seat beside me from pitching in the floor. It took me years to break that habit.
I still do it. Even though since I started driving, there have always been seat belts. I guess it's just instinct lol. I also tell the kids to "hold on" even though they are snapped in a car seat?? Lol
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Starburst 09:23 AM 09-07-2013
Originally Posted by Meeko:
My oldest two slept on their stomachs. The third slept on her side. The last slept on her back. Each one because the experts said it was the right thing to do at the time!!

I remember no seat belts in cars. My brother and I just played in the back seat or the very back of our station wagon without a care in the world!

One year we went on vacation with another family...all in one car. Four adults, five kids and two large dogs. All crammed in like sardines and not one seatbelt! My dad put a small bench in the back of the station wagon to make a "third row" for the smallest kids. The dogs wound around our feet. Nobody though for a second it was unsafe.
My uncle was a Volvo mechanic and my mom and aunt always had some form of Volvos (several through out the years). My aunt and uncle had 3 kids and because my mom worked a lot and my aunt and uncle usually watched my brother and I, my uncle added an optional double seat (could be folded down) with seat belts to the back of my aunt's Volvo station wagon.
_______

I got one from a (90's) kid point of view:

Remember when kids were encouraged to go outside and play in the dirt/mud? (its slowly coming back, to the chagrin of many OCD moms)

Remember catching tadpoles or fireflies during the summer?

Remember when babies and toddlers didn't know how to use computers?

Remember when Saturday morning cartoons were worth watching?

Remember when cartoons really were cartoons and not computer animated?

Remember when everyone was obsessed with beanie babies instead of Facebook?

Remember when curfew was "when the street lights turned on"?

Remember when the only "reality" TV show was Cops and The News?

Remember when MTV was still about music?

Remember when everything was on VHS and everyone had VCRs (I still have a few VCRs, lots of VHSs)

Remember when having your own land line number was every teenage girl's dream?

Remember when if your parents needed you to call them, they would page your beeper?
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Laurel 09:51 AM 09-07-2013
Originally Posted by Starburst:
My uncle was a Volvo mechanic and my mom and aunt always had some form of Volvos (several through out the years). My aunt and uncle had 3 kids and because my mom worked a lot and my aunt and uncle usually watched my brother and I, my uncle added an optional double seat (could be folded down) with seat belts to the back of my aunt's Volvo station wagon.
_______

I got one from a (90's) kid point of view:

Remember when kids were encouraged to go outside and play in the dirt/mud? (its slowly coming back, to the chagrin of many OCD moms)

Remember catching tadpoles or fireflies during the summer?

Remember when babies and toddlers didn't know how to use computers?

Remember when Saturday morning cartoons were worth watching?

Remember when cartoons really were cartoons and not computer animated?
Oh I would like to hear from younger generations too! I wonder what their perspective is.

We caught lighting bugs and tadpoles too. I have never seen a lightning bug where I live now though (South Florida). I have seen flies but so few that, at first, I thought we didn't have flies here.

About babies/toddlers using computers I am a little concerned. My daughter bought my grandson (3 in Nov.) a little tablet type one for kids. I can't decide how I feel about it. I did tell her not to bring it to daycare though and try not to let it become a crutch. This topic is probably another thread though.

Laurel
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Size18 05:05 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by Laurel:
-Remember when using 'paper diapers' meant you were a bad mother? Then later in the 70's people thought you were strange if you used cloth and now it is back to cloth (except for me )

Remember when you used to take a needle and make a slow nipple faster?

-Remember when you had to sterilize bottles?Laurel
Boy, do I ever remember!

I started babysitting in the late 60's, and cloth diapers were the standard. Then came the 70's, when plastic diapers (disposables) started making their debut, albeit a slow one. Hardly anyone used them. Cloth diapers were still the norm, however, on the rare occasion when I babysat for someone who used disposables, I loathed changing a dirty, because unlike a cloth diaper that could be rolled, folded, and used to wipe baby's bottom, disposables... once soiled, were spent.

