SOMEHOW WE MADE IT! A LOOK BACK AT GROWING UP IN THE 50’S & 60’S
By Lee Degenstein
Perhaps I am getting an early start on my mid life crisis. A few weeks ago my wife and I met with our children’s’ school teachers for our semi annual conference. After the meeting I commented on how much education has changed since I went to school. Then I started thinking about the difference between growing up then and now. I was born in 1955 and I can’t believe how many things have changed. As a parent of 8 and 9 year old boys, it dawned on me that we are bringing them up very differently than what I experienced. Then I thought how life in general has changed since I was a kid.
There are a couple of important points I would like to make at the outset. Growing up back then seemed much tougher when you compare it with the way we raise children today. Kids of that era did more on their own. We thought for ourselves, and had more freedom, more responsibility, which helped them later in life. While most people resist change, societal changes usually results in better living standards. Back then we thought we knew everything and were surprised to find out we did many things wrong. In some cases completely wrong.
In 2006 we are generally healthier, eat better, have more intellectual stimulation, grow bigger, live longer and are for the most part much safer in our everyday activities than we were 40-50 years ago. Medicine and science have made substantial advances, which has raised America’s standard of living. For our readers who didn’t grow up in that era here’s a look at what things were like. For those of us that did, here’s a look back at the way it was.
In many schools today, there is little or no competition, everybody wins, and everything is fair. Half the kids in each class have learning issues and everybody has at least one issue! When I was a kid, if you didn’t pay attention or couldn’t focus, you got slapped on the knuckles with a ruler and all of a sudden, things instantly came into focus. Back in the day, kids didn’t have issues, they were either smart or not.
Today it’s all about nurturing children, back then, the nurturing stopped when the tuition check cleared the bank. Today many of our kids are having trouble reading and writing at their appropriate grade level, but according to educators, the good news is that the kids feel good about themselves. Of course that’s crucial when you are looking for a job!
We were born to mothers that sometimes drank and smoked. Look how medicine changed that. We took aspirin, consumed regular butter, and ate tuna from the can and gobbled down red meat and we, along with our offspring have not grown up to look like Flipper. Well, at least most of us haven’t. Obviously, as we get more advances in medicine, in science and in health, old beliefs and customs change. Of course, that’s good for everyone.
We rode in cars without seatbelts or air bags. Even back in the 1950’s, auto manufacturers were reluctant to put seat belts in cars, because they thought it send the message to the consumer, that their cars were not safe. We roller skated without looking like a NHL goaltender and rode our bikes without helmets. We drank soda with sugar, ate Twinkies, pizza and tons of ice cream. Most of us were not overweight because we were always outside playing. We didn’t stay indoors playing with our Nintendos, X-Boxes, or Playstations. Surfing took place in the water, not on desks or laps. Every kid could do at least 20 push ups and 20 sit ups. Most kids today unfortunately can not.
When we came home, there weren’t 250 television channels to watch, no DVDs or VCRs, so we actually talked to one another. In fact we stayed outside all day and played and were home by the time the street lights came on. No one could reach us all day long, as there were no cell phones or pagers to carry.
We fell out of trees, broke bones and teeth and got hurt sometimes while playing at a friend’s house and there were no lawsuits. We had Little League tryouts and not everyone made the team, or for that matter even played in every game.
We were taught to respect police officers. If we got into trouble with the cops, our parents sided with the law not us and that taught us a lesson that we never forgot.
We used to date, not “hook up”. There was no “hooking up” between 12 and 13 year old boys and girls. At high school dances, the boys hugged one wall of the gymnasium and the girls hugged the other. We stayed out of the girl’s bathroom and they stayed out of ours. Boys dated girls, girls dated boys and there was no other choice.
The only violence in movies occurred when the cowboys slaughtered the Indians. There were no movie ratings, parents used common sense and somehow knew what movies were appropriate for their kids to see. We saw cartoons before each feature, not 15 minutes of commercials.
We wore clothes that fit, not apparel that was 12 sizes too big. Our pants didn’t look like we wanted to expose our rear ends to the rest of mankind. We wore our baseball hats with the brim pointed toward the front. We didn’t walk around looking like major league catchers. Young girls didn’t look or dress like hookers when they went to the mall on Saturday afternoons.
Our music, which used to really upset our parents, used words like peace and love. There was a message in music which spoke to non violence and getting along with other people. There were no “kill the cops messages” in those days, no gangster rap. Music was music, it wasn’t X rated and it had a melody, you could actually hum the tune. It was easy to identify all the words. Ok, most of the words.
Speaking of music, we listened to records and AM radio. My kids don’t know what a record is. You would be hard pressed to find decent music on the AM band today. We didn’t have cassettes or CDs and certainly no Ipods. Technology has made a great impact on the way we entertain ourselves. The Beatles were the Beatles and were not referred to as Paul McCartney’s old band. If you wanted free music, you couldn’t download it, you had to shoplift it from the local record store.
As that great historian Bob Dylan once declared, “The times they are a changing”! Most of the changes we have in the last 50 years have afforded us a better way of living. Technology, medicine and science have all changed the world in a very positive way. We know and do things today that seemed almost unimaginable 40 or 50 years ago. The bottom line that is life is better and our standard of living is better.
However, our generation produced some of the greatest minds in history, and gave us some of the best scientists, businessmen, artists, performers, thinkers and risk takers the world has ever known. We grew up thinking and doing for ourselves, having more freedom and responsibility and dealt with success and failure on our own. Dylan was right, “The times they are a changing”, but after looking back at it all, most of the changes we have gone through, have been good for our country and good for us. Even so, somehow we made it!
