Saturday, January 30, 2010

Was life better in the past?

Life is so different now than it was 20-30 years ago. I know this because I spend at least an hour each night going over homework with my 2nd graders. I do not remember my parents ever sitting down with me to help me with home work in the 2nd grade. I don't ever remember my parents sitting down and helping me with homework EVER, for that matter, but certainly I didn't need help in the 2nd grade.

I also remember getting up early in the morning and telling my parents that I was going out to play. I would roam the neighbor hood and not come back until lunch time. I remember doing this as early as age 5. If my kids walk around the block without me knowing it, I freak out. It is way too dangerous to even let them play in the front yard without supervision. You never know when some sicko will drive by and snatch them out of the yard when you aren't looking. Now I'm not saying that couldn't have and didn't happen 20-30 years ago, but I suppose that we lived in a day and age where information wasn't spread around the world as quickly, so you just didn't hear about it as much.

And what about the cost of things. I got a birthday card a few weeks ago from my insurance company and inside it compared the cost of certain things in 1975 with the cost of those things today. It was quite alarming to see how cheap things were back then compared to what they cost today.
I got a 2% raise at the first of this year. Unfortunately, our health insurance premium went up more per month that the raise amounted to. Therefore, my take home pay is less this year than it was last year. It's funny how you can get paid more per hour, but bring home less.

So are things really that different now? Or is it just that 20-30 years ago I was a kid and didn't think or worry about these things, and now that I'm an adult, I can't help but think about them on a daily basis?

8 comments:

Joyful Jo said...

Yes you are right. Things have changed. I too remember riding my bike all around the neighbourhood for as long as i wanted to.
And yes things are more expensive. Ican still remember my pay packet back in the 70's and it was in cash in a small enveleope. Now we are paid into a bank account and then pay fees to get your money out in cash. Of course all the bad things that could happen to our children have only been known about more these days because of the media.
Good post cece.

JM said...

Things are a lot more different now than they were before.

I do remember being able to roam the neighborhood without supervision. And like you I freak out when my nephews and nieces leave my sight for a few minutes (I'm not going to lose them on my watch--can't imagine having to explain to their parents that I lost them).

Mr. Shife said...

Life is definitely different but I think that is a generational thing. Every generation remembers how different life was when they were younger. I know from my point of view that I don't think life is better than it was 20-30 years ago.

Anonymous said...

Dam right. Being only 16, I have no idea how life was "in the past", except form movies such as The Sandlot and etc. Now education just seems too much of a priority that it seems like people work very hard getting into colleges, that it is just to survive.
10 yrs ago i 'member seeing the parks filled with other kids, but now..... nah.

Megan said...

There was no spam back then. Except the kind we ate! :)

Suzanne said...

Yes darling, it was different. Easier. Sort of effortless. Mom didn't worry about us going out with three neighborhood guys because they were our best friends. We hiked everywhere and laughed. It was just innocent fun. I think it's different now.

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Walker said...

I think there is more to learn today than there was and more complicated.
I have helped kids over the last 10 years with their homework and its getting more and more heady
The one thing i do enjoy is learning along side wit them