I have taken many a hot needle/diaper pin to baby bottle nipples in my day.

Sterilizing baby bottles was such a fad, wasn't it... one that quickly went by wayside once it was learned that sterilizing wasn't necessary.
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Familycare71 05:21 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by Starburst:
_______

I got one from a (90's) kid point of view:

Remember when kids were encouraged to go outside and play in the dirt/mud? (its slowly coming back, to the chagrin of many OCD moms)

Remember catching tadpoles or fireflies during the summer?

Remember when babies and toddlers didn't know how to use computers?

Remember when Saturday morning cartoons were worth watching?

Remember when cartoons really were cartoons and not computer animated?

Remember when everyone was obsessed with beanie babies instead of Facebook?

Remember when curfew was "when the street lights turned on"?

Remember when the only "reality" TV show was Cops and The News?

Remember when MTV was still about music?

Remember when everything was on VHS and everyone had VCRs (I still have a few VCRs, lots of VHSs)

Remember when having your own land line number was every teenage girl's dream?

Remember when if your parents needed you to call them, they would page your beeper?
I remember all of these except the beeper one! I do remeber at the end of practice I would call my house collect- they would deny it and that's how they knew to come and get me
I remeber choosing between beta and VHS when we bought our first VCR.
I remeber our first tv with a remote!
... The first time we had cable!
... Am cartoons while I got ready for school and sat am cartoons
... How exciting cordless phones were.
... How you had to have cell phones installed in your car
... Recording songs off the radio
... Going to music stores
... When they first said cd's were indestructible!
- I could probably go on and on
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Size18 05:22 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by care giver:
Remember with the cloth diapers you had to fold them a certain way to put them on and use diaper pins? Those big huge colored pins!

Remember the plastic or rubber pants to use over the diapers.
Oh, yes, I sure do, and very well may I add! Changed dozens of charges throughout my babysitting years who wore old-fashioned diapers... used the same on my kids.

I remember folding diapers at change time when I was a babysitter. I always held the safety pins in my mouth when I diapered, and when night-time came, applying double diapers to baby's bottom was standard practice.

I remember both pull-on and snap-on rubber pants, and for a time (the 70's), rubber pants came in pale pastel colours. Traditional white rubber pants were still the most popular though. EVERYONE used white rubber pants.
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Size18 05:33 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by itlw8:
Remember when those disposable diapers were no more absorbant than the cloth diapers ( you had to fold)

Remember getting your first job for $3 an hour. or babysitting for 50 cents an hour.
Yep and yep! I remember early disposable diapers had no elastic leg-gathers, and looked much like a regular ordinary flat cloth diaper when on. I also remember how bulky they were.

Yes, .50 cents an hour was the standard going babysitting rate when I first started sitting, then when the rate went up to $1 an hour I thought I was rich!
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Laurel 05:41 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by Size18:
Boy, do I ever remember!

I started babysitting in the late 60's, and cloth diapers were the standard. Then came the 70's, when plastic diapers (disposables) started making their debut, albeit a slow one. Hardly anyone used them. Cloth diapers were still the norm, however, on the rare occasion when I babysat for someone who used disposables, I loathed changing a dirty, because unlike a cloth diaper that could be rolled, folded, and used to wipe baby's bottom, disposables... once soiled, were spent.

I have taken many a hot needle/diaper pin to baby bottle nipples in my day.

Sterilizing baby bottles was such a fad, wasn't it... one that quickly went by wayside once it was learned that sterilizing wasn't necessary.
Well I did a little research the other day on sterilizing bottles. I think they did it at first because the water supply wasn't as sanitary as it is today. I think it was in my day but maybe since earlier generations did it we just did it because we weren't educated about WHY we were doing it. Ours moms did it and said we had to.

Laurel
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Size18 05:41 PM 09-08-2013
How many of you babysat in the 60's/70's/80's?

Remember changing cloth diapers with pins and rubber pants?

Remember dunking diapers up and down in the toilet to rinse?