Perhaps I am getting an early start on my mid life crisis. A few weeks ago my wife and I met with our children’s’ school teachers for our semi annual conference. After the meeting I commented on how much education has changed since I went to school. Then I started thinking about the difference between growing up then and now. I was born in 1955 and I can’t believe how many things have changed. As a parent of 8 and 9 year old boys, it dawned on me that we are bringing them up very differently than what I experienced. Then I thought how life in general has changed since I was a kid.
There are a couple of important points I would like to make at the outset. Growing up back then seemed much tougher when you compare it with the way we raise children today. Kids of that era did more on their own. We thought for ourselves, and had more freedom, more responsibility, which helped them later in life. While most people resist change, societal changes usually results in better living standards. Back then we thought we knew everything and were surprised to find out we did many things wrong. In some cases completely wrong.
In 2006 we are generally healthier, eat better, have more intellectual stimulation, grow bigger, live longer and are for the most part much safer in our everyday activities than we were 40-50 years ago. Medicine and science have made substantial advances, which has raised America’s standard of living. For our readers who didn’t grow up in that era here’s a look at what things were like. For those of us that did, here’s a look back at the way it was.
In many schools today, there is little or no competition, everybody wins, and everything is fair. Half the kids in each class have learning issues and everybody has at least one issue! When I was a kid, if you didn’t pay attention or couldn’t focus, you got slapped on the knuckles with a ruler and all of a sudden, things instantly came into focus. Back in the day, kids didn’t have issues, they were either smart or not.
Today it’s all about nurturing children, back then, the nurturing stopped when the tuition check cleared the bank. Today many of our kids are having trouble reading and writing at their appropriate grade level, but according to educators, the good news is that the kids feel good about themselves. Of course that’s crucial when you are looking for a job!
We were born to mothers that sometimes drank and smoked. Look how medicine changed that. We took aspirin, consumed regular butter, and ate tuna from the can and gobbled down red meat and we, along with our offspring have not grown up to look like Flipper. Well, at least most of us haven’t. Obviously, as we get more advances in medicine, in science and in health, old beliefs and customs change. Of course, that’s good for everyone.
We rode in cars without seatbelts or air bags. Even back in the 1950’s, auto manufacturers were reluctant to put seat belts in cars, because they thought it send the message to the consumer, that their cars were not safe. We roller skated without looking like a NHL goaltender and rode our bikes without helmets. We drank soda with sugar, ate Twinkies, pizza and tons of ice cream. Most of us were not overweight because we were always outside playing. We didn’t stay indoors playing with our Nintendos, X-Boxes, or Playstations. Surfing took place in the water, not on desks or laps. Every kid could do at least 20 push ups and 20 sit ups. Most kids today unfortunately can not.
When we came home, there weren’t 250 television channels to watch, no DVDs or VCRs, so we actually talked to one another. In fact we stayed outside all day and played and were home by the time the street lights came on. No one could reach us all day long, as there were no cell phones or pagers to carry.
We fell out of trees, broke bones and teeth and got hurt sometimes while playing at a friend’s house and there were no lawsuits. We had Little League tryouts and not everyone made the team, or for that matter even played in every game.
We were taught to respect police officers. If we got into trouble with the cops, our parents sided with the law not us and that taught us a lesson that we never forgot.
We used to date, not “hook up”. There was no “hooking up” between 12 and 13 year old boys and girls. At high school dances, the boys hugged one wall of the gymnasium and the girls hugged the other. We stayed out of the girl’s bathroom and they stayed out of ours. Boys dated girls, girls dated boys and there was no other choice.
The only violence in movies occurred when the cowboys slaughtered the Indians. There were no movie ratings, parents used common sense and somehow knew what movies were appropriate for their kids to see. We saw cartoons before each feature, not 15 minutes of commercials.
We wore clothes that fit, not apparel that was 12 sizes too big. Our pants didn’t look like we wanted to expose our rear ends to the rest of mankind. We wore our baseball hats with the brim pointed toward the front. We didn’t walk around looking like major league catchers. Young girls didn’t look or dress like hookers when they went to the mall on Saturday afternoons.
Our music, which used to really upset our parents, used words like peace and love. There was a message in music which spoke to non violence and getting along with other people. There were no “kill the cops messages” in those days, no gangster rap. Music was music, it wasn’t X rated and it had a melody, you could actually hum the tune. It was easy to identify all the words. Ok, most of the words.
Speaking of music, we listened to records and AM radio. My kids don’t know what a record is. You would be hard pressed to find decent music on the AM band today. We didn’t have cassettes or CDs and certainly no Ipods. Technology has made a great impact on the way we entertain ourselves. The Beatles were the Beatles and were not referred to as Paul McCartney’s old band. If you wanted free music, you couldn’t download it, you had to shoplift it from the local record store.
As that great historian Bob Dylan once declared, “The times they are a changing”! Most of the changes we have in the last 50 years have afforded us a better way of living. Technology, medicine and science have all changed the world in a very positive way. We know and do things today that seemed almost unimaginable 40 or 50 years ago. The bottom line that is life is better and our standard of living is better.
However, our generation produced some of the greatest minds in history, and gave us some of the best scientists, businessmen, artists, performers, thinkers and risk takers the world has ever known. We grew up thinking and doing for ourselves, having more freedom and responsibility and dealt with success and failure on our own. Dylan was right, “The times they are a changing”, but after looking back at it all, most of the changes we have gone through, have been good for our country and good for us. Even so, somehow we made it!
© copyright 2006, Lee Degenstein.
All rights reserved
posted by Lee Degenstein | 8:49 AM
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