It felt Yellow and Warm and smelt like grass clippings and seemed endless. Bare feet and Prickles forever. A lot less houses back then so we made forts in the long grass on the spare sections with all the kids from our street and Neighbourhood. Nobody seemed to worry so much. We weren't worried about what we ate, or looneys stealing us, no concerns about the sun or head injuries falling off bikes. Kids fell out of cars when they were motoring down the road. It happened. No one called CYPS. They just came to school in a sling with some wicked scabs to show off. You got a day off school when your dog died and the whole class would send you letters and drawings to cheer you up. Kids of 11 or 12 were jumping from a moving vehicle doing the milk run...Jesus now a days you can't even throw lollies from a float in the Xmas parade in case some kid gets run over. Nobody worried about what age you were allowed home alone after school. At primary school it was cool to have your house key in your bag cause your olds would be at work after 3pm. The walk home was an adventure. Nobody went hungry. Apples and lemons off neighbours trees sustained us on the way from one place to the next. If you suddenly turned up at the local dairy wanting to buy a years supply of 1 cent lollies your mum would be called to check you hadn't pinched it out of her purse. People gave a shit about each other. It took a village to raise a kid back then. You didn't organise play dates. We just bowled on in to a mates house and there parents would chuck you a piklet and point you in the direction of their backyard.
I wonder how my kids will describe their childhoods?
Posts
so true Shelley. Oh how things have changed. We had fantastic neighbours and your Mum and Dad were my kids second parents. It was such a good time. No wonder todays kids are so out of control when they get older. They have been so molly coddled as young ones that they are just spreading their wings and making up for lost time. Shame.
ReplyDelete