Remember the strong ammonia odour of diaper pails that would burn at your eyes when you lifted the lid?
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Laurel 05:43 PM 09-08-2013
I babysat for 50 cents an hour and I also sold Girl Scout cookies for 50 cents a box.

Laurel
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Size18 05:43 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by Laurel:
Well I did a little research the other day on sterilizing bottles. I think they did it at first because the water supply wasn't as sanitary as it is today. I think it was in my day but maybe since earlier generations did it we just did it because we weren't educated about WHY we were doing it. Ours moms did it and said we had to.

Laurel
ROTFL! Great point about the water not being as safe (back then) as it is today.
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Size18 05:46 PM 09-08-2013
Remember being given full-permission to spank when you babysat? I applied a few spankings as a sitter.
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Laurel 05:48 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by Size18:
How many of you babysat in the 60's/70's/80's?

Remember changing cloth diapers with pins and rubber pants?

Remember dunking diapers up and down in the toilet to rinse?

Remember the strong ammonia odour of diaper pails that would burn at your eyes when you lifted the lid?
I babysat in the 60's and had my own three children in the 70's and 80's.

When I babysat, I never did infants. I did just about age 3 and up.

When my first was born in 1978 I so abhored the thought of cloth diapers that I had a diaper service the first few weeks. Then I took the plunge and used disposables. They did have gathering around the legs then though. I did try cloth and pins and rubber pants (ugh) but then I just decided to use the disposables.

I won't watch daycare infants if they want cloth diapers.

We did dunk them up and down in the toilet to rinse. What do they do now? I can't think of any other way to get the sticky poop out.

Laurel
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Size18 05:50 PM 09-08-2013
How about excer-saucers? Anyone remember them?

They were large cumbersome plastic units with wheels/casters under the legs. Babies sat down inside and used their feet/legs to power the saucer around. They were eventually banned due to babies going down stairs in them.
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Size18 06:05 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by Laurel:
I babysat in the 60's and had my own three children in the 70's and 80's.

When I babysat, I never did infants. I did just about age 3 and up.

When my first was born in 1978 I so abhored the thought of cloth diapers that I had a diaper service the first few weeks. Then I took the plunge and used disposables. They did have gathering around the legs then though. I did try cloth and pins and rubber pants (ugh) but then I just decided to use the disposables.

I won't watch daycare infants if they want cloth diapers.

We did dunk them up and down in the toilet to rinse. What do they do now? I can't think of any other way to get the sticky poop out.

Laurel
I remember diaper services! Each year for New Years, the first baby of the year would get a month or two (or three) of free diaper service. I remember the neighbours would set out the plastic diaper pail (outside) on diaper service day for pick-up. In exchange for the wet and dirties, fresh diapers would be dropped off.

One thing I remember about babysitting and changing diapers, is I always felt so mature and grown up when I babysat at homes where diapers were being used. Even if a baby/child didn't need changing before bedtime (evening babysitting), I changed the kid anyway.
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Size18 06:11 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by :
Originally posted by Laurel
We did dunk them up and down in the toilet to rinse. What do they do now?
That's a good question. I know with my own kids (kids I babysat, too), I just dunked them up and down in the toilet, but the cloth diapers of old were thin like a sheet, so they rinsed quickly and easily. The new modern cloth diapers are so bulky and thick. Drying times must be atrocious with them...

Don't know if the plumbing pipes were bigger (round) back in the day, but I know several moms who accidentally flushed diapers down their toilets while rinsing. I guess it was your lucky day when the diaper went straight down without plugging!
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Size18 06:15 PM 09-08-2013
Remember baby changing tables in the 70's? I don't. Diapers were changed in the baby's crib, on the floor, or on top of the sink-counter in the bathroom.
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Size18 06:18 PM 09-08-2013
Remember dipping baby soothers into honey to help get babies to stop crying? No worries over bacteria in the old days...
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Size18 06:19 PM 09-08-2013
Remember sharing a quick cigarette in the girls bathroom in school?
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Size18 06:29 PM 09-08-2013
Back to diapers again for a second... I remember few kids that wore diapers past age 2-1/2 (in my day), unlike today.

