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Welcome to day 25 of Bloganuary. Today’s topic is:
‘Write about something that makes you feel strong.’
I think being an only child makes a person feel mentally strong. I’m as weak as a kitten when it comes to physical strength, but I was brought up the only child of two working parents in the 1960s when people did not go to prison for raising latch-key children.
From the age of seven I walked to school on my own, and from the age of nine there were no babysitters for me in the school holidays as I told my mother that I did not need them anymore. I hated having to go to the woman next door, who had two sons that I did not like. I was one of those bookish, sensible kids who was old before their time, and often spent the entire time that Mum was at her part-time job sitting on the settee and reading. I never worried about being alone in the house. However, if friends called for me I would go out and play, but would have a key around my neck on a string. We would sometimes roam for miles around the East End of London. Mum told me never to touch the cooker, and that was about all the instructions I ever had.
One day I decided to put on my skates and go outside. Mum had told me to take the empty milk bottle out and so I skated around from the back door to the front with the milk bottle in my hand. Somehow or other I tripped over a paving stone. The glass bottle shattered, a shard stabbed my skin, and blood started to drip from my hand. There was nobody about, as my parents were at work and the woman next door was not at home.
There were no mobile phones, and we did not have a landline at home. It was up to nine-year-old me to find a way out of the situation. I skated further along the street to another neighbour I knew, leaving a trail of blood behind me. The neighbour removed the glass and bandaged up my hand. Mum was beside herself with guilt when she came home, but the fact that I had been on my own hadn’t bothered me too much as I was often alone anyway. The accident made me think for myself.
Nowadays children have mobile phones and they’re on the phone with the least problem to find out what to do. They don’t seem able to think for themselves these days, and believe me, that isn’t good.
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robbiesinspiration said:
HI Stevie, my mom never worked much during my childhood years. She worked on and off during my teenage years, but more off than on. I agree that problem solving is an excellent skill to develop.
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Stevie Turner said:
I think too much supervision and mobile phones has killed problem solving for kids.
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CarolCooks2 said:
I wasn’t a latch key kid but had olenty of freedom with not many rules apart from.. Don’t talk to strangers but as where we lived was very rural we were unlikely to see any strangers…
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Stevie Turner said:
I was in the East End of London, but had total freedom. However, I was sensible and knew where I should and shouldn’t go.
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Chel Owens said:
I think there’s a balance. We need to be around to guide kids (some of mine need it way more than the others) but also see parents indulging in their child too often. Kids these days can’t handle stress!
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Stevie Turner said:
They can’t handle it because they’ve never been allowed to feel stress. Kids are too mollycoddled now. Some of them are never left unsupervised until well into their teenage years.
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Chel Owens said:
You are right.
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Storyteller said:
Wow i was a latchkey kid too. Havent heard the expression in many years.
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Stevie Turner said:
Yes, there were a lot of latch-key kids in the 1960s, lol.
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Darlene said:
I believe growing up on a farm made me strong. Also being the oldest of 4, as I always made sure the others were OK. We had to work hard, did chores before school and when we got home. There was always something to do on the farm and no time for complaining. Many of my bosses said that I worked circles around all the other, much younger, staff and never broke into a sweat.
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Stevie Turner said:
Well done, Darlene. Sounds like you had a great childhood.
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beetleypete said:
Your ‘only childhood’ sound a lot like mine. I had a front door key by the age of 8, and both parents were at work until at least 6pm. I used to get get home from school, light the coal fire so it was warm when they got in, then read in my room until they did.
As for this challenge today, I have nothing much to add. Not much makes me feel strong, to be honest. Perhaps only my ability to deal with 22 years in the London Ambulance Service, but that was always regarded by us as ‘just a job’ back then.
Best wishes, Pete.
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Stevie Turner said:
As L. P Hartley said… the past is a foreign country. They do things differently there.
Anyway, you must have had a strong stomach at least to survive for 22 years!
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