What was it like, when you were a kid?

[yinepu]

Quote:
Sounds like the house I grew up in.. during the winter I spent my nights sleeping on the floor of the living room where I would get up several times a night to check the coal furnace or put wood in the wood stoves to keep the rest of the house warm (the rooms that the furnace didn't heat). I was five when my mom gave me wood stove duty.

My dad's family had 11 kids .. my mom's had 13.. in our family there were 7 kids. Now it seems that MOST people have less than that (granted there are exceptions.. but back then larger families seemed to be the norm). My mother said that us kids were her "farm hands".. we got to eat and sleep in exchange for doing chores and working around the farm.

We were "in town" but had over 40 chickens (yes.. plenty of roosters, there were no ordinances against keeping them), 2 donkeys, goats, ducks, and any other critter that made it our way. Down the street ("in town" mind you) was a small goat dairy. The Amish would deliver eggs, so when our hens slacked off my mom would buy a few dozen from them. We butchered our chickens in the "back yard" and with all the critters no one ever complained. We had neighbors to either side of us.. but the back of our land butted up against soybean fields.. lol... I am willing to bet that where we lived "in town" looks a heck of a lot different today!

 

[FlockMama]

I'm not "real" old, but old enough to know that times have sure changed. We didn't play video games or sit on the computers, we played outside. We helped do dishes and laundry and all the chores. We respected our elders and we knew the "real" meaning of life. I feel sorry for kids growing up these days they are so brainwashed by technology they don't know what it's like to be a kid anymore!

 

[ECBW]

I miss the bench seat, driving with left hand on the wheel and my sweetheart in my right arm.

 

[Frosty]

Quote:
I still have one

My brother used to have a vinyl seat and would spray it with Armor All so when he cornered hard the girls would slide into him. And he had a stick shift, 4 on the floor. Who all remembers the stick shift with three on the tree (manual transmission, column shift)?

 

[OldGuy43]

I remember doctors who made "house calls". (For those to young to remember, the doctor would come to your house if your illness called for it.) Our family doctor made his in an Oldsmobile that he replaced every 7 years. His office was the lower floor of a house that he owned. His office "staff" consisted of one R.N. That was it. No accountant. No receptionist. No billing department. No one handed you a clipboard with a pin on a string. The doctor found out what was wrong when you saw him. They worried about how they were going to be paid after you were treated.

 

[yinepu]

I remember doctors who made "house calls". (For those to young to remember, the doctor would come to your house if your illness called for it.) Our family doctor made his in an Oldsmobile that he replaced every 7 years. His office was the lower floor of a house that he owned. His office "staff" consisted of one R.N. That was it. No accountant. No receptionist. No billing no one handed you a clipboard with a pin on a string. The doctor found out what was wrong when you saw him. They worried about how they were going to be paid after you were treated.

Lol.. I was beginning to think I was the only one who remembered that! I was 3 when he made a house call cause I was too sick to leave the house.

 

[OldGuy43]

While we're on the subject of the medical profession the-way-it-was; Remember when one doctor did it all? Our family doctor delivered my kid brother, cured my measles and whooping cough, gave us our vaccinations for school and fixed my first broken bones. There was none of this, "See your primary care physician, and be referred to yet another doctor who might actually fix your problem after referring you to one or two more 'specialists'. The ethics of the medical profession did not allow doctors or hospitals to advertise. A medical practice was not a corporation. (Both held true for lawyers as well.) I can still remember when doctors quit making house calls. On that subject Doctor Henry was quite clear, "If you aren't willing to go where the sick people are you aren't a doctor!"

I you had a toothache you called the dentist and would be told, "Come on down and we'll work you in." The dentist would pull your tooth for $25 - $35, and you'd be on your way. Life was much simpler than.

 

[chickened]

I miss the days when people would introduce their husband/ wife to me. Now days most don't even introduce them and if they do they are their partner, SO or God knows what...

 

[Avalon1984]

I remember doctors who made "house calls". (For those to young to remember, the doctor would come to your house if your illness called for it.) Our family doctor made his in an Oldsmobile that he replaced every 7 years. His office was the lower floor of a house that he owned. His office "staff" consisted of one R.N. That was it. No accountant. No receptionist. No billing department. No one handed you a clipboard with a pin on a string. The doctor found out what was wrong when you saw him. They worried about how they were going to be paid after you were treated.

We still have one in the small village in Germany where I am from. He comes to see my grandma once every other week. I miss that personal touch wehn you go to a doctor over here.

 

[OldGuy43]

We still have one in the small village in Germany where I am from. He comes to see my grandma once every other week. I miss that personal touch wehn you go to a doctor over here.

How fortunate for your Oma. The other advantage was that you didn't need to list all of your illnesses, operations and allergies. Your doctor knew all about you since he'd been with you your whole life. I saw my last "real doctor" in a small town in northern Illinois, circa 1980.