Remember pad-a-pant disposable diapers? (Don't remember the exact name of them). Nonetheless, they were some of the earliest disposables that came out. The diapers looked like thick Kotex pads and had to be used with special pad-a-pant rubber pants that snapped up. No pins!
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Size18 06:31 PM 09-08-2013
Remember when EVERYONE had (and used) a clothesline?
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Size18 06:34 PM 09-08-2013
Oh, and how about drop-sided cribs? Remember those? Where the railings could be raised and lowered. Can't imagine using a fixed-side crib. Moms poor backs...
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Size18 06:57 PM 09-08-2013
Remember wringer washing machines?
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itlw8 06:59 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by Size18:
Remember baby changing tables in the 70's? I don't. Diapers were changed in the baby's crib, on the floor, or on top of the sink-counter in the bathroom.
EEEWWWW

everyone I knew used a changing table thought they were rather flimsy the popular one was plastic wicker and kinda folded to make a smaller thing when not in use. most of us were told to take a chest and put a pad on it to make our own changing table to save money.

We did have bumpers in the crib and blankets.
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Size18 07:02 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by :
Originally posted by itlw8
We did have bumpers in the crib and blankets.
I used crib bumpers for my first two.
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Size18 08:06 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by :
Originally posted by momofsix
Ugh, do you remember how awful the sanitary pads used to be!!!!???
I do! Granny panties were a necessity back then.
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Size18 09:37 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by :
Originally posted by Laurel
Omg, those sanitary pads. Remember you had to wear them with that belt thingy?
I remember... and safety pins, too.
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Size18 09:49 PM 09-08-2013
Originally Posted by :
Originally posted by e.j.
-Remember when baby powder was considered to be a good thing to use during diaper changes?
Gosh yes... and so dedicated I was in living up to the "good thing". Dashed a ton of powder into the pants of charges and my own kids over the years...
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momofsix 06:13 AM 09-09-2013
Originally Posted by Size18:
I do! Granny panties were a necessity back then.

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Meeko 06:42 AM 09-09-2013
A 1968 Ford Cortina (UK). Even with a homemade bench in the back, I am amazed we got 4 adults, 5 kids and two dogs (one lab and one German Shepherd) in this thing for a vacation trip!!!!!
Attached: cortina.jpg (430.3 KB) 
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Size18 06:53 AM 09-09-2013
That car is fab!!!

Perfect colour combination, too!
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Size18 08:23 AM 09-09-2013
Remember running diaper pins through your hair when changing cloth diapers, to help lubricate them so they glided more easily through diapers?
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Laurel 10:05 AM 09-09-2013
Originally Posted by Meeko:
A 1968 Ford Cortina (UK). Even with a homemade bench in the back, I am amazed we got 4 adults, 5 kids and two dogs (one lab and one German Shepherd) in this thing for a vacation trip!!!!!
Cool! We used to have a station wagon all the time because my dad was an electrician. If he used his own vehicle, he got mileage and wear and tear paid by his employer. If they supplied a vehicle, then he didn't.

There were times when my sister and I needed a ride somewhere and had to sit in the back seat between ladders.

Oh those were the days........

Laurel
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Laurel 10:08 AM 09-09-2013
Originally Posted by itlw8:
EEEWWWW

everyone I knew used a changing table thought they were rather flimsy the popular one was plastic wicker and kinda folded to make a smaller thing when not in use. most of us were told to take a chest and put a pad on it to make our own changing table to save money.

We did have bumpers in the crib and blankets.
I had a changing table in the 70's but I much prefer a chest (which I have now). My changing table had open shelves under them and would never do for daycare now. The drawers I have now are great for keeping diapers/wipes, extra clothes, etc. I had to try to keep my own from taking things off the shelves until I just gave up.

Laurel
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Moppetland 10:31 AM 09-09-2013
Okay, my memories come from growing up in the city beginning in the 70's:

Remember when there was no Netflix and you actually had to go to Blockbuster to rent a movie?

