You often hear people saying ‘I wish I was young again’. More often than not I’m always the one to buck the trend, and I must say that I’m actually happy with the age I am – 60 to be exact. This is because, as I said in a recent conversation with The Militant Negro, I think that my generation has had the best of many things, a few of which I’ll name in a list below. Feel free to contradict or agree, whichever floats your boat…
- We weren’t taught fancy reading methods. We learned to read by practising the sounds that the letters make. It works. I taught my own sons to read by this method. I taught them for 10 minutes every day from when they were 2 years old. By the time they were 4 they were reading fluently.
- I was lucky enough to attend a Grammar school for some of my schooldays. These days most Grammar schools have been phased out as they are considered too elitist. Now all we have are ‘Academies’, many of which are failing today’s brightest children who might have been able to compete with private school pupils not part of the Old Boy Network for the top jobs.
- Our childhoods were not micro-managed and supervised 24/7. We could roam outside wherever we wanted to, and we did. My parents had no idea where I was or what I was doing when I was out playing.
- I knew my parents loved me, but if I was naughty I was smacked; not beaten, but smacked. It taught me right from wrong, stopped me growing up feral, and I certainly didn’t do whatever it was again.
- Dad taught me Chess, which I also taught my own two sons. It encourages a child to sit still, think and concentrate. Children goggling at a flickering TV screen or rapidly-changing computer screen are at a distinct disadvantage in this respect.
- My parents and grandparents grew up in the privations of war. I was born well after WWII had ended. I have never known food shortages.
- There were many job vacancies to apply for on leaving school, if you didn’t go to University.
- I got to see many of the big rock bands play in their heyday before they became too old or died from their excesses or a TV set hitting them as it was chucked out of a window – Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple, Rush, Page & Plant, Fleetwood Mac, Status Quo, and AC/DC to name but a few.
- So far the NHS has looked after me from the cradle. Earlier generations rarely saw a doctor, as they couldn’t afford the fees.
- Sam and I were able to get on the housing ladder under our own steam and without the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’, who could not have afforded to give us a deposit for a house anyway. We worked extra hours for a year before we married to find the £2000 for a deposit on our first flat. In 1979 we were given a mortgage of 4x Sam’s salary, which we could afford to repay. Nowadays 4 x one salary would probably not even buy half a house
- We were able to interact with our young sons and create happy family memories without them always having one eye on their mobile phones (they didn’t have one!) or other social media.
GP Cox said:
I may be 7 years older and didn’t get to as many concerts as you, but i feel you wrote my list for me. Being raised with respect for my family, my country and myself is worth being this old.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Hear hear. Thanks for your comment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
OIKOS™-Redaktion said:
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
Thanks for the re-blog.
LikeLike
robbiesinspiration said:
If I had to hazard a guess, Stevie, I would say that you are between 10 to 15 years older than me. This was a very idyllic time for the British people as you say. My generation is going to work until we drop. In South Africa we pay for private schools, private medical and even private security. You don’t have to pay for this sort of thing in the UK but that could change a bit in the future due to the high debt as a % of GDP position.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Stevie Turner said:
We do pay for private schools and medical insurance if we can afford it, but there are state schools and the NHS if we cannot. Thanks for your comment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Jan Hawke said:
You’re my, my, my generation, Stevie! Those were the days – everything was ‘live’ & I’ll never forget the smell of perfume and incense, cigs & alternatives, the body heat and the visceral, massive sound of the concerts I went to. The 60s, 70s and 80s had to be one of the best periods to live through in terms of live music – wonderful memories! 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
Absolutely – one band I never got to see live though was Led Zep. Saw Page & Plant when they played together, but not the whole band.
LikeLike
Clive said:
In short: no! Whenever we were born, in whatever age, there is I think a tendency to view our memories of childhood and youth through the proverbial rose-tinted glasses. I’m 4 years older than you so share much of your life experience, and whilst there is much about today’s world that I don’t like, I still believe that we have come a long way for the better since then. My fear is that we are going back to the worst of those times! Bob Seger summed it up well:
‘Wish I didn’t know now what I didn’t know then’
LikeLiked by 2 people
franklparker said:
I’m 16 years older than you, Stevie, and have always said my generation was the fortunate one. The escalating costs of housing are a scandal. I blame the mass sale of council houses in the ’80s and the government imposed rules that prevented councils from building replacements. My first house was built by the local council who also provided a 100% mortgage.
Like you, I went to a grammar school. Unlike you, I wish that opportunity was made available to many more children at the time. Of course, there wasn’t the proliferation of university places and courses there are today.
At 17 I worked 44hrs/week and studied at night. And I got casual work at a local farm for weekends and holidays. And I assisted my mother and step-father modernising an old house.The work hours reduced later, when I entered the drawing office but it was still 39 hours and I still studied at night.
Like Darlene, I grew up in a rural area with no running water or electricity. We had to walk 3 miles to the nearest shop.
Today it sound like hardship, but when I hear people complaining about present day hardships I chuckle.
To answer your original question – do I wish I was young? Absolutely not! Done that, wore the T shirt as they say. I’m happy to have got myself to where I am, largely by my own efforts.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Stevie Turner said:
Well said Frank. I actually feel sorry for young people today.
LikeLiked by 1 person
tintins said:
Thoroughly enjoyed reading that!
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
Thanks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Darlene said:
Every generation thinks their childhood was better, which is probably a good thing. I am happy to be the age I am. We didn’t have electricity, running water or a car on the farm until I was ten but we had a lot of love. Still, I wouldn’t want to go back to those days. I love this quote. Nothing really changes!
“The children now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise.”
― Socrates
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
A lot of love is what children need. Electricity and running water is a bonus!
LikeLiked by 2 people
The Story Reading Ape said:
I agree with the post and the comments from David and Jim, Stevie 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
Stevie Turner said:
Us Boomers all seem happy with the age we are. Thanks Chris.
LikeLiked by 2 people
The Story Reading Ape said:
👍😃
LikeLike
jwebster2 said:
I think with house prices there’s a lot of cause and effect. If mortgages were limited to four times joint income, then house prices would either come down or they’d struggle to sell them
By increasing the amount they allowed people to borrow they merely poured more money into housing 🙂
LikeLiked by 4 people
jenanita01 said:
Not that I want to be young again, but in many respects the world was a much better place back then…
LikeLiked by 5 people
davidprosser said:
You’re the same age as my brother Stevie whilst I was born 7 years earlier while some food was still rationed- I had my own book. I remember being smacked which didn’t do me any harm as the ruler over the knuckles in school didn’t. I remember a healthy respect for the local law as his two options were a clip round the ear or being taken home and my parents being told what I’d done.
I also remember Nora the Nit Nurse visiting the school and checking all our heads. The smell of the stuff to kill the lice was atrocious and you soon knew who’d been treated.
Hugs
LikeLiked by 5 people
Stevie Turner said:
Yes, the nit nurse! Whatever happened to her? Nowadays there’s no respect for the law either, as police are all sitting in laybys waiting to trap speeding motorists to gain their commission from £60 fines.
LikeLiked by 1 person