6th September 2012

My children will never know the pleasures (and freedoms) of my own 1970’s childhood, and after having just lived through a six week summer holiday, I’m beginning to realise that the 1970’s weren’t a bad time to be a parent either.

In the 1970’s…

  • Holidays meant leaving the house at nine o’clock in the morning and not speaking to or seeing your mum until teatime. I don’t know what my Mum did in the hours between nine and six but it certainly wasn’t listening to ‘I’m bored’, ‘Can we go out for the day?’ and ‘What shall I do now?’, in a loop
  • The test card meant that us 1970’s children were driven outside of the house whatever the weather. No 1970’s parent had to suffer the warbles of Hannah Montana whilst whipping up a mushroom vol-au-vent
  • A grown up party meant sitting on the top of the stairs peeping through the slats in the bannister until you fell asleep. At the last  ‘grown up’ party I went to I spent the afternoon making sure none of the children hurt themselves on the bouncy castle that had been specially hired for them
  • Summer time meant sporting blistered shoulders and a million freckles. Thanks to the advent of suntan lotion and skin cancer, I’m like a woman possessed when the sun comes out, and my kids have never even had a tan line
  • A family trip meant sitting in the car with your brother, eating a packet of crisps and drinking a bottle of coke through a straw whilst your parents enjoyed some quality time on their own - INSIDE the pub

Those were the days..

Sarah