Remember when the Good Humor truck actually had good ice-cream and the Softee truck had ice-cream cones, banana splits and sundaes?

Remember the candy lady?

Remember when school lunches were actually hot and prepared lunches?

Remember the school plays/programs were actually called Christmas plays/ programs and not holiday plays/programs?

Remember going down to the corner store to play the arcade machines?

Remember taking school pictures in the spring after Easter Sunday and got a chance to what you wore to church on Easter Sunday?

Remember when school teachers either wore a suit and tie for male teachers and skirt or dress for female teachers?

Remember actually standing in your yard watering your grass while holding the hose instead of all these fancy lawn watering thingamagingas? sp?

Remember that going to McDonald's was a special going out to dinner treat?

Remember when your neighbor knew where you were all the time, just like your mother did?

Remember going to the music store to buy your albums and 45's?

Remember feeding your baby mashed food instead of baby jar food?

Okay, I can go on, but I'll leave you with one last one:

Remember when babies use to drink pet milk, powdered milk and Karo syrup in their bottles?
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Blackcat31 10:56 AM 09-09-2013
Originally Posted by Moppetland:
Okay, my memories come from growing up in the city beginning in the 70's:

Remember when there was no Netflix and you actually had to go to Blockbuster to rent a movie?

There we no such thing as rentable movies when I was a kid. Heck, I remember actually having to get up and change the channel...to the only other one we got. If it didn't come I clearly, we had to go outside and turn the TV antennae.


Remember that going to McDonald's was a special going out to dinner treat?

I don't think I had even heard of McDonald's when I was young and we going out to eat, meant the church ladies were preparing a buffet style meal in the church basement for the entire congregation.


Remember feeding your baby mashed food instead of baby jar food?

I remember my grandma and my dad actually chewing food up FIRST BEFORE giving it to baby...
I replied a couple times in bold above..... funny how times have changed... this has been a great thread!
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Size18 11:23 AM 09-09-2013
Originally Posted by :
Originally posted by Moppetland
Remember feeding your baby mashed food instead of baby jar food?

Remember when babies use to drink pet milk, powdered milk and Karo syrup in their bottles?
I remember both. I never fed my kids out of jars, and I remember helping my mom prepare formula for baby siblings using Karo and condensed milk.
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Meeko 11:58 AM 09-09-2013
When I grew up, the only McDonalds in the entire country was in Kensington High Street in London. I was 17 when I tasted a Big Mac for the first time!
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Size18 12:26 PM 09-09-2013
Remember when Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Dressup, and Mr. Rogers Neighbouhood, were the order of the day when it came to television? I don't think a single day ever went by in our house where we didn't watch one or all.
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Size18 12:30 PM 09-09-2013
Remember when it used to be glass nursery/baby bottles?

No plastic... well... no plastic until the 70's, at least that's when I remember plastic baby bottles coming to light.
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Size18 12:33 PM 09-09-2013
And how about plastic/vinyl baby bibs? I haven't seen a plastic baby bib in years... Do they even still make/sell plastic bibs?

Anyone else use plastic bibs on their kids? I know I sure did!!!
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Meeko 12:36 PM 09-09-2013
Originally Posted by Size18:
That car is fab!!!

Perfect colour combination, too!
This isn't ours...ours was the same...but green instead of blue....still with the woody sided!
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Size18 12:37 PM 09-09-2013
Originally Posted by Meeko:
This isn't ours...ours was the same...but green instead of blue....still with the woody sided!
Got to have the woody side! So classic.
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Size18 01:15 PM 09-09-2013
Remember when all businesses, stores, shops, etc, were closed on Sunday?

I'd actually like to see that back again.
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Size18 01:44 PM 09-09-2013
Remember when school grounds were segregated? Boys on one side, girls on the other?
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caregiver 02:57 PM 09-09-2013
Originally Posted by Size18:
Remember when all businesses, stores, shops, etc, were closed on Sunday?

I'd actually like to see that back again.
I actually would love to see that again myself! Weekends back then were more family orientated. Places that were open on the weekends usually were like museums and that sort of things. When I was little, we would go as a family to like the Swedish institute or like art museums or places like that and had family time. Weekends were a more relaxing time since not much was open. I remember my Dad hurrying on Friday nights to fill the car up with gas since gas stations were not open on the weekends!
People were not in so much of rush back then to do and go places on the weekends and it was a more relaxed time.
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Meeko 03:12 PM 09-09-2013
Originally Posted by Size18:
Remember when all businesses, stores, shops, etc, were closed on Sunday?

I'd actually like to see that back again.
In the UK, not only was everything closed on Sunday, but most stores closed by 6pm on the weekdays and Wednesday was called "early closing" !! Stores closed at 1PM!!!!! We just accepted that!
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Meeko 03:13 PM 09-09-2013
Originally Posted by Size18:
Remember when all businesses, stores, shops, etc, were closed on Sunday?

I'd actually like to see that back again.
Me too
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Size18 05:45 PM 09-09-2013
Originally Posted by care giver:
I actually would love to see that again myself! Weekends back then were more family orientated. Places that were open on the weekends usually were like museums and that sort of things. When I was little, we would go as a family to like the Swedish institute or like art museums or places like that and had family time. Weekends were a more relaxing time since not much was open. I remember my Dad hurrying on Friday nights to fill the car up with gas since gas stations were not open on the weekends!
People were not in so much of rush back then to do and go places on the weekends and it was a more relaxed time.
Ahhh... such warm memories... I do remember. It definitely encouraged a slower more deliberate lifestyle, where planned events, gatherings, and family-time took the forefront, where people were less hurried and gauged towards go, go, go... and where, once the work week was done, complete, and out of the way, a quieter calm blanketed households and neighbourhoods with a sense of peace. It helped create balance, which from everything I'm seeing today, no longer exists.
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Size18 05:47 PM 09-09-2013
Originally Posted by Meeko:
In the UK, not only was everything closed on Sunday, but most stores closed by 6pm on the weekdays and Wednesday was called "early closing" !! Stores closed at 1PM!!!!! We just accepted that!
That sounds like my kind of living.
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mrsnj 06:44 PM 09-09-2013
I remember everything being closed on Sundays. You could only get essentials like milk and that was if you could find a place open! And heaven forbid the liquor store was open!

I remember the towns 5 & 10 store where I could to smell roasted peanuts and things actually were sold for 5 cents!

I remember only having like 6 channels and sometimes they got static and you had to move the antenna!

I remember Saturday afternoons was the old 'scary' movies like Japanese black and whites and Sunday I would watch old time black and white movies/shows like Lucy and Blondie and Dagwood. When I was younger I remember rushing to get my bath so I could watch Disney on Sunday night. Not the Disney channel but Disney the show.

No AC and laying in bed at night with the fan on and listening to the crickets.

Pantyhose!! Better yet....putting on pantyhose with no AC

Instead of soccer teams, lessons and afterschool activities you actually just played outside with friends!
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Laurel 06:57 PM 09-09-2013
I think what I miss most is all the moms that used to stay home. Not that they all did but most of them. That was the norm. The neighborhood bustled during the daytime instead of a dead neighborhood where all the adults are at work and all the kids are in daycare.

Adults weren't working crazy hours like others have mentioned above. Families were together more. Things moved slower. I remember playing Barbie Dolls in 8th grade. Now children get them when they are 3.

I miss the good ole days. Although not all of it was good, there WERE pantyhose, lol.

Laurel
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Laurel 07:01 PM 09-09-2013
Originally Posted by mrsnj:
I remember everything being closed on Sundays. You could only get essentials like milk and that was if you could find a place open! And heaven forbid the liquor store was open!

I remember the towns 5 & 10 store where I could to smell roasted peanuts and things actually were sold for 5 cents!

I remember only having like 6 channels and sometimes they got static and you had to move the antenna!

I remember Saturday afternoons was the old 'scary' movies like Japanese black and whites and Sunday I would watch old time black and white movies/shows like Lucy and Blondie and Dagwood. When I was younger I remember rushing to get my bath so I could watch Disney on Sunday night. Not the Disney channel but Disney the show.

No AC and laying in bed at night with the fan on and listening to the crickets.

Pantyhose!! Better yet....putting on pantyhose with no AC

Instead of soccer teams, lessons and afterschool activities you actually just played outside with friends!
Oh yes, no AC. I remember wearing shortie pj's at night and lying there with a fan in the window. Oh yes, and just try to put on pantyhose with no AC. That was rough.

Oh and remember Easter hats? It seems such a shame that Easter hats are a rarity nowadays. I loved my Easter hats.

I also think children played outside more because it was just as hot inside as it was outside....or almost. I can see why kids nowadays would want to stay inside... AC!

Laurel
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Laurel 07:03 PM 09-09-2013
Oh and no backpacks. In grade school I had the cutest little plaid school bag. In high school we just carried our books in our arms. I did have one of those rubber strap things to hold them together though. No one really thought of tote bags and school bags were for babies in elementary school.

Laurel
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Size18 10:28 AM 09-10-2013
Originally Posted by :
Originally posted by mrsnj
I remember the towns 5 & 10 store where I could to smell roasted peanuts and things actually were sold for 5 cents!
Five & Dime stores were the greatest stores of all!
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Blackcat31 10:33 AM 09-10-2013
Originally Posted by Size18:
Remember when Captain Kangaroo, Mr. Dressup, and Mr. Rogers Neighbouhood, were the order of the day when it came to television? I don't think a single day ever went by in our house where we didn't watch one or all.
I didn't watch them as a child....we didn't get our first TV until I was in 8th grade. Jaws was going to air on ABC, so my mom just HAD to go buy a TV so we could watch it.

Originally Posted by Size18:
Anyone else use plastic bibs on their kids? I know I sure did!!!
I only buy and use plastic bibs.

Originally Posted by Size18:
Remember when all businesses, stores, shops, etc, were closed on Sunday?

I'd actually like to see that back again.
In my community, other than Wal-Mart and Target, almost all businesses are closed on Sundays.

I travel to a larger town an hour away if I need to shop on Sundays but even in that community Hobby Lobby is closed on Sundays and I them so I try to only go on Saturdays.
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Size18 11:13 AM 09-10-2013
Originally Posted by :
Originally posted by Blackcat31
In my community, other than Wal-Mart and Target, almost all businesses are closed on Sundays.
It's comforting to know communities like yours still exist.
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Cat Herder 11:14 AM 09-10-2013
Remember when the word *NO* only had two letters??? (as opposed to four, now)
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Size18 11:35 AM 09-10-2013
Originally Posted by Cat Herder:
Remember when the word *NO* only had two letters??? (as opposed to four, now)
I do remember... I also remember when the word *YES* didn't include the letters *U* or *P*.
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ABCDaycareMN 11:43 AM 09-10-2013
Originally Posted by Size18:
I do remember... I also remember when the word *YES* didn't include the letters *U* or *P*.
I have worked very hard to have my kids say YES and when I had my last daycare girl my daughter would only say yeah... Because the dcg only said yeah.

Just a couple weeks ago my daughter started saying YES again after many attempts to get her to again. I love that my kids will know the correct word is YES and not ya or yeah!
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Size18 11:49 AM 09-10-2013
Originally Posted by :
Originally posted by ABCDaycareMN
I love that my kids will know the correct word is YES and not ya or yeah!
That is something to be proud of, and not "yep" or "yup" either.
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Size18 03:37 PM 09-10-2013
Remember the old vacuum cleaner styled hair-dryers? The ones with the big plastic balloon bonnet thingies that you had to pull on over your head... with the long hose attached to it?

Remember the noise they made?

Remember how silly the big oversized plastic bonnet looked?
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Starburst 04:10 PM 09-10-2013
Originally Posted by ABCDaycareMN:
I have worked very hard to have my kids say YES and when I had my last daycare girl my daughter would only say yeah... Because the dcg only said yeah.

Just a couple weeks ago my daughter started saying YES again after many attempts to get her to again. I love that my kids will know the correct word is YES and not ya or yeah!
I admit, I have issues with saying 'Yeah' instead of 'Yes'. For some reason the word 'yes' just sounds really harsh/sharp to my ears (if that makes sense?). I know I need to work on it (I knew that even before this thread), but for some reason it just seems so unnatural and intense sounding even (yeah, I think about things way too much). ETA: Uh-oh, I did it again!

Sometimes I cringe when my mom and I are singing songs in the car and she says the last letter at the end of a word sharply (like the words "Right" or "Night"). My theater voice and dictation teacher said that most people (at least in our region) now have, what he calls, "California Mush-mouth". It means that they don't "Tap the T's", "Pop the P's", or pronounce other consonants sharply enough; Basically he's saying we don't enunciate enough.
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Size18 06:10 PM 09-11-2013
Remember when nothing was wasted in homes? Not food, clothing, material (fabric), nothing. Everyone used, reused, and used again, in order to make things last.

As for things that could be fixed (mechanical equipment/devices), people fixed and repaired them... and fixed and repaired them again and again... no matter how old they were.

Such a stark contrast when compared to consumerism today, where so many things are replaced for new, for no reason, not to mention all the needless purchases people make.
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Size18 07:03 PM 09-11-2013
... every household had a sewing machine to it's credit, and the woman of the house knew how to use it? Unlike today, where tailor shops have become (more or less) the solution.
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e.j. 07:44 PM 09-11-2013
Originally Posted by care giver:
Any of you remember in grade school having to go home for lunch. We had to walk home for lunch and lunch was 1 hour. those were the days when many of the Mom's were home and not working.
I remember! I was in first grade and I walked home every day for lunch with my older sister and a few other kids from the neighborhood. In order to make it home and back in the hour's time, we had to take a short cut which included an underpass tunnel that ran under some train tracks and was pitch black inside even on the sunniest of days. We had to walk down a set of cement stairs and into the tunnel. We were told to keep walking once we were in there and not talk to any of the "hobos" who might be living in there. Of course, there were always some older kids who liked to scream as loud as they could in there because the acoustics in there were incredible. Once we got through the tunnel, we walked up stairs to a walkway that paralleled a river that was used basically for waste disposal by the nearby paper factories. Everyday, the dyes from the factories would turn the water a different color - red one day, bright pink or lime green the next day and so on. The smell was so horrible we had to walk holding our noses. At the end of the walkway, we had to make a left turn and walk onto a wooden bridge that went over the river. The planks of the bridge had enough of an opening between each that as you walked across, you could look down into the river. Very scary for a 1st grader! From there we walked up a hill and had to cross a busy main street and then walk several more blocks before we reached home. We made that walk back and fourth four times every day no matter what the weather was. When I think about it now, I cringe - and laugh at the same time. As an adult, I wouldn't even think about taking that walk nevermind let my kids do it!

Originally Posted by Meeko:
One year we went on vacation with another family...all in one car. Four adults, five kids and two large dogs. All crammed in like sardines and not one seatbelt! Oh...and my father's job? County road safety officer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's funny! We used to make a similar trek every morning in our Mercury Comet. http://www.americandreamcars.com/196...drsd122204.htm
My parents and 5 of us kids would climb into the car and then pick up my mother's co-worker and several school friends who needed a ride, too. There were the 3 adults and 1 or 2 kids crammed into the front seat and at least 6 or 7 kids in the back. My father would drop my mother and her friend off at the school they worked for. Then he'd drop my sister and her friend off at high school, and the rest of us off at elementary school before he headed off to work. At the beginning of the route, there was a relatively steep hill we had to drive up. Most days, the car would only make it half way. My father would tell us to get out and then drive up to the top of the hill. We'd all have to run up the rest of the hill before piling back into the car so we could all get to where we were going. It was so embarrassing then but we often laugh about it now.
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Tags:funny, life experiences
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